When I reviewed Dr. Fatoohi’s earlier book “The Wonders of Tariqa Kasnazanaiyya” I indicated that it could be a work book on Tariqa Kasnazanaiyya.” I wrote that before I had the pleasure of reading Dr. Fatoohi’s latest book on the biography of Shaikh Muhammad Al-Muhhammad Al-Kasnazan. As enjoyable as the Wonders book was, there is no comparison regarding the depth and breadth of this biography of the life of this Noble Shaikh and master of the one of the largest Sufi Tariqas (Aliyya Qaddiriyya Kasnazananiyya) (Taraqa means the way or path to Allah). This text is an amazing workbook for both an introductory as well as advanced levels on Sufism, for both the novice or the reader with some background.. Also the beautiful manner of the Shaikh, and the fascinating paranormal events associated with him, known as Karamas such as Darbasha where dervishes put skewers through different parts of their body, showing resistance to fire on their tongues, enduring the bites of piousness snakes, chewing and swallowing glass, having a knife hammered into ones skull with no lethal or subsequent damage to participant. In addition, this text outlines in great detail, this Tariqa’s meditation practices, known as “Dhikr” or the remembering of Allah” as a path to drawing nearer to him. On a very personal note, I had the honored of first meeting Hadrat Shaikh in December, 1998 in Baghdad, Iraq. Early in my visit, I was given the pledge to become one of his dervishes and at a gathering that evening I was asked if I wanted to experience Darbasha, or have an unsterilized metal skewer pushed through my cheek and I consented. They asked me to stand up and open my mouth and they pushed the skewer from the left inside of my cheek to the outside. I was amazed, there was no pain, no major bleeding other than a few drops of blood. Contrary to some of my colleagues who would describe this as hypnosis, being trained in hypnosis and practicing it for decades I can safely say it was nothing like hypnosis. For example, the healing time for hypnosis hours/days was so different from this Darbasha, just minutes. My career then took a major shifted beyond only mind/body (stress and relaxation work) to a focus on researching and publishing work in an area I described as “Deliberately caused bodily damage: Metahypnotic phenomena? Hall, 2000). It should be pointed out that I had the full and enthusiastic support of hadhrat al-Shaikh for all the research I wanted to do. I was also given a license by the Shaikh to teach and demonstrate some Darbasha phenomena. Given that license, I read with great interests examples in Fatoohi’s text of injuries to some Dervishs (followers of the Tariqa) following some of their demonstrations that I was not aware of. I also remembered the Shaikh taking me aside before doing one of my demonstrations, I should only do a cheeks or tongue piercing, but not through the throat. Again this is nothing like hypnosis. This book is a must read that opens a window into one of the most remarkable aspects of Sufism, and one of its most influential masters I have ever met, Shaikh Muhammad Al-Muhhammad Al-Kasnazan. Howard Hall, Ph.D., Psy.D., BCB Professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Psychological Sciences Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center