A closer look
Imagine a billionaire CEO giving away his entire fortune just to play a tambourine in the subway. That was Abu al-Hasan al-Shushtari, a wealthy 13th-century Andalusian merchant who ditched his luxury lifestyle to become a wandering Sufi mystic. He roamed the streets in a beggar's cloak, aggressively playing castanets and singing spiritual poetry, which infuriated the religious elite but made him a legend to the commoners.






