Here is another tales about the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, this time telling of the devotion inspired in the heart of his beloved student Hazrat Amir Khusrow.

Hazrat Amir Khusrow was the most beloved disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. He was the only one who could enter the room of his murshid at all times of the day. He was also a courtier in the service of several successive sultans.

Once, at the conclusion of a successful campaign in Bengal, Hazrat Amir sought permission from the sultan to return to Delhi to visit his murshid. Permission was granted and he returned with camels and horses laden with wealth.

When he was nearing Delhi, a strange event occurred. While staying in an inn, Hazrat Amir suddenly exclaimed, “The perfume of my sheikh has come! The perfume of my sheikh has come!”

He began to made enquiries and at last discovered in the inn a poor man who was returning home from Delhi, having gone there to ask for alms from Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. At the moment of his visit it had happened that there was really nothing in the khanqah, and so the sheikh had given the man his own sandals so that he would not leave empty handed. Needless to say, the man was disappointed to have come away from Delhi with nothing but a worn old pair of sandals.

The man’s good fortunes were revealed, however, when Hazrat Amir offered to buy the sandals—and paid for them with his horses and camels and all the wealth they carried. Hazrat Amir Khusrow then returned to his murshid, bearing the sandals on his head as a kind of crown.

When asked what he had paid for those sandals, Hazrat Amir answered, “I have given away all my wealth.” Hazrat Nizamuddin said, “You have bought them at a cheap price!” This Hazrat Amir Khusrow confirmed, and added, “But if necessary, I would have paid for them with my life!”