The First of Seven Discourses on Hubb,
21st July 2007,
Masjid Mahmoud, Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa
THE THREE FOUNDATIONAL TERMS OF LOVE
I would like, inshallah, over the next few gatherings of Dhikr to look at some of the technical language of Tasawwuf, and some of the framework of the Suluk of the Sufi on his Path.
Tonight we will make an introduction to it by discussing three terms, and then, properly speaking, we would begin looking at the Ten Stages of Love as it is defined by the great Sufis and ‘Arifin in Islam.
There are three terms I want you to become acquainted with. The first is Mahabba, which is affection. Mahabba derives from the root word Hubb. Hubb is, in its root meaning, a seed. It is a seed which lies embedded in the ground and while the rain comes on it, it does not move. The sun comes on it and it does not move. The winter comes on it and the summer comes on it, and there is no change in it. Once that not-changing is established so that the summer and the winter are the same for it, and the rain and the sun are the same for it, at a certain moment it is ready to sprout, and from it come the green shoots and the leaves and the fruit.
This affection does not change. Absence or presence, pain or pleasure become the same. So when the time comes it begins to sprout with its life. The Sufis say that this word Hubb has two letters: Ha and Ba. Ha is the last letter of Ruh – spirit, and Ba is the first letter of Badan – body. So it is said that Hubb is where these two come together – the Ruh and the body, and between these two letters, separating them, there is a Barzakh which is love. It is something that comes between the incompatibility and the ‘un-meetability’ of Ruh and body.
The other term we shall look at is ‘Ishq. ‘Ishq appears in many Diwans and much of the literature of the Sufis, and in the writings of the great scholars of Tasawwuf. ‘Ishq derives from ‘Ashiqa, and ‘Ashiqa is also a term used for a creeper, whose other name in Arabic is Liblab. The creeper grows and entwines itself around a tree and slowly, slowly it covers all its branches and it takes from the tree its leaves and its fruit until the leaves turn yellow, and it completely destroys the tree until it becomes the tree. ‘Ishq is this term for ardent love, and it is one of the key terms of Tasawwuf.
We are going to look at Ten Stages of Love, and prior to the Ten Stages we have what is called Muwafaqa. Muwafaqa is Compatibility. Imam al-Ghazali says that Muwafaqa is the prior condition of the Path of Love. In other words, you have to be compatible with it. It suits you. This is part of the secret of the Khatam, of the Destiny. The Destiny is a hidden thing, but at the same time it of course manifests through events – the event of the person and the event of the action. Allah says in Surat as-Saffat (37:96):
Allah is the Creator of you and your actions.
So it is a secret of the Destiny which is hidden even in the genetic pattern of the individual. For example, Sayyiduna Yusuf, ‘alayhi salam, and his brothers are from the same father, and yet they are not the same. There is something in Yusuf which makes him beloved by Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.
The sign of Muwafaqa on the person, according to Imam al-Ghazali, is that they love with the Love of Allah, and they hate with the Hatred of Allah. This is the command of Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, who said, “O Allah! With those You hate I have put an enmity between them and I.” So you love what Allah loves and you hate what Allah hates. This means that already you have this Compatibility, because in this very first stage you are ready for the encounter with Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, with illumination, with entering into states and establishing yourself in Stations by your knowledge of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala – because you are established in being compatible. You love what He loves, and you hate what He hates.
These are the beginning terms which will allow us to look at the Ten Stages of Love: Mahabba, which transforms into ‘Ishq in its extreme ardent love, and underlying it is Muwafaqa – Compatibility. Inshallah, with these as our guide-posts we will look at these subjects further.
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The Second of Seven Discourses on Hubb,
28th July 2007,
Masjid Mahmoud, Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa
THE SEVEN ASPECTS OF ALLAH’S LOVE FOR THE MUSLIMS
I said that we were going to look at the meanings of Mahabba, of Love, inside this terminology of Tasawwuf. It is very important that you understand that the things we are going to look at, which are very exalted and have very fine and subtle meanings, are absolutely grounded in the Qur’an and in fundamental Islamic thinking. Before we actually approach this specific terminology, we are going to look at how love is spoken of by Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, in the Qur’an.
