Similarly, Divine guidance (_hidáyat_) involves self-mortification (_mujáhadat_), without which contemplation (_musháhadat_) is unattainable. There is no knowledge without action, since knowledge is the product of action, and is brought forth and developed and made profitable by the blessings of action. The two things cannot be divorced in any way, just as the light of the sun cannot be separated from the sun itself. 7. `ABDALLÁH B. MUBÁRAK AL-MARWAZÍ. He was the Imám of his time and consorted with many eminent Shaykhs. He is the author of celebrated works and famous miracles. The occasion of his conversion is related as follows: He was in love with a girl, and one night in winter he stationed himself at the foot of the wall of her house, while she came on to the roof, and they both stayed gazing at each other until daybreak. When `Abdalláh heard the call to morning prayers he thought it was time for evening prayers; and only when the sun began to shine did he discover that he had spent the whole night in rapturous contemplation of his beloved. He took warning by this, and said to himself: “Shame on thee, O son of Mubárak! Dost thou stand on foot all night for thine own pleasure, and yet become furious when the Imám reads a long chapter of the Koran?” He repented and devoted himself to study, and entered upon a life of asceticism, in which he attained such a high degree that once his mother found him asleep in the garden, while a great snake was driving the gnats away from him with a spray of basil which it held in its mouth. Then he left Merv and lived for some time in Baghdád, associating with the Ṣúfí Shaykhs, and also resided for some time at Mecca. When he returned to Merv, the people of the town received him with friendship and founded for him a professorial chair and a lecture hall (_dars ú majlis nihádand_). At that epoch half the population of Merv were followers of Tradition and the other half adherents of Opinion, just as at the present day. They called him _Raḍí al-faríqayn_ because of his agreement with both sides, and each party claimed him as one of themselves. He built two convents (_ribáṭ_) at Merv—one for the followers of Tradition and one for the followers of Opinion—which have retained their original constitution down to the present day. Afterwards he went back to the Ḥijáz and settled at Mecca. On being asked what wonders he had seen, he replied: “I saw a Christian monk (_ráhib_), who was emaciated by self-mortification and bent double by fear of God. I asked him to tell me the way to God. He answered, ‘If you knew God, you would know the way to Him.’ Then he said, ‘I worship Him although I do not know him, whereas you disobey Him although you know Him,’ i.e. ‘knowledge entails fear, yet I see that you are confident; and infidelity entails ignorance, yet I feel fear within myself.’ I laid this to heart, and it restrained me from many ill deeds.” It is related that `Abdalláh b.