He has fulfilled (his duty) and has completed the inheritance of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him). (Rihle, 114)
love / true love (ʿishq-ı ḥaqīqī) Love is a term used to describe the state of exceeding the bounds in maḥabba (divine love).
True love (ʿishq-ı ḥaqīqī) is to delight in imagining that a certain being is present with one at this moment. Longing (shawq) is to act in order to complete this joy. The form can be represented in the imagination from one perspective, but from another, it cannot be represented. Similarly, regarding a sensory matter, it is agreed that until the full sensory representation is realized, it cannot be represented in sensation (that is, unless something is perceived by the senses, it cannot be conceived in the mind; for something to be perceived by the senses, it must have been sensed at least once).
Every mushtāq (one who longs) attains something and loses it. But love has another meaning: Primarily, the lover (ʿāshiq) belongs to his own essence, and the beloved (maʿshūq) to his own essence. One may or may not fall in love with other than Him. However, this does not mean that one cannot fall in love with other than Him. Rather, He is the One who is loved for His own Essence. Many things are like this; nothing else. (Ishārāt, IV, 41)
The perfection (kamāl) of love is malāma (spiritual blame), and malāma has three aspects, or faces: one face is towards creation, one towards the lover, and one towards the beloved. The face turned to creation is the sword of the beloved's jealousy, preventing the lover from looking at others. The face turned to the lover is the sword of the sharpness of the moment, so that he is always nourished by love, does not attach his heart to anything else, and seeks nothing else. (Sawāniḥ, 23)
Love itself is at once a bird, a nest; Essence, attribute; feather, wing; air, flight; hunter, prey; qibla, one who faces the qibla; seeker, sought; first, last; sultan, subject; sword, sheath; garden, tree; both branch and fruit, both nest and bird. (Sawāniḥ, 32)
The beloved said to the lover: Come, make yourself me. If I make myself you, then the beloved is in need; but if you become me, then the increase is in the beloved. Thus, everything becomes the beloved, not the lover; everything becomes pride, not supplication; everything is present and existent, not in need; all is wealth, not poverty; everything is a solution, not helplessness. (Sawāniḥ, 39)
The process of the lover losing himself in the beloved reaches such a point that the lover becomes jealous even of himself and his own eyes.
I love you because of you, my beloved.
Out of jealousy, I am not even a friend with my own eyes.
My sorrow is not from not being with you,
But from not being in the same body as you.
This subtlety sometimes reaches such a point that if one day the beloved becomes even more beautiful, the lover is hurt and angered. This is a state that can only be understood by those who have tasted this delight. (Sawāniḥ, 40)
By its very nature, love is tribulation; intimacy and comfort are foreign and alien to it. For separation is, in essence, duality in love, while union (wuṣla) is, by its nature, unity. Anything else is not true union but an illusion of union. It has been said:
Love is tribulation; I do not shrink from it, but press on.
If it sleeps, I wake it up.
Friends tell me, "Escape this tribulation!"
But tribulation is the heart; how can I keep away from my heart?
The tree of love has blossomed in the very center of my heart;
When it is thirsty, I water it with my tears.
If love is exuberant but its pain is not sweet,
It is sweet to me, for I balance the two.
love / true love (ʿishq-ı ḥaqīqī)
The palace of love is the portico of the soul. The seal of "Am I not your Lord?" (al-Aʿrāf 7:172) was stamped upon the spirits in pre-eternity. There, a burden was placed. If the veils become transparent, love shines forth from beneath the coverings.
There is a great secret here: this love, as mentioned, comes from within to without. The love of creatures, however, enters from without to within; but it is clear how far it can penetrate. Its furthest reach is the outer membrane of the heart (shaghāf). The Qur'an, regarding Zuleikha, says: {the love for Yusuf} burned through her shaghāf! Shaghāf is the outer membrane of the heart. The heart (qalb) is the center of walāya (friendship with God), and the light of love descends all the way there.
If all the veils are lifted, the nafs (lower self) also becomes involved. But for the nafs to enter the path of love requires a lifetime. The world, creatures, shahwa (carnal desires) and passions operate in the outer veils of the heart. Love rarely reaches the heart; in fact, it never truly does. (Sawāniḥ, 63)
The secrets (asrār) of love are hidden in the letters of the word itself. The letters ʿayn and shīn are love, while the letter qāf is an ishāra (allusion) to the heart. If the heart is not in love, it is in turmoil. When it falls in love, it finds intimacy. Love begins with the eye and seeing. The letter ʿayn approaches the letters of love with sincerity at the beginning. Then the lover drinks the wine of longing. This state brings intimacy through the letter shīn. After this, the lover becomes lost in himself and is revived in the beloved. The letter qāf shows that the lover exists with the beloved. Moreover, there are many secrets in the various combinations of these letters. (Sawāniḥ, 89)
The origin of love is pre-eternity. In Arabic, the dot of the letter bāʾ in "yuhibbuhum (He loves them)" and the soil of "yuhibbūnahu (they love Him)" (al-Māʾida 5:54) are sown as seeds. If the dot had not been placed on "hum (them)", "yuhibbūnahu" would not have appeared. When the narcissus of love grows, the seed and the fruit take on the same color.
If it is said, "Subḥānī (I declare Myself free of imperfection)..." it is for this reason.
These words are either the words of the dot or of the Lord of the dot, or such claims are made through the fruit; yet the fruit is the same as the seed. (Sawāniḥ, 93)
To be a lover is to be entirely Him; to be the beloved is to be entirely You. For being yourself does not befit you; what befits you is to belong to the beloved. What befits being a lover is never to belong to oneself or to remain alone.
As long as you are attached to desire, your path is either gold or woman.