The first thing we find out is that love is Maqam Ilahi – it is a Divine Station. Let us look at Surat al-Ma’ida (5:54):
You who have Iman!
If any of you renounce your Deen, Allah will bring forward a people
whom He loves and who love Him,
humble to the Muminun, fierce to the kafirun,
who strive in the Way of Allah
and do not fear the blame of any censurer.
This is what we call the Divine Contract. This love is both a Divine Station and it is a Divine Contract. This is something that is laid out for all the human creatures in creation to respond to or to negate. Let us look at the famous Ayat in Surat adh-Dhariyat (51:56):
I only created jinn and man to worship Me.
The Arabic term here is ‘liya‘budun’ from the root verb ‘Abada, which means ‘worship’, although the translation is never exact. ‘Abud is a very interesting term because it is of the nature of slavehood. “I only created jinn and man to make this ‘Abud of Me.” The slaveness is what they are for. In a sense it could be said, “I have created jinn and man to be slaves for Me.” This slaveness is worship of Allah. It is not just Salat but the whole process of adoring Allah and obeying Allah. Imam al-Ghazali was asked, “Why is it seven Tawaf? Why is it forty nine stones for the stoning of the shaytan?” He replied, “There is no ‘Why?’” That is the ‘Ubudiyya. That is the slavehood. You have been told to do it, so you do it! The wisdom is in your doing it, because you have been told to do it.
The human creature was created for the process of adoration of Allah. At the heart of adoration and the fulfilment of adoration is what love itself is. Love is not poetry. Love is submerging yourself in the Beloved. This is what mankind is created for. The human being is created for this adoration and obedience to Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. If he does not do it, it is because he is sick or he is in loss. Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, says in Surat al-Asr (103:2):
Man is in loss.
What is the loss of man? It is like when you cut off the electric power – man has got cut off from the current of what life is, so that he becomes a disturbed creature because he is not doing what he was made for.
If you have a race-horse and you do not race it, it becomes a sick, heavy, fat animal, but if you race it then it is a race-horse. Equally, man is made for this worship and if he does not do it he is in loss, he is in this Khusr. Then we find that this position of man links him with the whole of creation. Let us look at Surat al-Isra’ (17:44). Here we find out that this worship is a cosmic event. Allah says:
The seven heavens and the earth and everyone in them glorify Him.
There is nothing which does not glorify Him with praise
but you do not understand their glorification.
He is All-Forbearing, Ever-Forgiving.
This is a blessed Ayat. What it means is that now we are finding out that this thing for which man was created puts him into a process which is completely cosmic because the heavens and earth, and everyone in them – everything is making this glorification, this adoration of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. Thus the fundamental nature of this Love is an actual cosmic, dynamic force that Allah has put into the creation to glorify Him. For further confirmation of this we will look at Surat an-Nur: (24:41):
Do you not see that everyone
in the heavens and earth glorifies Allah,
as do the birds with their outspread wings?
Each one knows its prayer and glorification.
Allah knows what they do.
This means that everything is glorifying Allah. We know that the Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in certain Ruhani states addressed inanimate objects, am I not correct? He spoke to the stones, so he understood that even the stones were glorifying Allah when he addressed them. Everything is glorifying Allah, “As do the birds with their outspread wings.” If the bird is glorifying Allah by outspread wings in its supreme act which is flying, the human creature, as we shall find out, is glorifying Allah by those actions which are pleasing to Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.
For the final completion of this we go to Surat al-Hajj (22:18). Here we find a wonderful Ayat. We shall omit the last part of the Ayat because it is not in reference to what we are looking at.
Do you not see that everyone in the heavens
and everyone on the earth prostrates to Allah,
and the sun and moon and stars and the mountains,
trees and beasts and many of mankind?
Here we get the first indication that with the human beings there is a different reality, and we find this in the last phrase:
Many of mankind.
