The Baghdadi hadith scholar Abu Muhammad ibn al-Akhdar relates that he used to visit Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani in the middle of winter, when the cold was severe. He describes the Shaykh wearing only one shirt and a cap, while people around him fanned him and sweat came from his body as though he were in intense heat. The named witness was a respected contemporary transmitter, making the report more substantial than an anonymous later tale.
A report preserved by al-Dhahabi gives a vivid winter scene from the life of Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani. The witness is Abu Muhammad ibn al-Akhdar. His wording is notable: he says that he “used to visit” the Shaykh in the middle of winter, at the height of its cold. This sounds like the recollection of a familiar or repeated winter sight rather than a story introduced as one isolated, dated incident, although the source does not state how many times it occurred.
Ibn al-Akhdar describes Abd al-Qadir wearing only a single shirt, with a cap on his head. Despite the severe cold, people around the Shaykh were fanning him. The reason becomes clear in the next part of the report: sweat was coming from his body in the way one would expect during intense heat. The force of the account lies in this contrast—deep winter and powerful cold on one side, light clothing, fanning, and visible perspiration on the other.
The witness himself is also important. Abu Muhammad ibn al-Akhdar can be identified as Abd al-Aziz ibn Mahmud ibn al-Mubarak ibn al-Akhdar, a Baghdadi hadith scholar born in 524 AH and deceased in 611 AH. Al-Dhahabi describes him as a trustworthy and learned transmitter, and preserves similarly strong assessments from other hadith scholars. Since Abd al-Qadir died in 561 AH, Ibn al-Akhdar was an adult contemporary and was capable of reporting what he personally remembered seeing.
The same core observation is also preserved by al-Dhahabi in Tarikh al-Islam. Thus the story is not merely a later anonymous legend: it is a named observation transmitted through Ibn al-Najjar and preserved in major classical biographical works. Later devotional compilations also repeated the same winter description, showing that the scene became part of the remembered portrait of the Shaykh.
The classical report does not itself explain why Abd al-Qadir was sweating so intensely in the cold, and it does not assign a mechanism to the condition. That question should therefore remain separate from the observation itself. What the source actually gives is already striking enough: a known contemporary scholar remembered entering upon Abd al-Qadir in severe winter cold, seeing him lightly dressed, sweating heavily, while people nearby fanned him as if the season were one of intense heat.
For publication, the most useful emphasis is therefore the witnessed scene and the identity of the witness. Al-Dhahabi’s broader caution about exaggerated karamat remains relevant, but it need not overwhelm the story. The report can be presented with caution as a classically preserved, named contemporary observation of an unusual bodily state in severe winter.
Ibn al-Akhdar describes Abd al-Qadir wearing only a single shirt, with a cap on his head. Despite the severe cold, people around the Shaykh were fanning him. The reason becomes clear in the next part of the report: sweat was coming from his body in the way one would expect during intense heat. The force of the account lies in this contrast—deep winter and powerful cold on one side, light clothing, fanning, and visible perspiration on the other.
The witness himself is also important. Abu Muhammad ibn al-Akhdar can be identified as Abd al-Aziz ibn Mahmud ibn al-Mubarak ibn al-Akhdar, a Baghdadi hadith scholar born in 524 AH and deceased in 611 AH. Al-Dhahabi describes him as a trustworthy and learned transmitter, and preserves similarly strong assessments from other hadith scholars. Since Abd al-Qadir died in 561 AH, Ibn al-Akhdar was an adult contemporary and was capable of reporting what he personally remembered seeing.
The same core observation is also preserved by al-Dhahabi in Tarikh al-Islam. Thus the story is not merely a later anonymous legend: it is a named observation transmitted through Ibn al-Najjar and preserved in major classical biographical works. Later devotional compilations also repeated the same winter description, showing that the scene became part of the remembered portrait of the Shaykh.
The classical report does not itself explain why Abd al-Qadir was sweating so intensely in the cold, and it does not assign a mechanism to the condition. That question should therefore remain separate from the observation itself. What the source actually gives is already striking enough: a known contemporary scholar remembered entering upon Abd al-Qadir in severe winter cold, seeing him lightly dressed, sweating heavily, while people nearby fanned him as if the season were one of intense heat.
For publication, the most useful emphasis is therefore the witnessed scene and the identity of the witness. Al-Dhahabi’s broader caution about exaggerated karamat remains relevant, but it need not overwhelm the story. The report can be presented with caution as a classically preserved, named contemporary observation of an unusual bodily state in severe winter.
Conclusion
A respected contemporary witness, Abu Muhammad ibn al-Akhdar, reports that he used to see Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani in severe winter cold wearing one shirt and a cap, while sweat poured from his body and people fanned him as though he were in intense heat.
Sources
Siyar al-A‘lam al-Nubala 20:449: Ibn al-Najjar says he heard Abu Muhammad ibn al-Akhdar describe Abd al-Qadir sweating heavily in severe winter cold while wearing one shirt.
Tarikh al-Islam, vol. 39, independently preserves Abu Muhammad ibn al-Akhdar’s winter observation of Abd al-Qadir wearing one shirt and sweating as in severe heat.
Al-Dhahabi states in the same biography that many karamat attributed to Abd al-Qadir are not sound and some attributed claims are impossible.