In Attar's The Tale of Shibli and the Questioner, the mystic Shibli provides two contradictory definitions of a gnostic (Aref) on different occasions. Initially, he describes a gnostic as possessing immense spiritual power, capable of lifting both worlds with a single eyelash. Later, he describes the gnostic as profoundly weak and unable to endure the world for even a moment. When challenged about this contradiction, Shibli explains that his spiritual state (hal) had changed: during his first answer, his ego was absent ('I was not I'), whereas during the second, he was intensely self-aware and consumed by love. The anecdote illustrates a core Sufi concept that mystical definitions and utterances are not rigid, objective doctrines, but are dynamically shaped by the mystic's immediate inner state and experience of the Divine.