the latter, who in turn display a degree of arrogance, miserliness, and hardness of heart not found in the former. Thus, the former resemble Christians, while the latter resemble Jews. Allah Most High has commanded us to say:

“Guide us to the straight path,
the path of those You have blessed—not those who have incurred Your wrath, nor those who have gone astray.”

Consequently, many of their leading spiritual masters eventually came to contemplate Allah’s oneness in lordship and to affirm divine decree, which encompasses everything in existence. They regarded complete absorption in this contemplation, with the disappearance of the distinction between good and evil deeds, as the highest spiritual station. Beyond it lay only what they called “oneness,” which is a form of the indwelling and union professed by Christians. Yet they fear expressing this openly and treat it as a concealed secret.

Some of them say that this was al-Hallāj’s spiritual vision, and that he was killed only because he divulged a secret that should not have been divulged.

If, in addition, one of them has learned from speculative theologians or others who argue for divine decree and regard everything as proceeding from a single will—with no love, hatred, pleasure, displeasure, or joy, but merely different objects of that will, so that its relation to reward is called pleasure and its relation to punishment is called displeasure—then, with this spiritual vision, he no longer retains any distinction. They call this “gathering” and “overwhelming absorption.”

And al-Junayd—may Allah sanctify his soul—when his companions, such as al-Thawrī, reached