It is the knotting point. This, too, is of three degrees. The first degree is the maḥabba (love) that cuts off doubts, makes service (on His path) pleasurable, and enables one to find solace in tribulations. This maḥabba is a love that arises from contemplating Allah's generosity towards His servant, is established by the sunnah (Prophetic practice), and elevates one to comply (with commands and the sunnah) even in times of need.
The second degree of maḥabba is the love that leads one to prefer the Real (al-Ḥaqq) over others, makes the tongue fond of dhikr (remembrance of God), and causes the qalb (the heart) to be preoccupied with the yearning to witness Him. This maḥabba emerges from becoming acquainted with (divine) attributes, contemplating the verses (āyāt), and being disciplined through spiritual stations (maqāmāt).
The third degree of maḥabba is the love that removes expression, eliminates allusion, and is dazzling, endless in its description. This maḥabba is the pole of this language. Beneath it lies the maḥabba that the tongue describes. This is the love that natures claim and intellects deem appropriate. (Manāzil, 32)
Loving Allah is the highest of stations and the summit of degrees. Beyond maḥabba, there is no station other than those that are fruits or followers of maḥabba, such as shawq (longing), uns (intimacy), and riḍā (contentment with God's decree). Before maḥabba, there is no station that can be considered its beginning, such as tawba (repentance), sabr (patient endurance), or zuhd (asceticism). Even if the existence of other stations is difficult, the qalb does not refrain from believing in their possibility. As for love of Allah, believing in this love has become difficult. For this reason, some scholars have denied the possibility of believing in it and have said: 'Maḥabba has no meaning other than continual obedience to Allah. True love only occurs between similar kinds and examples.' Because they denied maḥabba towards Allah, they also denied uns, shawq, the delight of munājāt (intimate supplication), and all things that require love and their correlates. (Iḥyāʾ, V, 3)
The origin of passion (ʿishq) comes from pre-eternity. In Arabic, the word yuhibbuhum (He loves them) — the dot of the letter bāʾ in maḥabba is sown as a seed in the soil of yuhibbūnahu (they love Him). No, if the dot had not been cast upon hum (them), yuhibbūnahu would not have emerged. When the narcissus of passion grows, the seed and the fruit take on the same color.
If it is said, 'Subḥānī (I declare myself free from imperfection)...', it is for this reason.
These words are either the words of the dot or the Lord of the dot, or such claims are made through the fruit; yet the fruit is the same as the seed. (Sawāniḥ, 93)
Tawhid (the oneness of God) is in the qalb, zuhd is in the qalb, taqwa (God-consciousness) is in the qalb, maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God) is in the qalb, knowing the Real is in the qalb, maḥabba (loving Him) for the Exalted Truth is in the qalb, drawing near to Him is in the qalb. (Fath, 49)
Of the (spiritual states)... maḥabba is to conform to the beloved in what is loved and unloved... (Ādāb, 21)
Maḥabba is an intermediary between the shaykh and the murīd (aspirant, disciple). Maḥabba permeates spiritual states according to its strength. For maḥabba leads to acquaintance, acquaintance to affinity (being of the same kind), and affinity draws the murīd to all or some of the shaykh's states. (ʿAwārif, 241)
Maḥabba has an outward (ẓāhir) and inward (bāṭin) aspect. Outwardly, it is to comply with the riḍā (contentment) of the beloved (the Exalted Truth); inwardly, it is to become attached solely to love, distancing oneself from everything else, so that nothing remains for oneself or for others besides the beloved. One of the exalted states of maḥabba is shawq (longing). The lover is always in yearning, for the manifestations of the Exalted Truth are endless. Whatever state the lover attains, there is always a higher and more perfect one beyond it.
My sorrow is like your beauty
Just as my sorrow has no end
So too your beauty has no end
Then, the shawq (longing) that arises in the servant is not something acquired by the servant's own effort or striving. Shawq is a grace that Allah bestows exclusively upon those who love Him. (ʿAwārif, 298)
The stations of yaqīn (certainty) are nine: they are tawba (repentance), zuhd (asceticism), sabr (patient endurance), shukr (gratitude), khawf (fear), riḍā (contentment with God's decree), rajāʾ (hope), tawakkul (reliance upon God), and maḥabba (love). None of these stations involves managing or choosing with Allah.