On the way, the caravan he was travelling with was held up by some
bandits. One of them asked Abdul Qadir if he had anything of value with
him. He replied that he had forty gold coins. The robber did not believe
him and moved on to another victim. One after another the bandits came
and questioned him and he gave them all the same answer. Unbelieving,
the bandit leader finally asked him to show him where the money was.
Abdul Qadir produced his cloak and the money was found concealed in its
lining. Surprised and puzzled at such truthfulness, the bandit asked him
why he had owned up to the possession of something of value, when he
could easily have denied it, thus saving his money. Abdul Qadir replied that
he had made a promise of truthfulness to his mother, regardless of the
circumstances. This statement gave the bandit leader a jolt. There and then
he fell at his feet and, repenting of his wrongdoing, he said: “You keep the
promise you made to your mother, while we forget the promise that we
made to our Creator.” The miscreants returned all their ill-gotten gains to
their victims with a feeling of true remorse.
In Baghdad, Abdul Qadir felt drawn to the Hambalite school of Islamic
law, and studied it with great perseverance, in spite of constantly finding
himself in great financial difficulties. Poverty and hunger did nothing to dilute
his eagerness for knowledge. He made a careful study of the
hadith
(sayings
of the Prophet), jurisprudence and literature. His spiritual training was
given to him by Shaykh Abul Khayr Hammad ibn Muslim al-Dabbas (d.
1131),
an unlettered saint who was famous for his spiritual excellence. By
then Abdul Qadir had already acquired a reputation as a jurist, but the Sufis
were not well disposed to his becoming one of them. However, since
mysticism was looked upon favourably by some of the Hambalite jurists of
Th e Qa d r i Or d e r 114
