Kijana Wa Kiislam

Sayyid Abu Bakr Attas Al-Habshy lived close to my home, in a simple house on a basalt hillside in the Nuzha District of Makkah Al-Mukarramah, but without accompanying my shaykh Sayyid Omar Abdullah I would never have met him. One of the greatest living saints of Makkah, a man of austerity, sobriety and profound knowledge, he was a recluse who never left his house except to attend the Friday congregational prayers. Sayyid Omar and I would visit Sayyid Attas after the Friday prayer and would sit with him until the afternoon prayer. He and Sayyid Omar had known each other for many years and would hold spiritual conversation while I looked on and listened. Visiting Sayyid Attas would become a Friday ritual whenever Sayyid Omar was in Makkah.
From Signs on the Horizons