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Sheikh Shihab ud Din, of Aleppo (twelfth century), was a Sufi who taught that the ultimate reality was Light (Nur). His heterodoxy caused him to be executed. This Light is self-existent, perpetually luminous, self-manifesting, and is the source of all existence. It has two expressions. The sheikh also taught in his writing that the path of spirituality had five stations: (1) selfishness, (2) self-centeredness, (3) "I am not," (4) "Thou God art," and (5) I am not and thou art not--the annihilation of distinctions of subject and object.

-- Notebooks Category 15: The Orient > Chapter 6 : Islamic Cultures, Egypt > # 37