Prayer is mostly performed and prescribed by those who are engaged in self-mortification or who have attained to steadfastness (_istiqámat_). Thus the Shaykhs order their disciples to perform four hundred bowings in prayer during a day and night, that their bodies may be habituated to devotion; and the steadfast likewise perform many prayers in thanksgiving for the favour which God has bestowed upon them. As regards those who possess “states” (_arbáb-i aḥwál_), their prayers, in the perfection of ecstasy, correspond to the “station” of union, so that through their prayers they become united; or again, when ecstasy is withdrawn, their prayers correspond to the “station” of separation, so that thereby they become separated. The former, who are united in their prayers, pray by day and night and add supererogatory prayers to those which are incumbent on them, but the latter, who are separated, perform no more prayers than they need. The Apostle said: “In prayer lies my delight,” because prayer is a source of joy to the steadfast. When the Apostle was brought nigh unto God on the night of the Ascension, and his soul was loosed from the fetters of phenomenal being, and his spirit lost consciousness of all degrees and stations, and his natural powers were annihilated, he said, not of his own will, but inspired by longing: “O God, do not transport me to yonder world of affliction! Do not throw me under the sway of nature and passion!” God answered: “It is My decree that thou shalt return to the world for the sake of establishing the religious law, in order that I may give thee there what I have given thee here.” When he returned to this world, he used to say as often as he felt a longing for that exalted station: “O Bilál, comfort us by the call to prayer!” Thus to him every time of prayer was an Ascension and a new nearness to God. Sahl b. `Abdalláh says: “It is a sign of a man’s sincerity that he has an attendant angel who urges him to pray when the hour of prayer is come, and wakes him if he be asleep.” This mark (of sincerity) was apparent in Sahl himself, for although he had become palsied in his old age he used to recover the use of his limbs whenever the hour of prayer arrived; and after having performed his prayers he was unable to move from his place. One of the Shaykhs says: “Four things are necessary to him who prays: annihilation of the lower soul (_nafs_), loss of the natural powers, purity of the inmost heart, and perfect contemplation.” Annihilation of the lower soul is to be attained only by concentration of thought; loss of the natural powers only by affirmation of the Divine majesty, which involves the destruction of all that is other than God; purity of the inmost heart only by love; and perfect contemplation only by purity of the inmost heart. It is related that Ḥusayn b. Manṣúr (al-Ḥalláj) used to lay upon himself the obligation of performing four hundred bowings of prayer in a day and a night. On being