One Shirt (Kurta) for seventeen Years

We observed Shaykh Zakariyyā  using one shirt (kurta) for seventeen
years, which he used to wear for six months consecutively in the winter
season. Furthermore, he had an izār (lower garment) which he used for
ten years. Ṣūfī Iqbāl  cited an incident regarding a sweater belonging
to Shaykh. He requested Shaykh  to give him that sweater. Shaykh 
replied, “Then, what will I use?” Ṣūfī Iqbāl  remained silent at that time,
but the next day, he purchased a new sweater from the market place for
Shaykh  and presented it to him. Upon receiving it, Shaykh  with a sigh
said, “You have acquired my sweater which I have been using for twenty
seven years!”
He had total dislike for material adornments. In every aspect of his
life, the Prophet  was his focal point whom he ardently followed.
In relation to eating, drinking, wearing of clothes and even bedding, he
followed the Prophet’s  blessed way.
How can I explain in a few minutes about his residence that was
made of mud (famously known as Kachchā Ghar)? How can I relate his
poverty and abstinence which he embraced by choice? Which of his many
stories should I narrate? I regularly relate that during these blessed days
of Ramaḍān, Shaykh’s  food consumption for the entire month was not
even equivalent to our food intake for one day. If we were to measure in
a scale our daily intake against Shaykh’s  minimal consumption over
the whole month, our daily intake would outweigh Shaykh’s  monthly
consumption. May Allāh Almighty grant us the ability to follow the
Prophet’s  sunna in relation to his eating, drinking, standing and
sitting, in fact in each and every aspect of his life.