It is related that Abú Yazíd said: “Paradise hath no value in the eyes of lovers, and lovers are veiled (from God) by their love,” i.e. Paradise is created, whereas love is an uncreated attribute of God. Whoever is detained by a created thing from that which is uncreated, is without worth and value. Created things are worthless in the eyes of lovers. Lovers are veiled by love, because the existence of love involves duality, which is incompatible with unification (_tawḥíd_). The way of lovers is from oneness to oneness, but there is in love this defect, that it needs a desirer (_muríd_) and an object of desire (_murád_). Either God must be the desirer and Man the desired, or _vice versâ_. In the former case, Man’s being is fixed in God’s desire, but if Man is the desirer and God the object of desire, the creature’s search and desire can find no way unto Him: in either case the canker of being remains in the lover. Accordingly, the annihilation of the lover in the everlastingness of love is more perfect than his subsistence through the everlastingness of love. It is related that Abú Yazíd said: “I went to Mecca and saw a House standing apart. I said, ‘My pilgrimage is not accepted, for I have seen many stones of this sort.’ I went again, and saw the House and also the Lord of the House. I said, ‘This is not yet real unification.’ I went a third time, and saw only the Lord of the House. A voice in my heart whispered, ‘O Báyazíd, if thou didst not see thyself, thou wouldst not be a polytheist (_mushrik_) though thou sawest the whole universe; and since thou seest thyself, thou art a polytheist though blind to the whole universe.’ Thereupon I repented, and once more I repented of my repentance, and yet once more I repented of seeing my own existence.” This is a subtle tale concerning the soundness of his state, and gives an excellent indication to spiritualists. 13. ABÚ `ABDALLÁH AL-ḤÁRITH B. ASAD AL-MUḤÁSIBÍ.