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| Sami Özer |
…Safer Efendi taught us the dervish-style Sufi music. It was him who selected the hymns for my 1993 album “Ey Allah’ım 1,” which became very popular. In that album, there is a hymn titled “İsmi Sübhan Virdin Mi Var.” At that time, there was a popular song called “Saza Niye Gelmedin.” My master [Safer Efendi] said: “This song was originally a hymn. Sing it as a hymn.” And I decided to sing it, although the album was ready to be released. Later Ahmet Kaya even invited me onto his TV program “Ahmet Abi’nin Vapuru.” We sang this hymn on that program. “If I had known these lyrics would so perfectly fit to this melody, I would have sung it in that way in the first place,” Kaya said. After the program, we had a chat with him. May he rest in Heaven, he said: “I am actually a religious person. Everyone knows me for my political opinions. But I believe in God and in my Prophet.” He tried to prove himself. He recited Ayat al-Kursi and [parts of] Sura al-Baqarah, and he recited them well…
…I had three concerts in Pennsylvania in 2007. Afterwards they took me to Mr. Gülen. I said to my companions: “Let us leave our instruments here before we enter. Otherwise we might bother him.” He inquired about my companions. “My orchestra,” I replied. I explained that we did not bring in our instruments in order not to be a nuisance to him. “You’d be far from bothering me. Please let them bring their instruments,” he said. It was one of my best concerts. It took one hour and 10 minutes. Most of the hymns were about our Prophet. Hocaefendi [Gulen] cried all through the concert. He made many supplications for us, may God be pleased with him. Then he summoned someone and told him to give me whatever I wanted from the room. There were so many presents to Hocaefendi. “Is there an olive rosary?” I asked. They gave me one. Later I learned that it was a very precious rosary. So he treated me with many compliments and he made many supplications for me, may God be pleased with him. There, I recited the call to the night prayer. “Did you record the call to prayer?” he asked. “No, we did not,” I replied. And I intended to recite the call to the dawn prayer, but I couldn’t do it.
Hocaefendi loves the Prophet very much. May God give him good health and keep him with us. There are few people like him left. When we find one, we must appreciate the treasure. We should not make them feel sad…
Excerpted from the interview published on Sunday's Zaman, 05 August 2012, Sunday
