Love, ‘the astrolabe of heavenly mysteries,’ inspires all religion worthy of the name, and brings with it, not reasoned belief, but the intense conviction arising from immediate intuition. This inner light is its own evidence; he who sees it has real knowledge, and nothing can increase or diminish his certainty. Hence the Sūfīs never weary of exposing the futility of a faith which supports itself on intellectual proofs, external authority, self-interest, or self-regard of any kind. The barren dialectic of the theologian; the canting righteousness of the Pharisee rooted in forms and ceremonies; the less crude but equally undisinterested worship of which the motive is desire to gain everlasting happiness in the life hereafter; the relatively pure devotion of the mystic who, although he loves God, yet thinks of himself as loving, and whose heart is not wholly emptied of ‘otherness’--all these are ‘veils’ to be removed. A few sayings by those who know will be more instructive than further explanation. “O God! whatever share of this world Thou hast allotted to me, bestow it on Thine enemies; and whatever share of the next world Thou hast allotted to me, bestow it on Thy friends. Thou art enough for me.” (Rābiʿa.) “O God! if I worship Thee in fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; and if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise; but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, withhold not Thine everlasting beauty!” (Rābiʿa.) “Notwithstanding that the lovers of God are separated from Him by their love, they have the essential thing, for whether they sleep or wake, they seek and are sought, and are not occupied with their own seeking and loving, but are enraptured in contemplation of the Beloved. It is a crime in the lover to regard his love, and an outrage in love to look at one’s own seeking while one is face to face with the Sought.” (Bāyazīd.) “His love entered and removed all besides Him and left no trace of anything else, so that it remained single even as He is single.” (Bāyazīd.) “To feel at one with God for a moment is better than all men’s acts of worship from the beginning to the end of the world.” (Shiblī.) “Fear of the Fire, in comparison with fear of being parted from the Beloved, is like a drop of water cast into the mightiest ocean.” (Dhu ’l-Nūn.) “Unless I have the face of my heart towards Thee, I deem prayer unworthy to be reckoned as prayer. If I turn my face to the Kaʿba, ’tis for love of Thine; Otherwise I am quit both of prayer and Kaʿba.” (Jalāluddīn Rūmī.)