DÖRDÜNCÜ BÂB · İKİNCİ FASIL · Yedinci Madde
**Seventh Point**
Regarding the definition and reality of Divine love:
Beloved! It is known that the friends of God have said: The Exalted One has made the love of His Essence the key to the treasures of existence, revealing the subtleties of His own treasure from the realm of the unseen and secrets through it.
And He began the manifestation of His secrets with the saying, “I loved being known,” and for the sake of being known (gnosis/ *irfan*), He brought into existence the realms of darkness and light. Thus, love is entirely truth. It is the essence of truth and the ultimate station reached by those devoted to knowledge.
Therefore, its stations are limitless. The astonishing verses of His attributes are countless. Narrating His wondrous states never ends. For just as love is the initial beginning of the rank of creation, it is also the end of genera and species. All existence has been given the zenith of perfection through love alone. Indeed, many desires have been sought after with the encouragement of love, and numerous difficult tasks have been accomplished with its driving force.
Poem [277/a]
1. The reality of love does not manifest to one who has lost it;
The lover cannot express it with words.
2. One who does not witness the sun never truly knows it;
To a blind man, describing the sun is futile.
Love is such a reality that only its possessor knows it. No one other than the yearning and desirous one can be characterized by it. Whoever seeks and finds it once will never abandon it. And if he has not attained it, he desires something impossible. For the meanings pertaining to inner events cannot be expressed or limited with words, and their essence lies outside the sphere grasped by reason and understanding.
Poem
1. Love is higher than the thoughts of men;
It cannot be described through separation or reunion.
2. How can one count, how can one elevate a thing of imagination?
It cannot be encompassed with representation and example; it is something sublime.
The truth is that love cannot be expressed in words, nor explained and articulated with technical terms. For it is a veil of the Exalted One, drawn into the hearts of His beloved servants (saints).
Love is an eternal attribute and an everlasting grace by which the Book and faith are known. Love is a source of joy whose peak of understanding manifests in the heart through contemplating the presence of the one who possesses it, and this description is not according to reality, but rather by name. For joy is related to the inner self, and its truth cannot be fully known; it can scarcely be described even approximately.
Love is essentially a kind of delight, a light of passion that shines as one understands the essence of the One who is truly One with His Essence. For He is supremely beautiful, and beauty is loved. Indeed, the ultimate point of beauty is the zenith of perfection. For the degree to which the one who perceives it understands it, so great is the strength of his understanding, and such love is very delightful and sweet, strengthening and attaining its fulfillment.
Pure love is not easily found in a human being. It only exists in that person who has attained purity and been chosen with the address, “I would not have created the universe had you not existed.”
However, the condition of other stations differs; due to the abundance of divine signs and their potential for difference and change, love is found quite close to pain, sorrow, distress, and suffering. In this case, love is not merely joy but may be accompanied by sadness and grief, fear and dangers.
Poem
1. There is no one afflicted in this world from a lover;
If he finds delight, he plunges into passion.
2. He is always sorrowful, always weeping;
From the fear of separation, from not being able to unite.
3. The one separated weeps for reunion; the one present grieves with the anxiety of parting.
The source of love is the Oneness of God, His unity. Just as the source of animosity is multiplicity and opposition. For in proportion to the diffusion of the light of unity into the universe, love arises in the existences found within that world. However (the diffusion of love is not equal in all existences), it is seen that love is more abundant and stronger in those close to its initial point of emergence and high pole. In those far from that summit and at lower levels, the manifestation of love is very little and weak. Indeed, the Exalted One says, “God brought about reconciliation among them” (8:63), announcing the degree of strength of the love in His servants who are close to His Essence.
Regarding those distant from the Exalted One in terms of the paucity of their loves, He says, "Some of you are enemies to others" (20:123).
Love is a sweet disposition with which sorrows become sweet honey. And love is such a potent elixir that rusty iron and tarnished copper become gold and silver through its touch. Love is such a medicine that cures every ailment. And love is such a polish that transforms all grief and sorrow into joy. Love is such a syrup that heals every disease. And love is such a state that wrath becomes mercy. Love is such a life that the dead (spiritually) are revived. And love is such a…
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