ABSTRACT
After the Pilgrimage at the close of the year 1330 I set out from Mecca, making for Yemen. I arrived at Judda [Jedda], an ancient town on the sea-coast, which is said to have been built by the Persians. A strange thing happened to me here. A blind man, whom I did not know and who did not know me, called me by name, and taking my hand said “ Where is the ring ?” Now, as I left Mecca, a religious mendicant had met me and asked me for alms, and as I had nothing with me at the time, I had given him my ring. I told the blind man this, and he said “ Go back and look for it, for there are names written on it which contain a great secret.” I was greatly astonished at him and at his knowledge of this—God knows who he was. At the Friday service at Judda, the muezzin comes and counts the number of the inhabitants of the town present. If they amount to forty the preacher holds the Friday service, but if they are fewer he prays the midday prayer four times, taking no account or the strangers present, however many they may be.
