Abdul Kerim al-Qubrusi

Abdülkerim was born to Fuat (later Fuat Savaşkan), a dervish known in tariqat circles as Hajji Fuad ar-Rabbani. He attended the khutbah by Shaykh Nazim at Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Famagusta and later became a disciple.[1] In November 1973, he joined the Turkish Resistance Organisation and fought around Varosha, Famagusta during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.[2]

Through his life he served under Shaykh Nazim, becoming his representative in North America and throughout the world.[3]

In 1974, Shaykh Nazim commissioned Abdülkerim to found a Naqshbandi-Haqqani branch in the United States. He undertook charity work in New York City, mostly rehabilitation of drug addicts.[1][2]

In 2002, he founded the Osmanlı Dergâhı, a zawiya located in Catskill Mountains, New York.[4] Shaykh Abdul Kerim converted a barn to a Sufi Dergah in the Ottoman tradition. Prayers are held five times a day with special services on Fridays. The Sufi center concentrates on Sufi Zikr (remembrance) with ceremonies every Thursday night and provides outreach to the surrounding community of Sidney, New York.[5] In the words of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani, "He stood up against unbelief. Only one man, and in the US also, another center of unbelief. He also taught them their lesson and limits!"[6]

Abdülkerim died of heart attack during a visit to his dargah in Lefka.[1] He is interred at the Ottoman Cemetery in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus.[1][7]