The taxi driver

Reference: Safahaat Mushriqah min Hayaat al-Imaam Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen – Page 79
al-Madeenah ((ar-Risaalah)), number: 13788

Ihsaan ibn Muhammad al-’Utaybee narrates:

After having prayed in al-Masjid al-Haraam, the Shaykh left the Haram wanting to go somewhere by car. So he stopped a taxi and sat in it. During the journey, the taxi driver wanted to get to know his passenger, so he asked: “Who are you, O Shaykh?”

The Shaykh replied: “Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen.”

Surprised, the taxi driver asked: “Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen?” He thought the Shaykh was lying to him, since he could not believe someone like the Shaykh would ever be a passenger in his taxi.

So the Shaykh replied: “Yes, the Shaykh.”

So the taxi driver turned his head towards the Shaykh out of sheer surprise.

The Shaykh then asked: “Who are you, O brother?”

So the taxi driver replied: “Shaykh ‘Abdul-’Azeez ibn Baaz!”

The Shaykh laughed, enquiring: “You’re Shaykh ‘Abdul-’Azeez ibn Baaz?!”

The taxi driver replied: “Yeah! Just like you’re Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen!”

So the Shaykh said: “But Shaykh ‘Abdul-’Azeez ibn Baaz is blind, and does not drive a car!”

Just then it dawned upon the taxi driver that the passenger sitting next to him was indeed the Shaykh, Ibn ‘Uthaymeen; and what a fine mess he had got himself into now!

He is a graduate of the Islaamic University of Madeenah, having graduated from the Institute of Arabic Language, and later the Faculty of Sharee'ah in 2004. He currently resides in Birmingham, UK.

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