Humility is one of his innumerable qualities. We witnessed his great humility in such a way that we ourselves, being Murids, were seized by it the first time we saw it. Indeed, he was taking the shoes of the Fouqaras to put them away. This image has remained engraved in my memory ever since. And this was the opposite of the attitude of the other Sheikh of the Zawya to whom I had pledged allegiance. Our Sheikh would be found serving his guests by himself. He fulfills his own needs. Many times we would sit with him awaiting dinner and have the water run out. He would get up on his own to fetch it without ordering us to. Yet if he had, any of us would have found the order sweeter to our hearts than honey. Likewise, he cannot be distinguished among his disciples by his clothes or by his food. You will find him wearing the Murakah and eating whatever he finds. One of the Fouqaras told me that he went out one day with our Sheikh who picked up a piece of bread on the road that was discarded on the ground. Once they got into the car, the Fouqaras saw him happily eating that piece of bread. From this we knew that he considered everything as a benefit of Allah, even the smallest details. Another sign of his humility is that we see him treating people equally. He adresses the child as he does the grown-up. He elevates the one who has less knowledge and wisdom than him. All of this is what the True One has given him from the treasures of His knowledge and the abundance of His Mercy. Thus, as the servant delves deeper in the Knowledge of Allah, his humility inevitably increases. Generosity and kindness are also counted in his qualities. They are manifested in their deepest image and their noblest degree in the act of giving Light to his disciples, of leading them in the presence of the “Sir/Secret”. It should be made crystal clear that only the one who gives his “Sir” is a Sheikh, and the same can be said about the Light. This is the truest form of generosity, for he who gives you the Light gives you that which remains forever, while he who gave you something of the material world gives you something that will eventually wither. As a Fakir, I genuinely testify of his generosity as I was with him during the visit of a Zawya. When he saw their situation and their extreme poverty, he cried his eyes out. He took out of his pocket all his wealth and gave it to them. This was despite the fact that he was on a long journey, in a place far from his blessed Zawya. He came out of there without a penny in his pocket. Among his qualities is the fact that he is found asking about the status of every Fakir, about his life and work and helping the poor among them. Yet he has no possessions in this life.
Sidi Sheikh has mercy for all creatures. He suffers when they do, and is concerned about their states. He does not despise any being. He loves everyone, whomever it may be; man or jinn, animal or inanimate. He does not fear anyone’s blame regarding Allah, he gives little importance to the evil that might come his way in this path of calling Allah. He says, “We throw light on the people and they throw fire on us.” He is also quite patient for Allah, enduring evil in His path, exalted be He. One of the signs of his patience and magnanimity was when he came out of the mosque one day, and was met by a man who spat in his noble face. Our Sheikh did not even think of taking revenge or returning the insult, on the contrary, he wiped his face and went on his way. He did not inform any of the people who loved him of the identity of that man, lest they would act out of their rightful anger. Another similar instance was a man whom was uttering many profanities at our Sheikh; this man would go to people with the intention of tarnishing the image of the Sheikh. He did so for a long time until Allah put the love of the Sheikh in his heart which led him to our Sheikh and made him ask to enter his Tariqa. The Sheikh welcomed him without animosity, he welcomed him with open arms and a smile on his face, when the man moved to tell the Sheikh about all the wrongs he had done him, the Sheikh said:“I have forgotten all that, don’t tell me about it.” The man told me: “When I was starting the dhikr and bad thoughts were coming to me [you will never have the Fath, you were a great enemy of the Shaykh. You used to say this and that about him] I would rush to the Shaykh. I told him what was happening to me. The Sheikh said to me, “If these thoughts come to you, tell them, ‘The Sheikh knows all this and he has forgiven me. So those bad thoughts went away.” This is only a scratch in the surface of his compassion for creatures. It comes from his having trodden all the Divine realms on his feet, from where he saw that everything comes from Allah, from the beginning to the end. I accompanied him for a long time. He made me know the perfection of his character and dazzled me with the beauty of his behavior, in a way that I, as a Fakir, stopped attending the Zawya for a while. I was actually afraid of being in his presence. So, he went out and met me outside which was quite a surprise for me. Among his qualities are fidelity and probity that is why Allah chose his heart as the receptacle of His holy secret. In truth, I confess that I have never seen in my life a person who gathers so many qualities in their perfection in the way that Sidi Sheikh gathers them, may Allah increase his nobility.