That was obviously the king of the jinns, so the man stepped forward into the circle of servants and addressed the king as he had been instructed: “Sire, Sheikh ‘Abd al-Qadir sends me to ask that you do justice. One of your subjects has stolen my daughter, and I do not know where she is or what he has done to her. Can you find her for me?”

On hearing the name of ‘Abd al-Qadir, the king immediately summoned his captains to go find out which of the jinns had captured a human girl. After some time they came back with a big male jinn and the man’s daughter. The king spoke to man: “Here is your daughter back. We do not want to harm any of ‘Abd al-Qadir’s friends, for he could bring down the wrath of the Almighty upon our heads!”

How ‘Abd al-Qadir killed two robbers. The holy man was teaching one day when two men arrived in a state of great agitation. “O learned sheikh!” they cried. “We have been robbed of all our possessions! We were traveling in a caravan along the narrow path that leads through the forest of Nisabur when we were set upon by robbers. They were led by two gang leaders who took our pack animals and also the animals that carried our wives. We two escaped. What can we do? We will give you all our goods if we can at least be reunited with our wives.

‘Abd al-Qadir rose without speaking and picked up his wooden slippers; stepping outside, he flung his slippers into the air, one after the other. His footwear disappeared without being seen to fall anywhere. Thereupon, ‘Abd al-Qadir spoke, “You can now go back safely to the forest and recover your possessions and your wives.” Deeply puzzled, the two men set off and rode as fast as they could to the forest whence they came.

After some searching they found the robbers’ camp. Their wives were there unhurt, and all their money and goods too, and more: all the robbers’ loot from years of plundering caravans.

The wives told the men what had happened: “Suddenly, a wooden object came whistling through the air and hit one of the gang leaders, then another came down and crushed the other bandit’s head. Upon seeing their leaders dead, the robbers fled in panic.” The dead bodies of the two gang leaders were still there, and the merchants recovered the two wooden slippers belonging to ‘Abd al-Qadir, which were lying beside the men.