may God be pleased with him—to leave his retreat in the rooms of the guarded lighthouse situated east of Tunis, on the seashore, and descend to the retreat house in the midst of the graves near the lighthouse, on the side of its entrance. This place is associated with al-Khidr. I asked him about this, and he said: “I find my heart more fully there than in the lighthouse.”
I too found there what the shaykh described. My friend—may God preserve him—knows that this is because of those who inhabit the place: either, at present, honoured angels or truthful jinn, or through the aspiration of someone who once inhabited it and is now gone. Such are Abu Yazid’s house, called the House of the Righteous; al-Junayd’s retreat at al-Shuniziyyah; Ibn Adham’s cave at al-Yaqin; and other places of the righteous who have passed away from this abode while their traces remain in their places, affecting subtle hearts.
To this goes back the difference in excellence between mosques as regards finding one’s heart, rather than the multiplication of reward. You may find your heart more fully in one mosque than in another. This is because of sitting with companions, or because of their aspirations, rather than because of the soil. Someone who finds no difference in the presence of his heart between the marketplace and mosques possesses a state, not a station.
(Those Who Inhabit the Sacred Mosque and Their Effect upon the Heart)
I have no doubt, through unveiling and knowledge, that although angels inhabit the whole earth and differ in their kinds of knowledge and ranks, those highest in rank and greatest in knowledge and recognition inhabit the Sacred Mosque. Your experience is according to the company you keep, for the aspirations of one’s companions—
