In this anecdote from Jami's Baharestan, the Sufi master Bayazid Bastami reinterprets the Islamic legal categories of sunnah (the recommended practice) and fard (the obligatory duty) in mystical terms. For the seeker on the spiritual path, the sunnah becomes the renunciation of the world — turning one's face away from worldly attachment — while the fard becomes the companionship of the Lord: attaining nearness and constant presence with God. The teaching subordinates outward ritual observance to the inner realities of detachment and divine intimacy, treating union with God as the one truly obligatory aim of the path.