The Shaikh had lost all ego-consciousness and had long since passed away from the sense of personal identity. Having been consumed in the Light of God, his self no longer remained. This is the meaning of the prophetic saying, “Die before you die.” The Shaikh had become the Light of God. And whoever turns his back on the Light of God to face the wall of the prayer niche has assuredly turned his back on Mecca, since God’s Light is the soul of the Kiblah [the Ka’bah] (Rumi, Service done for God is proof of divine favor, in The Complete Discourses of Jalal al-Din Rumi, discourse 3, p. 17, ed. Louis Rogers)
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