Become a lover, and your salvation is to be freed from these.
It does not befit a lover to have two qiblas on the path of tawhid (the oneness of God).
Either follow your own desire, or win the riḍā (contentment) of your Friend.
love / true love (ʿishq-ı ḥaqīqī) There is no value in kings at our door.
No one but the humble lover befits our dignity.
As long as you say "I, I," you cannot reach the secret of our master.
For our crown only fits the headless ones.
The beloved is the treasure of love, and his beauty is its outward manifestation. In any case, love rules over him. (Sawāniḥ, 108)
Love is a mysterious mirror for both lover and beloved: a mirror that shows itself, the beloved, and the stranger (everything else). If the jealousy of love prevails, the lover cannot look at another; the perfection of the beloved's beauty can only be seen in the mirror of love. (Sawāniḥ, 109)
Sometimes the beloved's tribulation and hardship, with full care and the grace of love, become a seed sown in the soil of the lover's desire, from which the rose of apology grows, buds, and leads to union.
And if fortune is favorable, this union turns into unity. As long as lightning does not strike, thunder does not fall, and no obstacle appears; may fortune be favorable. For this reason, the lover realizes that the path of love is not safe. Thus it is said:
If you think I have given you my heart, know this:
Hundreds of caravans have passed this way before.
Even if I see my heart joyful in union with you,
I also see the share of separation in between.
Just as union is not hidden in separation,
So too is separation evident in union.
According to us, desire (hawā) is nothing but the initial fall of love into the heart at the first birth; nothing else. When nothing else shares in it, when it is pure and sincere for itself, it is called tubb (affection). When this love is firm and settled, it is called wudd (enduring love). When it encompasses the heart, the inner self, and inclinations, leaving nothing but the heart's attachment, it is called love. The plant called love is a thorny weed. (Tercümān, 14)
Love is excessive affection. The Qur'an alludes to it as shiddat (intense) love. The love of the believers for Allah is greater (than the love of the disbelievers for their idols). (cf. al-Baqara 2:165) The love for Yusuf entered her heart! That is, her love became like a membrane over the heart for Yusuf. It is a thin membrane, enveloping the heart, a covering. God, in a narration, has called Himself the possessor of intense love, but the term love (ʿishq) is not used for God. (Futūḥāt, II, 318)
love / true love (ʿishq-ı ḥaqīqī)
Love's witness is the lament of the heart.
There is no illness worse than the illness of the heart.
Love is defined as being free from ailment.
It became the astrolabe of the secrets of God.
Love is two-headed, and thus rises higher.
In the end, it becomes a guide for the people of the heart.
No matter how much I explain and expound (bayān) on love,
The tongue falls silent in the exposition of love.
Though the tongue is familiar with tafsīr (exegesis),
Yet love is luminous without speech.
Though the pen rushes to write every topic,
When it comes to love, it cannot bear it; it splits in two.
Reason, in the explanation of love, is mired like a donkey in mud. Love itself explains what love and being a lover are. (Mathnawī, I, 16-17)
In mortal love, there is no permanence for this reason.
It is not possible for the dead to return to us.
But true love, immortal love, the love of Allah, whether in the spirit or in the eye, is always fresher than a bud.
Choose that immortal, everlasting love of Allah, so that He may grant you the wine of meaning that gives life to your soul.
Choose the love of such a great Being that all the prophets found power and strength through His love, and attained honor and happiness. (Mathnawī, I, 17)
Someone asked: What is being a lover? I said: If you become like me, you will know.
Love is perfect affection that does not accept limit or end. In this respect, it is counted among the attributes of sanctity; thus, perfect love in reality (ḥaqīqa) belongs only to the Eternal Creator, and its attribution to the servant is metaphorical. For the love of God is eternal, while the love of the servant is originated and perishable. The verse "He loves them" (al-Māʾida 5:54) suffices for the claim. The affection of "they love Him" is only metaphorically related to the former. (Mathnawī, II, 1)
Someone asked: What is being a lover? I said: If you become like me, you will know. Love is affection that cannot be counted or measured. Therefore, in reality, love is an attribute of God. Its attribution to the servant is metaphorical. "He loves them" is sufficient. Where is "they love Him"? (Mathnawī, II, 255)
They say about love: That which exceeds a certain measure of affection is called love. It is something its possessor cannot conceal. For this reason, the Prophet (peace be upon him) stipulated secrecy in love, as it is difficult for temperaments. In the Tāj, it is said: Love is excessive affection. As it is said, "He loved" means "he loved very much." Taʿashshuqa means "to pretend to be in love." A woman loves her husband and becomes a lover. People use love in their poetry. (Rawḍa, 340)
The will manifests in nine ways in creation: ...If the inclination swells to the point that it annihilates both the lover and the beloved, it is called love. In this station, the lover sees the beloved but does not recognize him, nor does he incline toward him.
It is narrated that Layla once called Majnun to her to speak with him. Majnun replied: Leave me, I am thinking of my Layla; I have no time to concern myself with you. This is the final station of union and proximity (qurb). In this station, the knower (ʿārif) denies his known (maʿrūf). There remains neither knower nor known, neither lover nor beloved. Only love remains.
Love is nothing but the Essence itself; it does not fall under name, form, attribute, or description. When love first manifests, it annihilates the lover; then neither name, form, attribute, nor description remains. When the lover is effaced and utterly annihilated, this love annihilates both lover and beloved. First, it effaces their names, then their attributes, then their essences. Neither lover nor beloved remains. Then love appears in two ways and is described by two attributes: as both lover and beloved (the lover and the beloved are both Himself). (Insān, I, 48)
atā (sallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) There is atā (gift) that is obligatory and that which is out of grace. God's gift to the world...