Allah has made the nature of the human creature such that he can take this path or take this other path. If he did not have that possibility, the one who does take the right path would not be able to fulfil his action of submitting, when in fact he could ‘not submit’. This is the glory of the human condition, and also the terror of the human condition.
Many of mankind.
That is the Muslims.
We have been looking at this Divine Contract which Allah has made with the whole of creation, and in particular with mankind. To complete this we look at Surat an-Nahl (16:48-50):
Do they not see the things Allah has created,
casting their shadows to the right and to the left,
prostrating themselves before Allah in complete humility?
Everything in the heavens and every creature on the earth prostrates to Allah,
as do the Angels. They are not puffed up with pride.
They fear their Lord above them
and do everything they are ordered to do.
Here we have another dimension. We find out that in the fulfilling of this contract, there is fear of Allah and obedience to Allah – doing everything we are ordered to do. This is that element which is the delight of Allah and the completion of the Contract.
Now we shall look at seven elements of this love. We are now looking at this Contract in relation to man. We find that the Divine Contract links to the Prophetic Contract which Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, has with His Messenger. That Prophetic Contract links to the Muslims’ Contract because the Muslims’ Contract goes to Rasul, sallallah ‘alayhi wa sallam. His contract with Allah, which is on a much higher level, illuminates and guides the Muslims to fulfil theirs.
The first aspect of Love is love of the Prophet. It is about Allah’s love of Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and the Muslims’ love of him from below to his highest of stations. So we look at Surat Al ‘Imran (4:31-32). This is the link between Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, and the Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam – ‘link’ in terms of course – because nothing is associated with Allah – in terms of this wisdom unfolding itself, and the guidance to the Muslim, how he too can have this highest possible state of love with Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.
Say, “If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you
and forgive you for your wrong actions.
Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Say, “Obey Allah and the Messenger.”
Then if they turn away,
Allah does not love the kafirun.
Here you see the linkage, here you see the Path that is the Sirat al-Mustaqim laid out, and it is the path of love. Allah commands the Messenger to tell the Muminun how they can go on this exalted Path of love. Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, is saying to Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, “Tell them: ‘If you LOVE Allah, then follow me.’” This is the message you are delivering. This is what the Revelation is. This is what the event of Qur’an is.
Say, “If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you,” […]
And now you get the linkage:
Say, “Obey Allah and the Messenger.”
So the key is put into our hands: from Allah, the Message to Rasul, and from Rasul the Message to the Muslims is that for this love, the key is “Obey Allah and the Messenger.” There is tremendous wisdom is these two Ayats, and tremendous secrets in these two Ayats.
Now we are given a secret of this connection between Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and the Muslims. We go to Surat al-Insan (76:29-30). This goes back to what I have just been saying. What we find is that Allah has given us this Message, but you might also say that this is part of the warning:
This truly is a Reminder,
so whoever wills should take the Way towards his Lord.
But you will not will unless Allah wills.
Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.
“Whoever wills should take the Way towards his Lord.” Allah then gives the secret openly in the Qur’an: “But you will not will unless Allah wills.” It will not happen unless you will it, but you will not will it unless He has willed that you will it. This is the great golden door that invites you into the knowledge of Tasawwuf. The second song of Shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi in his Diwan is a meditation on this matter. You have to will it, but the moment you will it, it is because He willed that you will it.
So an obedience to Allah is like you click into harmony with the birds and the beasts and the mountains and the stars because they have all submitted to be that which they are. You are not what you are until you submit and then your fullness is realised. When you will it, there is the knowledge that goes with that, which is that He willed you to be the one who would will it. This is why it is called “the Way towards his Lord.”
Now we turn to Surat at-Takwir. These are astonishing Ayats. You must realise how tremendous the Qur’an is. The most awesome thing about the Qur’an is not its beauty and it is not that it happened at all, but given that it is beautiful and that it happened, what is amazing about the Qur’an is that Allah speaks many, many secrets of existence, openly, that were not known or understood until they were given to Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to tell to the Muslims. Again, here we find this lifting of veils that had covered mankind way back from the time of the last Prophet before him. Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, says in Surat at-Takwir (81:26-29):
So where, then, are you going?
