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and jabrut, C6 of the angels, of dominion, and

"power," are effaced at once, or by gradation:
first, the three kingdoms of nature are effaced; then
the elements; further the heavens; after wards, mal-
kut, " dominion;" finally, jabrut, u power." Pro-
ceeding, the traveller experiences'first the exigency
of a sudden manifestation1 of majesty, and, secondly,
that of beauty.

The author of this book heard from the durvish
Sabjani, that what the prophet has revealed, viz. :
4< that earth and heaven will go to perdition," signifies
u annihilation," not as people take it in the common
acceptation, but in a higher sense, " annihilation in
" God;" so that God with all his attributes mani-
fests itself to the pious person, who becomes entirely
annihilated. Eternal life, which is the opposite of

1 The word used in the original is ^J^sr-3 iajeti, signifying here pro-
perly " a sudden burst upon the eyes, a transitory vision." This word
occurs, evidently with this meaning, in the following passage of Sadi's Gu-
listan, *' Rose-garden," (chap. II. tale 9), which at the same time eluci-
dates the state of the Sufi above alluded to: Sk The vision (of God) which
<4 the pious enjoy, consists of manifestation and occultation; it shows
" itself, and vanishes from our looks,"—VERSE. Thou showest thy coun-
tenance and thou concealest it. Thou enhancest thy value and sharpen-
est our fire. When I behold thee without an intervention, it affects me
in such a manner that I lose my road. It kindles a flame, and then
quenches it "by sprinkling water; on which account you see me some-
times in ardent flames, sometimes immersed in the waves.

There are different sorts of oULsr' tajeh'at, " manifestations," and
whenever the mystic has attained the first degrees of such divine favors,
he receives no more his subsistence but by supernatural ways.