I said that _ṣafá_ (purity) is the opposite of _kadar_ (impurity), and _kadar_ is one of the qualities of Man. The true Ṣúfí is he that leaves impurity behind. Thus, human nature (_bashariyyat_) prevailed in the women of Egypt as they gazed, enraptured, on the wondrous beauty of Yúsuf (Joseph), on whom be peace! But afterwards the preponderance was reversed, until at last they beheld him with their human nature annihilated (_ba-faná-yi bashariyyat_) and cried: “_This is no human being_” (Kor. xii, 31). They made him their object and gave expression to their own state. Hence the Shaykhs of this Path—God have mercy on them!—have said: _Laysa ´l-ṣafá min ṣifat al-bashar li´anna ´l-bashar madar wa´l-madar lá yakhlú min al-kadar_, “Purity is not one of the qualities of Man, for Man is clay, and clay involves impurity, and Man cannot escape from impurity.” Therefore purity bears no likeness to acts (_af`ál_), nor can the human nature be destroyed by means of effort. The quality of purity is unrelated to acts and states, and its name is unconnected with names and nicknames—_purity is characteristic of the lovers_ (of God), _who are suns without cloud_—because purity is the attribute of those who love, and the lover is he that is dead (_fání_) in his own attributes and living (_báqí_) in the attributes of his Beloved, and their “states” resemble the clear sun in the opinion of mystics (_arbáb-i ḥál_). The beloved of God, Muḥammad the Chosen One, was asked concerning the state of Ḥáritha. He answered: _`Abd nawwara ´lláh qalbahu bi ´l-ímán_, “He is a man whose heart is illumined by the light of faith, so that his face shines like the moon from the effect thereof, and he is formed by the Divine light.” An eminent Ṣúfí says: _Ḍiyá al-shams wa´l-qamar idha ´shtaraká namúdhaj^{un} min ṣafá al-ḥubb wa ´l-tawḥíd idha ´shtabaká_, “The combination of the light of the sun and moon, when they are in conjunction, is like the purity of Love and Unification when these are mingled together.” Assuredly, the light of the sun and moon is worthless beside the light of the Love and Unification of God Almighty, and they should not be compared; but in this world there is no light more conspicuous than those two luminaries. The eye cannot see the light of the sun and moon with complete demonstration. During the sway of the sun and moon it sees the sky, whereas the heart (_dil_) sees the empyrean (_`arsh_) by the light of knowledge and unification and love, and while still in this world explores the world to come. All the Shaykhs of this Path are agreed that when a man has escaped from the captivity of “stations” (_maqámát_), and gets rid of the impurity of “states” (_aḥwál_), and is liberated from the abode of change and decay, and becomes endowed with all praiseworthy qualities, he is disjoined from all qualities. That is to say, he is not held in bondage by any praiseworthy quality of his own, nor does he regard it, nor is he made self-conceited thereby.