This is what nowadays you would term an existential question.
It is nothing but a Reminder to all the worlds,
to whomever among you wishes to go straight.
Not everybody wants to go straight. Some people get hit back into being straight. Some people reject it and will never go straight –
But you will not will unless Allah wills, the Lord of all the Worlds.
This is the absolute core of the Qur’an, this is absolutely the heart of the matter. This is why when you turn on the television they talk about ‘Islamic this’ and ‘Islamic that’, but it has nothing to do with Islam! THIS is the Divine Contract, and this is Allah’s address to the human creatures. “So where, then, are you going? It is nothing but a Reminder to all the worlds, to whomever among you wishes to go straight.” Remember that the Divine Contract from Allah to the Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is that he just deliver the Message – finished! That is all he has to do. Allah tells him that all he has to do is deliver the Message, is that not correct?
“It is nothing but a Reminder to all the worlds, to whomever among you wishes to go straight.” The Sufis call this the Ayat of Tariqa. This is the Ayat that clicks in the heart of the Muslim who says, “I want to be one of the people of this Sirat al-Mustaqim.” So the first step on the Tariqa is that your wanting it is because Allah wants it.
All that completes this picture of the relationship of love of the Prophet, linking the Divine Contract to the Prophetic Contract to the Muslims’ Contract. The second and third aspects of love, after the love of the Prophet, are for the Tawwabun – the repentant, and the Mutatahhirun – the ones who purify themselves. So we look for these two qualities, the ones of repentance and the ones of purification, in Surat al-Baqara (2:222). The Ayat in its main part is about menstruation and purification, but then Allah takes it to another level and says:
Allah loves those who turn back from wrongdoing and He loves those who purify themselves.
Again, we have two aspects of this love in this Contract from Allah to the creatures. Allah loves those who make Tawba from their wrong actions and Allah loves those who purify themselves.
The fourth aspect of this love of Allah is for the Sabirun – the patient. We find this in Surat Sâd (38), at the end of Ayat 43:
We found him steadfast. What an excellent slave!
He truly turned to his Lord.
We find Allah’s delight with the Sabirun, the people of patience. Hajj ‘Abdalhaqq likes to translate Sabirun as ‘steadfast’, although I prefer ‘patient’ – but of course the nature of the patient ones is that they hold on, and in that sense he is correct. “We found him steadfast” – we found him patient, we found him holding on. “What an excellent slave! He truly turned to his Lord.” So here is the one whom Allah loves. The one who held on, who was patient, and who turned to his Lord.
The fifth aspect of love that Allah has for His creatures is revealed in Surat Ibrahim (14:7):
And when your Lord announced:
“If you are grateful, I will certainly give you increase,
but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is severe.”
Here we have that Allah loves the people of gratefulness and thanks, the Shakirun. Here Allah has indicated that the reward for this gratefulness is increase, and increase is the gift of the Beloved to the Lover.
The Sixth aspect of Allah’s love is for the people of Ihsan – the Muhsinun. We will look in Surat al-Baqara (2:195):
Spend in the Way of Allah.
Do not cast yourselves into destruction.
And do good: Allah loves good-doers.
So Allah loves the good-doers, the Muhsinun. It is interesting that the translator has translated it as “people who do good,” but let us look at this Muhsin. He is the one of Ihsan. In the first Hadith from the collection of Imam Muslim, the Angel Jibril questions the Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, about his Deen and says: “What is Islam?” “What is Iman?” Then he says: “What is Ihsan?” and the answer of Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, which you all know, is: “To worship Allah as if you saw Him, and while you do not see Him, know that He sees you.” So Ihsan is a knowledge that Allah sees you.
This opens a door into the Suluk of Tasawwuf, it opens a door through the Wird As-Sahl. The Wird As-Sahl is derived from the Qur’an:
Allah is with me, Allah sees me, Allah is the Witness of my acts.
So the one of Ihsan is the one who most importantly knows that Allah sees him. Knowing that he is seen by Allah turns the subject into the object, and that is the real middle of the Path for the Sufi. He is not the observer, but the observed. This was the Wird that was given to Sahl at-Tustari which gave him the fatiha for his Fana’. Allah witnesses you. This is the Muhsin.
