ISHQ

Love ['Ishq]

Maktab-e-Ishq Ka Dastoor Nirala Dekha

Usko Chutti Na Mili Jisne Sabaq Yaad Kia

The lexicographer Jawhari (d. 453/1061), a contemporary of Qushayri defined 'ishq, literally, as "being excessive in love (al-hubb). While the Qur'an speaks of love using a variety of words, it does not use the word 'ishq or any words derived from it. Nevertheless, we do find a derivative of 'ishq being used in the hadith. Ghazali (d. 505/1111) noted a hadith in which the Most Beloved Prophet [May Allah bless him & give him peace] spoke of "intense love" ('ishq): The Messenger of God [May Allah bless him and give him peace] stated, "Whoever feels intense love, is virtuous, keeps his love hidden, and then dies, he will indeed die as a martyr."

In a strikingly ecstatic passage in his Alchemy of Happiness (Kimiya-yi sa'adat), al-Ghazali considers 'ishq as that which arises in the fourth and final stage of practicing the remembrance of God (dhikr). This fourth stage occurs when,
the object of the remembrance dominates the heart (and that object is God-Haqq – not the remembrance)…. This is the result of one-pointed love (mahabbat-i mufrad), which is called "intense love" ('ishq). The heart of the lover who is burning with love ('ashiq-i garmraw) is always with the Beloved (ma'shuq). It might even occur that on account of the intense degree of preoccupation of the heart with the Beloved, the name of the Beloved may be forgotten. When one becomes so drowned and forgets one's self and everything – except God (Haqq) –one reaches the beginning of the path of Tasawwuf. Sufis call this condition "passing away" (fana') and "not existing" (nisti); meaning that as a result of the remembrance of God, everything has become non-existent; and such a person also has become non-existent, namely the one who has forgotten his or her self.

Mawlana Rume (d. 672/1273), in his collection of ecstatic poetry, the Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi, exclaims in praise,
This love is so fine, this love that we have is so fine, O God!So exquisite, so good, and so beautiful, O God!
Zihi 'ishq zihi 'ishq, kah ma rast khudaya,Chi naghz ast u chi khub ast chi zibast khudaya.

While Divine Love might appear to some to be completely distinct from human love, for many Sufis such as Ahmad al-Ghazali (d. 520/1126), Ruzbihan (d. 606/1209), Ibn 'Arabi (d. 638/1240), Rumi, and 'Iraqi (d. 688/1289), there was a continuum from human love to Divine love that the aspiring lover of God could follow. By learning how to love through love of a person, the sincere Sufi could – in principle – transform his or her love of a person into love of Allah. The contemporary scholars Chittick and Wilson, in the introduction to their translation of 'Iraqi's Lama'at, discussed this relationship of human love and Divine love. Speaking of 'Iraqi's understanding of love, they stated, "There is no irreducible dichotomy between divine and human love…There is a gradation from the love of forms, which is "apparent love" ('ishq-i majazi) to the love of God, which alone is 'real love' ('ishq-i haqiqi). The lower form of love can be, and for the Sufi is, the ladder to Divine Love."