It is narrated that Shaykh ʿAlī al-Ṣaʿīdī used to say to his student al-Dardīr,
‘They say that you see the Messenger of Allah ﷺ a lot. If you see him, ask him about my state.”
He did so and saw the Prophet ﷺ, who said to him, ‘He is a pious person, except that he has some harshness.’
When Shaykh al-Ṣaʿīdī heard this, he cried a lot. His student al-Dardīr asked him, ‘What makes you cry?’
He said, ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ has rebuked me for my deficiency in visiting him. I have grown old and cannot bear the difficulty of travel. If you see him one more time, I will tell him about this.’
He did so – he saw the Prophet ﷺ again saying to him, ‘Tell him [i.e. Shaykh al-Ṣaʿīdī] that I am with Imam al-Shāfiʿī every Friday after ʿAṣr until Fajr, so come to me there.’
Shaykh al-Ṣaʿīdī went to the scholars of al-Azhar and told them. Then it became their habit to visit the grave of Imam al-Shāfiʿī every Friday in large groups one after the other from ʿAṣr until Fajr, at that great time when scholars were truly scholars and students were true seekers of knowledge.
From the book al-Kanz al-Thari (The Bountiful Treasures)