The seventh and final aspect of this is in Surat as-Saff (61:4). This is very interesting because it is the last of the group of people whom Allah loves:
Allah loves those who fight in His Way in ranks like well-built walls.
We should take note of this, because today there are many people doing things which we know are against the Shari’at yet they are held up as “Shahids who are dying in the Way of Allah.” They cannot be such, because they have not fulfilled what Allah has told them in the Qur’an. “Allah loves those who fight” – this Arabic word for fight is from the verb ‘Qatala’, which is not some poetic thing like the modernists who want to make everything to do with Jihad a psychological thing – Qatala is to cut, it is to fight.
Allah loves those who fight in His Way in ranks like well-built walls.
So Allah loves those who fight in His Sabil, in His Way. You will find in other Ayats “Jihad fisabilillah” – Jihad in the Way of Allah. But He tells us here that it is in ‘ranks’. What does that mean? It means it is an army. It is not a man tying dynamite to his belly and going out in the dark and committing suicide. It is men who take their strength from the ones on either side of them. They are “like well-built walls,” and a well-built wall is made of stones which take their strength from the stones on either side. THIS is fighting in the Way of Allah, and for the cause of Allah – not to defeat a nation, not to recover territory, but in the Way of Allah, and the Way of Allah is to establish the Deen.
You cannot establish the Deen unless you are taking it with you. This is the Deen. The one who fights this Way is bringing the Deen. When the forces of Sayyiduna ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, radiyallahu ’anhu, spread through this enormous area in his life-time, this is how he did it, with men fighting in ranks. When they entered the place, you then saw this power of the Amir and the power of the Muslims. So wherever they went people accepted Islam. They did not accept it because of some ‘Alim coming with rational explanations about what good sense it all made, they accepted it because these men were superior to them, they were dynamic, they came with life, they came with law, they came with worship, they came with medicine, they came with science – they came with the whole science. And they fought like that too because they fought scientifically.
Jihad fisabilillah has rules, and one of the first rules which these ignorant people do not even know, is that the Sahaba were forbidden to fight if they were outnumbered by more than two to one. So how could they declare war on the United States of America, as if that were a valid thing for Muslims to do? They are completely overwhelmed and outnumbered! The Sahaba used to say, “Oh, we have nostalgia for the time of Badr, when we were grossly outnumbered! The order came down that we were not to fight if we are outnumbered more than two to one, and so we do not fight like that anymore.” These ignorant modern people do not know these things because they do not know the Deen. If they had victory, who would take the victory? The one who would say, “Well, I got my son to blow himself up so now I am in charge!”? Whereas if it had been a victory fisabilillah, the man would say, “My father fought and died fisabilillah, and now I want to establish the Deen, and this is how I will do it.”
This is the final aspect of the seven aspects of Allah’s love for the Muslims. Inshallah, at our next gathering we will begin on the teachings of Shaykh Nasirud-Din, the Chiraghi of Delhi.
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The Third of Seven Discourses on Hubb,
4th August 2007,
Masjid Mahmoud, Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa
THE FOUR PRINCIPAL CATEGORIES OF LOVE
We are now taking another step in our examination of the subject of Divine Love, the love of the Divine. We are going deeper in, and we are going to look at four categories of Love. Of these four categories, the Ahwal – the spiritual states of each are not shared by the others. Each has its own distinct imprint on the self of the Faqir.
The first of the four categories has two aspects. This first category is called Al-Hawa. Al-Hawa is the sudden passion of love, or the falling in love. The first meaning of this is what comes into the heart from the Ghayb, from the Hidden, and bursts into the Shahada, onto the outward appearance. For this we look to Qur’an, and we shall look at Surat an-Najm (53:1):
By the star when it descends
We find that ‘descends’ is this term itself – Hawa. The verb is Ha-wi-ya, the future is Ya-h-wa, the noun is Hawa and Hawa means ‘to fall in love’. From the same root comes the noun Huwiy which means ‘to fall’. What we are saying is that this love is something that falls into the heart.
