Basil, who also traveled to Mauritania to spend time with Imam Hamza's shaykh. At the farewell function, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, Chairman of As-Sunna Foundation , spent a considerable time discussing with Shaykh Khatry the situation in Mauritania. Shown was the very simple lifestyle of these Beduin scholars. They have no books whatsoever. The land they live in is harsh in the extreme, with no tree or even hill to shade them.
Transportation is by foot, donkey or camel.
The students, who come from all around Africa, write their lessons on a tablet of wood, known as a lawha , in humble imitation of the Preserved Tablets in the Divine Presence. The lesson is memorized by repetition, the count being kept on a simple tasbih , as adept students know how the precise number of repetitions it takes to memorize the lawha . After having memorized it, counting either 33 or 50 or 100 repetitions, the students erase the tablet, to begin the next lesson. Thus, the lessons are memorized perfectly, in much the manner of Imam Malik's students, and following the identical manner of transmission from teacher to student, who in turn will pass on the teaching to his students when he has received the ' ijaza to teach. Shaykh Hisham bids Shaykh Khatry a fond farewell.