and the answer is returned to me with what I know of you, if he commands me to send you, I will send you in the finest manner. When you meet him, you will see a man the like of whom you have never witnessed in knowledge, virtue, religion, wisdom, breadth of understanding, nobility of character, equity, and all praised states. When you make known to him the state you seek, you will find with him the opinion and knowledge you desire and which you will not find with me. I will write to him a letter and dispatch it quickly, explaining to him what you mentioned to me of the purpose that necessitated your disturbance from your lands to these lands."
He wrote to him, and it was but a few days until the reply arrived commanding him to send us. So we traveled in the finest state and most pleasant mind until we reached his presence. He settled us in the best of dwellings and brought to us that which, were we to describe it, the explanation would be long. Among what he sent to us were beautiful maidens, and he assigned maidens to each of us for our service, and he sent to us servants for our service and an agent.
The agent came to us asking permission for food, and we informed him that we were fasting. When it was the time for breaking the fast, he brought the table and presented foods of which we did not partake, nor did we place our hands upon them until half the night had almost passed. We ordered him to remove the food from before us. Then we stood for prayer and prayed until our prayer joined the morning prayer, which we prayed with a single purification (ṭuhr). We remained like that for ten days, during which we did not see the King, nor did we look at a maiden or anything of what was brought to us or what surrounded us. The King was monitoring our affairs from where we did not know.
On the eleventh day, he ordered us to be brought, and his assembly was cleared of people. When we stood before him and greeted him, he said to us: "Which of you is Abu Abd Allah Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Madani?" My Master said to him: "I am he." Then he turned to me and said: "Are you Abu al-Tahir Sabur b. al-Qasim b. Sabur the Ascetic?" I