This falling into the heart is by one or more of three events. The first event is Nadhar, which is the glance. Thus the first thing that will make this plunge into the heart and cause this havoc is the glance. The glance is the thing that awakens the Faqir to this yearning and love of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. This involves the subtlest and finest aspects of transmission in Tasawwuf, between the Shaykh and the serious Murid, and between the seeker and Wilayat. It is by the encounter with the Wali of Allah – and he may not know he is a Wali of Allah, but by his glance the seeker will be affected.
The second event is Sama’ which as you know means ‘hearing’. The Faqir hears news of the Beloved in the Diwan of the Shaykh. He hears news of the Beloved in these great, sublime writings of the people of Tasawwuf, or by hearing it in the way that the recitation of Qur’an affects his heart and the click happens, and there falls into his heart this awakening of love.
The third event which makes this falling into the heart is Ihsan. That is when the seeker encounters noble action, encounters someone acting with nobility, with excellence which touches the heart and awakens the heart. Remember, the definition of Ihsan is in the famous Hadith which opens the collection of Imam Muslim, where Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was questioned by the Angel Jibril: “What is Islam?” “What is Iman?” “What is Ihsan?” The answer to “What is Ihsan?” was: “To worship Allah as if you saw Him, and while you do not see Him, know that He sees you.” This knowledge is the essence of this quality of Ihsan. So it is in the encounter with the one who embodies this Ihsan. It could be a noble outward action but it tends to be this Ihsan which awakens love, it is the encounter with someone who embodies this conscious awareness that they are being watched by Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.
Now it becomes very profound so we must concentrate. The second aspect of Al-Hawa is that the passion must conform to the revealed Shari’at. For this we go to Surat Sâd 38, and the first half of Ayat 26:
“Dawud! We have made you a Khalif on the earth,
so judge between people with truth
and do not follow your own desires,
letting them misguide you from the Way of Allah.”
“Dawud! We have made you a Khalif on the earth, so judge between people with truth” – with truth is ‘bil-haqq’ – “and do not follow your own desires,” – here we have the term Hawa. “Do not follow your own desires, letting them misguide you from the Way of Allah.” Now concentrate, as this is very important. We can say, by Ishara, that this Ayat is saying: “Do not follow the movement of your love, but be the object of My, subhanahu wa ta’ala, love, for this is the rule I have laid down.” Do you follow? Do you see what this means? If the impulse of the love comes from your consciousness, it can go astray. Look at the Ayat again:
So we oppose bil-haqq to “Do not be led away from the Sabil of Allah.”
Now we come to the second of the four principle categories which is Al-Hubb. You could take Al-Hubb to mean Purified Love. When the turbulence of love, for all its attachments is purified, and the sediments – which are those things which are attached to Ma-siwallah, other than Allah – fall to the bottom of the glass, then the liquid is pure. The famous sentence of Imam al-Junayd, speaking of Ma’rifa, was: “The clarity of the Wine of Ma’rifa is the clarity of the glass.” As it was clear, that was the Ma’rifa. For this we go to the Diwan of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, rahimahullah, and his Qasida ‘The Manifestation of the Essence.’ We shall look at the opening lines of it:
Has the light of the sun appeared from the world of the Unseen,
or have the veils of Layla been lifted from Her Essence?
Yes, the longing of Layla for Her beloved friend
has grown until She revealed Her love.
So that he has become a captive of Her ardent desire
and the longings which are Her goblets called out to him.
She did not leave until She had given him a drink from Her goblet.
There is no blame. Drink – for the wine is Her speech.
And She is none but the Presence of the Truth, alone,
Who manifests Herself with forms whose every light is different.
Now we will look also to Shaykh al-Fayturi, rahimahullah, and the Fifth Qasida in his Diwan. He says:
O Murid! Abandon your self and what it wants
if you desire increase from the secrets of Allah!
Enter the Path and cling to the friend.
He will give you an ancient vintage of the wine of Allah to drink.
