she was about to disclose it, if We had not strengthened her heart." They said: [Her heart was] empty of everything except the remembrance of Mūsá. This often happens to someone overwhelmed by a matter, whether it be love, fear, or hope. Their heart remains focused on nothing but what they love, fear, or seek, to the extent that when they are absorbed in it, they are unaware of anything else. When this state intensifies in the one experiencing it, they become absent from their own existence due to their preoccupation with what they perceive, remember, or know, until what did not exist—meaning the created beings, the servant, and everything else—perishes, and what has always existed—meaning the Lord, exalted is He—remains. The intended meaning is the annihilation of these things in the perception and remembrance of the servant, and their inability to perceive or witness them. When this state intensifies, the lover becomes so weak that they struggle to distinguish, and they might think they are their beloved. It is mentioned that a man threw himself into the sea, and his lover threw himself after him. The man said, "I fell, so what made you fall after me?" The lover replied, "I became so absorbed in you that I thought you were me." This is the point where some people have stumbled, thinking it to be union, and that the lover unites with the beloved to the extent that there is no difference between them in their very existence. This is a mistake, for the Creator cannot unite with anything at all. In fact, nothing can unite with anything else unless both are transformed and their true natures are corrupted, resulting in a third entity that is neither this nor that