from Shaykh Abū al-Ḥusayn some lines of verse, and he added: “He was a man of great standing. He could sit for fifteen days and take nothing but a single morsel; he sustained himself on wild carob and would dry fish for provisions.

Yūsuf, the shaykh’s son, told me: ‘The shaykh once took a pinch of snuff from a small pouch. A man saw him and wanted to do the same, but when he tasted it he found it bitter. When the shaykh came back the man asked, “Master, what is in the pouch?” The shaykh handed him a handful, and—lo and behold—it was sugar and almond kernels.’

Abū al-Muẓaffar al-Samʿānī narrated to us from his father: ‘I heard ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik the ascetic in Karaj say, “I heard Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Maqdisī—who was endowed with marvellous signs and extraordinary miracles and who had roamed the whole world—say: ‘I saw a non-Arab in Khurasan preaching; his name was Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb (1).’”’

He also said: Abū Tammām Ḥamd ibn Turki ibn Māḍī related to me:
‘My grandfather told me: We were in Asqalan on the day of ʿĪd when Abū al-Ḥusayn the ascetic came up to a woman carrying hot bread and said, “Would your husband—who is on pilgrimage—like some of this bread?” She handed him two loaves. He wrapped them in his waist-cloth, went off to Mecca, and said to the man, “Take this; it is from your family.” He produced the loaves still hot, then returned. That very day people saw him both in Mecca and in Asqalan. Later the man came and said, “Did you not give me the two loaves?” He replied, “Do not say that; you are mistaken.”’

My grandfather Māḍī also told me: ‘Abū al-Ḥusayn was once in Asqalan, and the gatekeepers had been ordered, “Do not let him out, for fear of the Franks.” He came, ran out with his shirt clenched between his teeth, and suddenly found himself on Mount Lebanon. He then said to his own soul, “Woe to you! Are you among those who have reached such a rank?”’

Masʿūd al-Yamanī reported: ‘The Franks said, “If there were another man among you like Abū al-Ḥusayn…”’