—and among human beings, the place is known for the acceptance of supplications offered there. (1)

He went on: “I asked Shujaʿ al-Mudlaji and others about al-Khilʿī—To what does the nisba (attributive surname) refer? No one could tell me anything. I then asked al-Sadid al-Rabaʿi, an upright man who knew the history of the Egyptians, and he said: ‘His father was a draper, and the Egyptian emirs of the palace used to buy robes of investiture from him. He would give one-third of his profits in charity.’

Ibn Rifāʿa recounted that he had heard from al-Habbāl that he once came to al-Khilʿī, who drove him away for a time; there was something between them— I suspect it concerned creed. This report, however, is objectionable, for Abū Isḥāq al-Habbāl had been forbidden to transmit hadith several years before his death, and Ibn Rifāʿa was too young to have taken anything from him before that.

Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad the Devout said: I heard Shaykh Ibn Bakhīsāh (2) say:

“We used to enter the session of the judge Abū al-Ḥasan al-Khilʿī and would find him, in winter and summer alike, wearing only a single shirt. His face was supremely handsome and showed no change from cold or heat. I asked him about this; his expression changed and his eyes filled with tears (3). Then he said, ‘Will you keep what I am about to tell you secret?’

I replied, ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘One day a fever (4) overtook me. That night I slept, and a voice called out to me, addressing me by name. I responded, “At Your service.”’