The emperor’s gold. One day, the caliph of Baghdad, the commander of all believers, ordered forty bags of gold to be loaded on camels for delivery to the mosque where ‘Abd al-Qadir was teaching. The latter readied himself to receive the monarch, who did him the honor of accompanying this royal gift in person. As soon as ‘Abd al-Qadir learned that the bags contained gold from the royal treasury, he politely but vehemently refused to accept them: “Prince of the faithful, this gold was taken by you from the blood and sweat of the people. I want no part of it. Look, these bags contain blood!” While speaking thus, ‘Abd al-Qadir squeezed some of the bags with his hands and oh horror! Blood appeared through the material and flowed in streams down the camels’ backs. “See, oh caliph, if you were not a scion of the holy prophets house, I would make this blood flood your palace!” Ashamed, the prodigal caliph went away with his gold.

The lunatic woman. In Baghdad a man once came to ‘Abd al-Qadir and asked him to cure his wife’s madness. ‘Abd al-Qadir told him, “Your wife is possessed by a jinn called Hanis. Go home and stand in front of her, then address the demon thus: ‘Go away and never come back. If you ever come near my wife again, ‘Abd al-Qadir will destroy you!’ ” The man did exactly what the saint had told him and, not only was his wife healthy and happy, but for forty years there was no more madness in the city of Baghdad.

The chicken bones. One day ‘Abd al-Qa Qadir was eating a chicken when the mother of one of his pupils came to see him. She complained that her son had only dry bread to eat. ‘Abd al-Qadir covered the chicken bones on the plate with his hand and recited a verse from the Koran: “He will return dry bones to life.” At once, the chicken jumped alive from under his hand. “When your son can do this, he too may eat chicken,” concluded ‘Abd al-Qa Qadir.

The harrier. One day, as ‘Abd al-Qadir was teaching in the open air, a harrier flew over the students’ heads, shrieking loudly. When it did not fly away but wheeled around, it completely disrupted the lecture because the superstitious students believed that a harrier’s cry spelled misfortune. ‘Abd al-Qadir, realizing that the students were being prevented from acquiring knowledge by a bird of prey, suddenly called to an invisible person in the air: “You, go and cut his head off.” At once, the bird’s head was severed from its body; head and trunk fell separately to earth. ‘Abd al-Qadir rose, walked over to where the head and body had fallen, picked them up, put them together, and spoke: “In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate.” At once the head and body grew together again and the bird straightened itself, perching on the saint’s hand.