The Zivchei Tzedek, known as Rabbi Abdallah Somech, who happened to be the rabbi of the Ben Ish Chai, lived in Baghdad, Iraq, and had a yeshiva called Beit Zilkha. In his time, a Jew had unfortunately converted to Islam and had a deep hatred for Jews. One day, he decided to make up a story against a Jew and took him to a Muslim court. The Jew came to court, and the man filed a complaint against him, saying that he owed him a lot of money. The Jew stood in court and swore that he did not owe him the money. The Muslims knew that when a Jew swears, he means it: he is telling the truth. So the Jew came out victorious in the case.
The Jew who had converted to Islam was very angry. Because of that, he went to the Wali, which was the Muslim ruler at the time, and told him that when Jews swear, they're full of baloney. Every year, on the holiday of Kippur, they have a prayer called Kol Nidrei, and in Kol Nidrei, they cancel all their vows and everything they promised and swore all year long. So their swearing in court means nothing. When the Wali heard that, he became enraged and sent three officers to summon Rabbi Abdallah Somech to come to him.
The three officers went to Beit Zilkha to ask the rabbi to come to the Wali, but when they saw him, they began to shake. Rabbi Abdallah Somech had a light on him, with the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) around him, and they were afraid to go near him. So they turned around and went back to the Wali and told him, “We could not go close to the rabbi. He's like an angel, not born from a woman.” The Wali got upset and sent another three officers to summon the rabbi. The three officers also saw the rabbi's holiness and couldn't approach him, so they sent a piece of paper with a message that the Wali wanted to see him.
When they slipped the paper to the rabbi, he got up in the middle of his shiur (lesson) to go to the Wali. When he got up, all his students—his hundreds of students—started to follow him. When they walked out of the yeshiva and the Jewish people saw the rabbi walking with hundreds of his students, all the Jews of Baghdad began to join them. By the time he got to the Wali, thousands of people were following Rabbi Abdallah Somech to see the Wali. As they got closer to the Wali's palace, the Wali looked out the window and saw thousands of people escorting Rabbi Abdallah Somech. Rabbi Abdallah Somech himself looked like an angel from the heavens.
When he arrived at the palace, the Wali welcomed him in and asked him to come with him. He apologized for disturbing him by asking him to come. He had no energy and was afraid even to ask him about Kol Nidrei. So he turned to one of the students, Rabbi Moshe Tzadka, and asked him, “Tell me, what is this Kol Nidrei? Is it true that the Jews cancel all their oaths and promises of the year on Kippur?”
Rabbi Moshe Tzadka turned to the Wali and told him, “Chas v'shalom, heaven forbid. Kol Nidrei is only for Shevuot (oaths) that are made by accident, Shogeg. Furthermore, it does not include money matters. When a Jew swears about money matters, there is no annulment of vows. Therefore, the Shevuot, the swearing of Jews, is very serious. Nobody would, heaven forbid, swear in vain.”
When the Wali heard that and was satisfied with the answer, he became angry at the Jew who had converted to Islam. He summoned him and called his men to bring him in front of Rabbi Abdallah Somech. They started to give him lashes. Rabbi Abdallah Somech had no idea why the Wali was giving the man lashes. He felt very bad for him and asked the Wali to please stop. From then on, the Wali had tremendous respect for Rabbi Abdallah Somech and would always ask for his advice. Rabbi Abdallah Somech would use his connection with the ruler of Baghdad to always favor the Jews. If anything was against the Jews, he would overturn it through his connection with the Wali.