then returned to his place of stay. A short time passed, when one of his friends arrived, holding the same pen he was interested in. He gave this to the honourable mufti and said, “I brought this as a gift for you.”

Mufti Aḥmad Yār Khān Naʿīmī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَـلَيْه said, “I kept the pen considering it a bestowal from the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم and intended to write a commentary of the Quran with it.”

The first night in Medina

There’s also an amazing incident regarding Mawlana Ilyas Attar al-Qadiri’s first night in Medina. A few people were offering tahajjud salah in Masjid al-Nabawi. The atmosphere was beautiful. He was feasting his eyes on the Green Dome. He would go in the shade of the green from Bāb Jibrīl and then walk backwards [lest he turn his back towards the Green Dome].

It was a state of serenity and contentment. However, in the midst of this, he then faced a test. At the time, following the sunnah, the honourable shaykh had kept long hair. A police officer saw this, and for some unknown reason, called the shaykh over. “What are you doing here?”, the policeman asked.

Now, how does one explain actions steeped in love of the beloved? How can words ever explain them? Allah knows best as to what the policeman was thinking. After further questioning, he asked the honourable sheikh to show his passport, to which he responded that his passport was at his place of stay.

The policeman then gestured towards the shaykh’s hair and asked, “What is this?”

The shaykh replied, “This is sunnah.”

Perhaps due to a lack of knowledge, the policeman held the shaykh’s beard and said, “This is sunnah.” In other words, he considered only the beard to be sunnah, not long hair.