In Chapter 40, Poem 20 of Attar's Mokhtar Nameh, the lover expresses an extreme, all-consuming devotion, stating a willingness to strike the world or sever their own tongue for the Beloved's memory. However, this devotion presents a paradox: because the Beloved is equated with the lover's very soul ('You are my soul'), the Beloved's intense cruelty (jafa) creates a fear that the lover might ultimately strike their own soul. This illustrates the mystical concept where the lover's identity is so merged with the Beloved that the Beloved's harshness is experienced as an internal, existential threat to the self.