Despite Ivory Coast's burning sun, several hundred people waited outside of the Abidjan airport for two hours for Shaykh Hisham to come out. The welcome was phenomenal and Mawlana created a stir several times in town.
Some folk singers ("griots") improvised special salawaat incorporating Mawlana Shaykh Hisham's name and at some point it turned into a mini-hadrah. This was a surreal moment, to see all these people who never met the shaykh being drawn to him and fighting to kiss his jubbah. "