Abdal Kadir Geylani was a wise old man. He had ships that were fine. He had ships that were fast. They sped to him from all over the world with riches and gold.

One day he was reading Qur’an. A friend ran in to see him.

“Sidi!” he said. “There is bad news! Your ships have gone down in a storm. Everything is lost!”

Abdal Kadir Geylani said nothing. He put his head down, as if he were listening to something.

“Sidi! Did you hear what I said?”

“Yes, I heard you. Alhamdulillah,”  praise be to God.

The friend went away. “How odd,” he thought. A few weeks later his friend came running back again.

“Sidi! There is good news! Your ships have all been found! They will be in port tomorrow, inshaAllah, God willing! Everything, everyone is safe!”

Abdal Kadir Geylani put his head down, as if he were listening to something.

“Alhamdulillah,” he said simply.

“Sidi, may I ask you something? I told you all your ships were lost. You said, ‘Alhamdulillah.’  And I told you now that your ships were all found, you said the same thing in the same way. Why?”

“My friend, you told me all was lost. I looked into my heart. Did this news make me stop remembering Allah? No, alhamdulillah, it did not.

Then you told me all was found, so I looked again. Did the news make me stop remembering Allah? No, Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.”