Exploring the Theme of Mystical Love

Abstract

The theme of Love is one of the fundamental concepts in Sufism. From the fifth/eleventh century onward, when the focus of Sufism turns gradually from asceticism to speculative mysticism, the concept of love assumes a central role in the Sufi texts. For example, Ahmad Ghazzali (d. 528/1126) devotes his Savanih, a treatise in Persian, to the theme of love. After him, several other Sufi authors follow his lead. His student, Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (d. 533/1131) spends chapter six of his Tamhidat, consisting of about fifty pages, on the concept of love. Attar (d. 623/1221) writes about love as one of the seven valleys of search in the Mantiq al-Tayr. The theme of love finds its highest expression in the writings of Ibn al-Arabi and Rumi, the two most famous masters of Sufism. However, in spite of the fact that countless pages of Sufi literature have been devoted to this topic the mystics have generally professed their inability fully to describe true love and its relations. Ibn al-Arabi provides the following statement about love in al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Openings): Whosoever defines love has not realized true love, and whosoever has not drunk a sip from the chalice of love has not recognized it, and whosoever claims that he has fully drunk from that chalice has not known true love, because love is a type of wine that does not satiate any one.1