2.2.20 - His Two Companions Muhammad al-Khayyat and Ahmad al-Hariri (Seville)

Among the first friends to be mentioned by Shaykh Muhyiddin are his two companions, with whom he was raised and learned, and they are: Ahmad al-Hariri and his younger brother Mohamed Al-Khayyat. He accompanied them until 590/1194, where they traveled to the East for the purpose of pilgrimage and then settled in Egypt, where they shall meet with the Greatest Shaykh later.

In Ruh al-Quds he says: They were two brothers from Seville with whom I kept company in that place until the year 590/1194, when they set out to perform the Pilgrimage at Mecca.

After they had arrived in Mecca, Ahmad stayed there for a year, after which he went to Egypt and joined the Malamiyyah (mentioned in the previous chapter, section [ref:meaningofsufism). Muhammad, on the other hand, stayed in Mecca for five years and then joined his brother in Egypt in the same year that I left you, that is in the year 598/1201-2. I found them when I came to Egypt and stayed with them, during which time Abu Abdullah was il. While I was there I fasted the month of Ramadan with them.

Abu Abdullah came to the Way long before his brother. He was a most filial son and attended to the needs of his mother till she died. So much was he dominated by the fear of God that the beating of his heart during prayer could be heard from a distance. He wept much and kept long periods of silence, being always sad and pensive and prone to sighing. I have never seen anyone more humble, always having his head bowed and his eyes cast to the ground. He mixed with no one. He was a man free from hypocrisy, strong in counsel, staunch in faith, blameless and patient although afflicted by poverty and misfortune. He was also a man of great spiritual influence and power and when I was young and studying the Quran with him I was very fond of him, he being one of our neighbors. Whenever he entered a mosque all who saw him showed him respect. He was never the first to speak and only answered when it was really necessary. He held firmly to the Faith and when I came to the Way I wished most to be like him and his brother. I attached myself to him and derived great benefit from his conduct and example. He was also much pleased with me. He endured all hurt while refraining from inflicting it himself. His visions were true and he enjoyed much converse with his Lord. His nights were spent in prayer and his days in fasting. He was never idle and applied himself assiduously to learning.

Four of us, he and his brother, a companion and myself, used to gather together, all sharing equally in the spiritual insights granted to us on those occasions. I never knew better days than those.

2.2.20.1- Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Khayyat

2.2.20.2- Telepathic Action

2.2.20.3- Abu al-Abbas Ahmad al-Hariri