of the valley and saw a fresh green meadow and a spring of water flowing, whiter than milk and sweeter than honey. We sat by the spring. While we were thus, a sheikh came out to us from a mountain pass of the valley; the light of his face nearly snatched the sight. He was surrounded by scents the likes of which we had never smelled purer; the valley was intoxicated by their sweetness. He wore garments the likes of which we had never seen cleaner, though he was thin of body. We rose to him and greeted him; he returned the greeting and sat down; we sat too. He asked us about our names and we named ourselves to him; he asked us about our homelands and we made that known to him.

He said to us: "For what have you come and why did you purpose [this]? Tell me your story and inform me of your news so that it is as if I am with you, seeing you and witnessing you." He [Abu al-Tahir] said: So, we told him our story from its beginning to its end, until we reached what happened between us and the youth who sent the letter with us to him. We made known to him what we asked him and what he answered us. When he had heard the speech to its end, he said to us: "If the matter is as you mentioned, then what do you want from me? If you know Allah through the vision of the eyes, existence, and establishment, then you have known Him. If you want to know Him and infer His gnosis through what was witnessed of His power, signs, and wisdom, then you have known Him. But if you want to know Allah in all of the cities and the intermingling of secrets, then strip from your hearts the trials of the world's secret, and abandon the sweetness of pleasures and the intermingling of desires. For what has passed is passed, and who lived has died. «Allah has not made for a man two hearts in his interior»¹. «For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts»²."

He said: The sheikh had not finished his speech before the Indian trembled. Then he glanced toward the sky with his eye, sweat covered