We were standing underneath the scorching Sun waiting for a taxi, here in Madeenah any person with a car usually pulls over and picks you up taking you wherever you wish to go, the grandchildren of the Sahabah are very welcoming unlike the blazing sun.
Today was a special day we had been invited to the house of one of the scholars of Madeenah, this wasnt something unusual, however any chance you had in the presence of the inheritors of the Prophets was truly a blessing.
We finally managed to jump into a car and got ourselves to the masjid of the Shaykh, since he was very busy we decided to sit in the masjid and wait for the Dhuhr Salah, after we finished praying he came into the masjid with a big smile and greeted us all and then said excuse me I did not manage to pray my sunnah prayers and in a swift manner he prayed all six units of salah whilst we sat and waited. I remember thinking to myself this is the biggest difference between a true scholar and us.
As soon as he finished his salah he turned towards us and told us to come with him to his house we followed him and as we walked he kept asking about how we were and how the studies at the Uni were going, and if any silence ever fell upon us he would quickly fill it with Dhikr.
Stepping into his humble abode was amazing, books everywhere and I mean literally everywhere! I used to think I had many books but my collection was nothing compared to the Shaykhs. The Shaykh left us for a short while only to come back with smoke coming out of the bottom of his thowb, we were kinda shocked, but later on we found out that this is a custom the arabs have, they stand with their thowb above some burning ‘ood and let the smoky fragrance enter their clothes.
As we sat there talking about matters of the religion the Shaykhs beautiful young son came with dates and coffee, the hospitality of the Shaykh can’t be describe with words, he kept repeating, will you not eat? Please have some more! It made me remember the story of Ibraaheem in the Quran.
The more I studied the Shaykh, specially his face, the more I saw the fatigue and how tired he seemed and I realised seeking knowledge does not come with ease and if a person truly is sincere he will stay up many a nights reading and writing.
The Shaykh offered to drive us back home to the uni campus but we told him we’d take a taxi and that we didn’t want to burden him any more, the Shaykh looked at us and smiled saying:
“Burden?! You are our guests here in Madeenah, having left your families and friends to seek knowledge, it is a privilege to serve you”
We kissed him on his forehead and said:
“O Noble Shaykh! Hospitality like this, one will never find but in the City of the Prophet!”
To benefit more go to
http://www.khaldun.wordpress.com or follow the dawah on
http://www.twitter.com/Aboo_Thaabit or
http://www.youtube.com/AbooThaabit 
