54 AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DOCTRINE

aspects expressed in the verse: ‘It is Thee whom we
adore (or; serve) and it is with Thee we seek refuge
(or; help).” Adoration is the effacing of individual will
before the Divine Will which is revealed externally by
the sacred Law and inwardly by the movements of
Grace. Recourse to Divine help is a participating in
the Divine Reality through Grace and, more directly,
through Knowledge. Ultimately the words: It is
Thee whom we adore” correspond to “extinction ” (al-
fana) and the words: “with Thee we seek refuge’ to
“subsistence ”’ (al-baga,) in Pure Being. Thus the verse
just mentioned is the ““isthmus” or barzakh between
the two “oceans” of absolute Being and relative
existence. !

1. . Cf. the Quranic verses: *° (God) produced the two seas which meet ;
between the two is an isthmus which they do not pass *” (LV, 19 and 20).