‘_Verily My servants_,’ and ‘_Say to My servants_’, and ‘_When My servants shall ask thee_’, and ‘_O My servants, no fear shall come on you this day, and ye shall not grieve_’ (Kor. xliii, 68). A servant of God, seeing this favour, cannot fail to love Him, and when he has loved he will become intimate, because awe of one’s beloved is estrangement (_bégánagí_), whereas intimacy is oneness (_yagánagí_). It is characteristic of men to become intimate with their benefactors, and inasmuch as God has conferred on us so great benefits and we have knowledge of Him, it is impossible that we should talk of awe.” I, `Alí b. `Uthmán al-Jullábí, say that both parties in this controversy are right, because the power of _haybat_ is exerted upon the lower soul and its desires, and tends to annihilate human nature, while the power of _uns_ is exerted upon the heart and tends to foster gnosis in the heart. Therefore God annihilates the souls of those who love Him by revealing His majesty and endows their hearts with everlasting life by revealing His beauty. The followers of annihilation (_faná_) regard _haybat_ as superior, but the followers of subsistence (_baqá_) prefer _uns_. _Qahr_ and _Luṭf_, and the difference between them. These two expressions are used by the Ṣúfís in reference to their own state. By _qahr_ (violence) they signify the reinforcement given to them by God in annihilating their desires and in restraining the lower soul from its concupiscence; and by _luṭf_ (kindness) they signify God’s help towards the subsistence of their hearts and towards the continuance of contemplation and towards the permanence of ecstasy in the degree of steadfastness (_istiqámat_). The adherents of _luṭf_ say Divine grace (_karámat_) is the attainment of one’s desire, but the others say that Divine grace is this—that God through His will should restrain a man from his own will and should overpower him with will-lessness (_bémurádí_), so that if he were thirsty and plunged into a river, the river would become dry. It is related that in Baghdád were two eminent dervishes, the one a believer in _qahr_ and the other a believer in _luṭf_, who were always quarrelling and each preferring his own state to that of his neighbour. The dervish who preferred _luṭf_ set out for Mecca and entered the desert, but never reached his destination. No news of him was heard for many years, but at last he was seen by a traveller on the road between Mecca and Baghdád. “O my brother,” he said, “when you return to `Iráq tell my friend at Karkh that if he wishes to see a desert, with all its hardships, like Karkh of Baghdád, with all its marvels, let him come here, for this desert is Karkh to me!” When the traveller arrived at Karkh he delivered this message to the other dervish, who said: “On your return, tell him that there is no superiority in the fact that the desert has been made like Karkh to him, in order that he may not flee from the court (of God); the superiority