In Jami's Haft Awrang, the question-and-answer between the Sufi master Dhul-Nun al-Misri and a lovesick youth in the sanctuary of Mecca serves as an allegory for the paradoxical condition of the mystic lover. Though the youth is emaciated and pale as a crescent moon from the intensity of his passion, he answers that he dwells perpetually in the abode of his beloved, calling himself the very dust of that threshold. Through this dialogue the tale illustrates the paradox of divine love (ishq): the true lover is at once consumed by longing and never truly separated from the Beloved's presence, embodying constant nearness, self-effacement, and total devotion.