It may happen, then, that God’s love holds absolute sway over the heart of His servant, and that his reason and natural faculties are too weak to sustain its rapture and intensity, and that he loses all control of his power to act (_kasb_). This state is called “union”.[131] Herewith are connected all extraordinary miracles (_i`jáz_) and acts of miraculous grace (_karámát_). All ordinary actions are “separation”, and all acts which violate custom are “union”. God bestows these miracles on His prophets and saints, and refers His actions to them and theirs to Himself, as He hath said: “_Verily, they who swear fealty unto thee, swear fealty unto God_” (Kor. xlviii, 10), and again: “_Whosoever obeys the Apostle has obeyed God_” (Kor. iv, 82). Accordingly, His saints are united (_mujtami`_) by their inward feelings (_asrár_) and separated (_muftariq_) by their outward behaviour, so that their love of God is strengthened by the internal union, and the right fulfilment of their duty as servants of God is assured by their external separation. A certain great Shaykh says— “_I have realized that which is within me, and my tongue hath conversed with Thee in secret, And we are united in one respect, but we are separated in another. Although awe has hidden Thee from the glances of mine eye, Ecstasy has made Thee near to my inmost parts._”[132] The state of being inwardly united he calls “union”, and the secret conversation of the tongue he calls “separation”; then he indicates that both union and separation are in himself, and attributes the basis (_qá`ida_) of them to himself. This is very subtle. Footnote 131: Here the author illustrates the meaning of “union” and “separation” by the action of Muḥammad when he threw gravel in the eyes of the unbelievers at Badr, and by that of David when he slew Goliath. See p. 185 _supra_. Footnote 132: The last words are corrupt and unmetrical in all the texts. I have found the true reading, من الأَحْشآءِ دانى, in a MS. of the _Kitáb al-Luma`_ by Abú Naṣr al-Sarráj, which has recently come into the possession of Mr. A. G. Ellis. SECTION.