Supporting the religion and establishing it at the hands of the Ansar

[ Ibn Arabi in Damascus and the Hadith of the Ansar ]

It happened to us in a hadith The Ansar is what we will mention, God willing, and that is that we have in Damascus a man of virtue, literature and religion, called Yahya bin Al-Akhfash, from the people of Marrakesh. His father was studying Arabic there, so he wrote to me one day from his home in Damascus while I was there, saying to me in his letter, “O my friend, I saw the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace.” Yesterday, in the Damascus Mosque, the Qur’an attributed to Othman, may God be pleased with him, was placed in the preaching booth, next to the treasury, and people were rushing to him and entering to him, pledging allegiance to him. I remained standing until the people were afraid, so I entered upon him and took his hand. He said to me, “Do you know Muhammad?” I said to him, “O Messenger of God, who is Muhammad?” and Ibn al-Arabi said to him. He said, “So I said.” Yes, I know him, so the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said to him: If we have ordered him to do something, then tell him: The Messenger of God says to you: Stand up for what I have commanded you to do and accompany him, for you will benefit from his company. And say to him: The Messenger of God says to you: Praise the Ansar and you will certainly appoint Saad bin Ubadah among them. Then he summoned Hassan bin Thabit. Then the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said to him, “O Hassan, he preserved a verse and conveyed it to Muhammad ibn al-Arabi. He would build on it and weave in its style in narrations and narrations.” So Hassan said, “O Yahya, take it to yourself and recite to me a verse,” which is

The passion of asceticism is for my frying pan and my shrines *** For the tears are my picks and my shrines