The Súfís say, that upon the way of pilgrimage there are seven _mertebah_, “degrees.” The first degree consists of penitence, obedience, and meditation, and in this degree the light is, as it were, green. The second degree is _the purity of the spirit_ from satanic qualities, violence, and brutality; because, as long as the spirit is the slave of satanic qualities, it is subject to concupiscence, and this is the quality of fire. In this state Iblis evinces his strength, and when the spirit is liberated from this, it is distressed with the quality of fierceness, which may be said _flashing_, and this is conformable to the property of wind. Then it becomes insatiable,[229] and this is similar to water. After this it obtains quietness, and this quality resembles earth.[230] In the degree of repose, the light is as it were blue, and the utmost reach of one’s progress is the earthly dominion. The third degree is _the manifestation of the heart_, by laudable qualities, which is similar to red light, and the utmost reach of its progress is the middle of the upper dominion; and in this station the heart praises God, and sees the light of worship and spiritual qualities. With the pure Súfís, “the heart” signifies the form of moderation which keeps the mind in such dispositions that it may not at all be inclined to any side towards excess and redundancy, and the possessor of his mind whose fortunate lot is such a station, is praised as “the master of the heart,” or “the lord of the mind.” The fourth degree is the _applying of the constitution to nothing else but to God_, and this is similar to yellow light, and the utmost reach of its progress is the midst of the heavenly _malkut_, “dominion.” The fifth degree of the soul is that _which resembles white light_, and the utmost aim of its progress is the extreme heavenly dominion. The sixth degree is _the hidden_, which is like a black light,[231] and the utmost reach of its progress is the _âálemi jabrút_, “the world of power.” The seventh degree is _ghaiyúb al ghaiyúb_, “the evanescence of evanescence,”[232] which is _faná_, “annihilation,” and _baka_, “eternal life,” and is colorless; this is absorption in God, non-existence, and effacement of the imaginary in the true being, like the loss of a drop of water in the ocean; and “eternal life” is the union of the drop with the sea, and abstraction from all except the proper view of the heart, or separation from the idle images which prevented the _salik_, “traveller,” in the midst of existence from distinguishing the drop from the ocean. _Faná_, “annihilation,” is of two kinds: partial, and universal. The partial consists in this: that a traveller is effaced at once, or that, by gradation, several of his members are effaced, and then the rest of his members. The senses and faculties pass first through the exigency of _sukr_, “intoxication,” and, secondly, through that of _sahu_, “recovery from ebriety.” The universal annihilation