The Heart of a Gnostic during Swalah

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Imam Abu ‘Abdullah al-Harits ibn Asad al-‘Anazi al-Muhasibi (q.s.), commenting on swalah, said, “What predominates in the heart of the mystic while he is at prayer is his sense of the Mystery of Him, in Whose Presence he stands, and the Might of Him, Whom he seeks, and the love of Him, Who Favours him with familiar intercourse with Himself, and he is conscious of that, until he has finishes praying, and he departs with a face so changed that his friends would not recognise him, because of the awe that he feels at the Majesty of God.  It is so that one who comes into the presence of some king, or someone for whom he yearns, and whom he fears, stands in his presence, with a different attitude from what was his before he entered, and goes out with an altered countenance.  And how should it not be so with the Lord of the world, Who has not ceased to be, nor will cease to be; He Who has no equal?”