Love–Union (Aşk–Vuslat)
Among the most frequently used and explored words and sentiments in Sufism (taṣawwuf) culture is love (ʿishq). This Arabic term, used in the sense of excessive and intense affection, does not appear in the Qur'an, though words derived from the root of its close meaning, "maḥabba" (love), do occur. The Qur'an speaks of the believer loving Allah and Allah loving the believer, and indicates that the way to love Allah is by following His Messenger (al-Māʾida 5:54; Āl ʿImrān 3:31). Nevertheless, in the early period, expressions such as "the servant being in love with Allah" or "Allah being in love with the servant" were regarded with suspicion. Among the early Sufis, Abū'l-Ḥusayn al-Nūrī (d. 295/908) faced great backlash and barely escaped death for saying, "I am in love with Allah and He is in love with me." Another figure who especially focused on this subject was Rābiʿa.
Those who did not find it appropriate to use the word "lover" for Allah put forward the issue of "excessiveness" inherent in love, stating that such a thing could not be conceived for Allah. In later centuries, these debates softened and the word love (ʿishq) became widespread. The first Sufi to examine and elaborate on the subject extensively was the famous al-Ghazālī's brother, Aḥmad Ghazālī (d. 520/1126). His work, Sawāniḥ al-ʿUshshāq, is the first treatise dedicated to this topic (Tehran, 1322; Istanbul, 1942). Ibn ʿArabī and Mawlānā (Rūmī) would bring the subject to its zenith in the 13th century.
According to a common classification, love is examined in two groups: 1. True (Divine) love, 2. Metaphorical (Human) love. The most comprehensive work written on love is Abhar al-ʿĀshiqīn (Tehran, 1981). In this book, Baklī (d. 606/1209) thoroughly discusses the idea, also seen among earlier Sufis, that "the reason for the creation of the world is love." According to him, since the universe was created as a manifestation of Allah's love, every particle bears a trace of this love, and in every being, the reflection of this affection is present. Fuzuli expresses the same idea:
Love is what exists in the world,
Knowledge is but a word and a tale.
Love is also one of the most vibrant and lively themes of Turkish Sufi literature. This tradition, which began with Gülşehri and Âşık Paşa and continued with Fuzuli and Shaykh Ghalib, is extensively treated in our classics. In verses of extraordinary beauty such as, "Let the lights burn with your love, O Messenger of God (peace be upon him)," or "Âşık Yunus, when he attains union with his beloved, becomes enraptured," and "Love has taken me from myself," both love and the lover are seen. In the widely known Mevlid in our society, Süleyman Çelebi expresses that Allah is in love with the Prophet:
O my beloved, I have become in love with you,
.
.
.
When I became in love with you, O beloved.
The final station reached by lovers is also called fanāʾ-baqāʾ (annihilation and subsistence in God).
Fanāʾ–Baqāʾ
Among the terms used to express the deep spiritual experience a person undergoes in Sufi life is also...