Ibn Battuta and the Kurdish ascetic

Ibn Battuta, the 14th-century explorer, meets an ascetic in the Kurdish town of Sinjar: 

Thereafter we travelled to the city of Sinjar, which is a large town with an abundance of fruits and trees, and per-manent springs and streams, built at the foot of a mountain, and resembling Damascus in the number of its streams and gardens. Its cathedral mosque is a famous place of blessing; it is stated that prayer made in it is answered, and it is en-circled and traversed by a running stream. The inhabitants of Sinjar are Kurds, and are brave and generous. One of those whom | I met there was a pious shaikh and devotee, the ascetic 'Abdallah al-Kurdi, one of the great shaikhs and en-dowed with miraculous powers. It is stated of him that he eats only after fasting for forty days, and then breaks his fast only with half a cake of barley bread. I met him in a hermi-tage on top of the mountain of Sinjar, when he prayed on my behalf and provided me with some silver pieces which I kept in my possession until I was despoiled by the Indian infidels.