The Beloved will give you His wondrous secret.
Thirst with love for Him, and withdraw into the lights of Allah.
The forms melted away when my Beloved divulged
the name of opening for the one who desires Allah.
The cups went round among us, O friend,
the secret diffused a fragrant scent from the niche of Allah.
Draw near to the wine-jug of joy. Its drink is permitted!
Truly, you will be pleased with it – you will see the Face of Allah!
Now you are beginning to see that in the Diwans, the Shaykhs are using a language which is common to them. Both Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib and Shaykh al-Fayturi, rahimahumallah, use these terms, but one must understand that they have a shifting meaning, they are not fixed. In the first Qasida Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib refers to the famous story of Layla and Majnun which is THE most common and most known and used – not metaphor, but imaging of this affair of love between Layla and Majnun.
Layla also means ‘night’ and Majnun means ‘mad’, so this indicates one who is completely intoxicated with love, mad with love. Layla – the use of the ‘she’, the feminine in grammatical usage is because it is used for the Essence of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. So when they refer to Layla, they are referring to the Dhat of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. This particular reference is to the Essence of Allah, and the impact of the Essence unveiling itself, of Layla unveiling Herself, is what obliterates Majnun and destroys him. This is the language of Tasawwuf, of Fana’ fillah.
At the same time there is this offering of the drink, and you will see the imagery of the cup, or the goblet, and the wine, and the merging of these two. The poems begin to cross these pictures in your mind in order to take you to a further bewilderment in your own spiritual condition.
Thus, all this that we have just seen in these two Diwans is about the purification of love, of love becoming Hubb – losing all its connection with Ghayr. We are finding in the Qur’an a clear indication of this differential between the one who has tasted this wine, and those who have not. We look at Surat al-Baqara, and the first part of Ayat 165.
Some people set up equals to Allah, loving them as they should love Allah.
But those who have Iman have greater love for Allah.
“Some people set up equals to Allah, loving them as they should love Allah.” In other words, they love what is in this world, they love what is Ghayr. “But those who have Iman have greater love for Allah.” These are the ones who drink the wine.
This is very important. We see a distinction between the people who set up equals to Allah, loving them as they should love Allah, and those who have Iman and thus have greater love for Allah. Now keep that place in the Qur’an while we go to Surat Al ‘Imran (3:10):
As for those who are kafir, their wealth and children will not help them against Allah in any way.
This is a devastating statement. The ones who are kafir are those who do not worship Allah and who do not obey Allah, yet what they do have is love for their wealth and for their children. But Allah says that is no use. Now go back to Surat al-Baqara (2:165):
But those who have Iman have greater love for Allah.
Their love for Allah dominates whatever love they have in this world, in the Dunya. This balance has to be achieved in order that you can get any value and meaning out of life. You HAVE to change the balance. You have to fix in yourselves that this love for Allah dominates all the aspects of Dunya.
The third category is Al-‘Ishq, which is Excessive Love. This we will, inshallah, look at in enormous detail but we will break it down very scientifically so that you can understand it. It is passion. We have to be like the doctor who examines it clinically and who understands it without any turbulence in the examination. We must look at it and understand it very well. This will be the next stage of our examination.
The fourth aspect of love, the completion of our four-part definition, is Al-Wadd, which is Loyalty in Love. It is fixed, it is the fixity of love. It does not wobble or shake. It is what we call ‘constancy’ – Thabat al-Hubb. This is very important because here, in the Qur’an, is the importance of Al-Wadd, of this fixity of love. It is explained in these Ayats, setting the Lovers apart from the other slaves of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. Look at Surat Maryam (19:93-96):
There is no one in the heavens and earth who will not come to the All-Merciful as a slave.
He has counted them and numbered them precisely.
Each of them will come to Him on the Day of Rising all alone.
As for those who have Iman and do right actions, the All-Merciful will bestow His love on them.
“As for those who have Iman and do right actions, the All-Merciful will bestow His love on them.” So you see that on the Last Day, Allah puts in a different category the Lovers of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. This is the predetermined and desired state of the Fuqara.
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