Al Salamu 'Alaykum.
It is narrated that Abu Dulamah visited Al Mansur (the 'Abbasid Khalifa) while dressed in the uniform that Mansur had ordered them to wear i.e a tall, black cap, a cloak with the following Qur'anic verse engraved on the back: "Allah is sufficient for you against them. He is the All-Seeing, the All-Knowing.", and with his sword hanging from his waist (the normal practice of the Arabs being to hang the sword around the neck).
The following conversation ensued:
Al Mansur: How are you, O Abu Dulamah?
Abu Dulamah: Not well at all, O Amir al Mu'minin!
Al Mansur: Why is that?
Abu Dulamah: What do you expect from one whose face is in the middle of his clothes (due to the topi), whose sword is in his posterior and who has thrown the Qur'an behind his back?
Al Mansur was greatly amused by this retort and immediately ordered that the uniform be changed. (
Tafsir Qurtubi)
Adapted from Mufti Husain Kadodia's "The Crown of a Believer".
