After Bâyazid had departed from the palace of the world, one of his disciples saw him that very night in a dream, and asked this excellent pir how he had escaped Munkir and Nakir. “When these two angels,” replied the Sufi, “questioned me, wretched as I am, concerning the Creator, I said to them: ‘This inquiry cannot be rightly answered either by you or with regard to me; for if I say, “He is my God,” and there leave it, these words will express nothing but a desire on my part. But it would not be so if you would return to God and ask Him what He thinks of me. If He calls me His servant, that settles the matter: you will know that I am indeed so. Otherwise, it is clear that God abandons me to the bonds that bind me. Union with God is not easily attained. What good, then, would it do me to call Him my Lord? If He does not approve my service, how could I presume to have Him for my master? It is true that I have bowed my head beneath His power; but He must still call me His slave.’”
If love comes from His side, it is proof that thou art worthy of that love; but when love comes from Thy side, it is only because it suits thee. If God willingly joins Himself to thee, thou mayest rightly be as fire through the effect of thy contentment. It is God who can do all things in this matter, and not man: know this well, O Thou who art without merit! How shall He who is ignorant of spiritual things understand my words?