Sister, let me tell you a story about Shiekh Sudais. First when I made Hajj back in 2001 and we had the Jumah prayer there, the Sheikh gave the khutbah. I couldn't understand what he was saying but it felt like he was cracking the whip. Later on, he made a trip to South Florida. We waited in anticipation at a hotel in Miami. A bunch of us. Patrons at the hotel were probably wondering why all these Muslims where converging there. They didn't know the Imam of the Meccan Haram was coming. When he came the people stood up and swarmed to him. He gave a lecture in a conference room and led the prayer outside of it in the open area of the hotel. People began swarming towards him again. My friend who introduced me to Islam a decade earlier was shouting to the people, "back away, you are not praying to the Shiekh but to Allah." SubhanAllah. Anyways after that night, he stayed north of Miami and was a guest at our local masjid for about 3 days. At the time you couldn't get more than 10 people to pray Isha at the masjid but when news spread that the Sheikh was there, that place was overflowing with Muslims. Much to the banter of my friends who made the effort to call people out on it, lol. Anyways, for me Sudais was the best reciter of the Quran. His voice is mesmorizing to me. So one night just before the Isha prayer, my friend takes me by the hand and escorts me to the back office where the Shiekh was sitting with the masjid officials and Saudi embassy official. My friend goes to him and says in Arabic, "this is one of your biggest fans who would like to meet you". SubhanAllah, I was filled with emotion. The shiekh could sense I was choking up, so you know what he did to break the awkwardness? He reached down and handed me a cookie. LOL Let me tell you, you could hear the crying going on when he was leading the prayer. It was hard not to choke up. May Allah Azza wa Jal reward the Sheikh for his service to Islam.
