and such words of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) as:

“My servant, I fell ill, but you did not visit Me.” The servant will say, “My Lord, how could I visit You when You are the Lord of all worlds?” He will say, “Did you not know that My servant so-and-so fell ill? Had you visited him, you would have found Me with him.”

He thus stated that He is with His servant and described His servant’s illness as His own. A person may have such love and reverence for a ruler, a scholar, or a place that it dominates his heart. He frequently mentions the object of his devotion and conforms to it in his words and deeds, so that one is said to be the other—as when it is said, “Abū Yūsuf is Abū Hanīfa.”

This resembles, in some respects, the appearance of luminous bodies and other objects in transparent bodies, such as a polished mirror, clear water, and the like. Thus a person sees the sky, the sun, the moon, and the stars in clear water. As someone said:

When the sky falls upon clear water,
Clouded wherever the breeze stirs it,
You see the sky therein, beyond all doubt;
So too the full moon and the stars appear.
So too the hearts of those who witness divine manifestation:
In their purity, Allah the Magnificent is seen.

Likewise, we see in a mirror the image of whatever faces it—the sun, the moon, faces, and other things.