The story of Abú Sa`íd Kharráz and Ibráhím b. Sa`d `Alawí[178] is well known—how they saw a friend of God on the seashore and asked him “What is the Way to God?” and how he answered that there are two ways to God, one for the vulgar and one for the elect. When they desired him to explain this he said: “The way of the vulgar is that on which you are going: you accept for some cause and you decline for some cause; but the way of the elect is to see only the Causer, and not to see the cause.” The true meaning of these anecdotes has already been set forth. Footnote 178: _Nafaḥát_, No. 15. _Qabḍ_ and _Basṭ_, and the difference between them. _Qabḍ_ (contraction) and _basṭ_ (expansion) are two involuntary states which cannot be induced by any human act or banished by any human exertion. God hath said: “_God contracts and expands_” (Kor. ii, 246). _Qabḍ_ denotes the contraction of the heart in the state of being veiled (_ḥijáb_), and _basṭ_ denotes the expansion of the heart in the state of revelation (_kashf_). Both states proceed from God without effort on the part of Man. The _qabḍ_ of gnostics is like the fear of novices, and the _basṭ_ of gnostics is like the hope of novices. This is the sense in which the Ṣúfís use the terms _qabḍ_ and _basṭ_. Some Shaykhs hold that _qabḍ_ is superior in degree to _basṭ_, for two reasons: (1) it is mentioned before _basṭ_ in the Koran, (2) _qabḍ_ involves dissolution and oppression, whereas _basṭ_ involves nutrition and favour: it is undoubtedly better to dissolve one’s humanity and oppress one’s lower soul than to foster and favour them, since they are the greatest veil (between Man and God). Others, again, hold that _basṭ_ is superior to _qabḍ_. The fact, they say, that _qabḍ_ is mentioned before _basṭ_ in the Koran shows the superiority of _basṭ_, for the Arabs are accustomed to mention in the first place that which is inferior in merit, e.g. God hath said: “_There is one of them who injures his own soul, and one who keeps the middle way, and one who outstrips the others in good works by the permission of God_” (Kor. xxxv, 29). Moreover, they argue that in _basṭ_ there is joy and in _qabḍ_ grief; gnostics feel joy only in union with the object of knowledge, and grief only in separation from the object of desire, therefore rest in the abode of union is better than rest in the abode of separation. My Shaykh used to say that both _qabḍ_ and _basṭ_ are the result of one spiritual influence, which descends from God on Man, and either fills the heart with joy and subdues the lower soul or subdues the heart and fills the lower soul with joy; in the latter case contraction (_qabḍ_) of the heart is expansion (_basṭ_) of the lower soul, and in the former case expansion of the heart is contraction of the lower soul. He who interprets this matter otherwise is wasting his breath. Hence Báyazíd said: “The contraction of hearts consists in the expansion of souls, and the expansion of hearts in the