The Truest Form of Love
Love is an emotion that even the most emotionless person cannot resist, especially if he has witnessed himself what that emotion can do.
Be it a woman or a man, a believer or disbeliever, young or old; love and falling in love is an important part of the life of every human being.
Before answering the question of how lovers know whether they have found the right person and whether they will live happily ever after, we first need to define the term ‘love’. Love is an emotion that one person feels towards another and is a powerful feeling. You devote yourself entirely to that one special person and your gaze is devoted to that person.
Love can be divided into eternal and finite love. Eternal love is the most important form of love and the last station of love one can arrive at. Finite love helps one to understand what love is and what not to love, in order to then find eternal love. Several definitions for both types of love can be found in Islamic literature. While eternal love is referred to as ‘true love’, finite love is understood as metaphorical love. Mevlana has described the relation between the two forms of love as follows: “Like a compass I stand firm with one leg on my faith and roam with the other leg all over the seventy-two nations”. According to this, one has to reach the real source of love and spread this love to others. To do so, one has to first find eternal love and love his Creator. Several statements that Mevlana has made about love can be found. Their main message is that love is the core of life and the reason for the entire creation. Allah describes our Prophet (peace be upon him) as ‘Habibullah’ and further says that “Were it not for you, I would not have created the universe”. This shows how important love is for the entire creation and even that love is the reason for it.
The Masnavi by Mevlana, which is well-known globally, addresses precisely this aspect in its first chapter. To make the story short, it can be rendered as follows: One day, a sultan falls in love with a slave he saw on the street. He buys her and brings her to his palace. However, the slave immediately falls ill. All the doctors of the palace examine the slave girl, but they do not succeed in curing her. Thereupon, the sultan bursts into tears, prays to Allah, and falls asleep. He dreams of a saint, who tells him that an excellent doctor will visit the palace the next day. When he awakes the next day a doctor comes to examine the slave girl and finds that the reason for her illness is her love for a goldsmith in Samarqand. Immediately, the sultan orders that this goldsmith should visit the palace and be housed therein. The slave girl becomes healthier day by day due to the presence of the goldsmith. After some time, the doctor gives the goldsmith a potion that causes him to fall ill and become uglier day by day. The slave girl, who sees him in this condition, no longer feels any love for the goldsmith at all and is even ashamed that she once loved him. This story shows that if someone is not able to find divine love, he will feel love towards the wrong person and so will become deceived.
The beauty of the creation is actually a reflection of the beauty of the Creator. Someone who would see sunbeams on a wall and fall in love with them would be disappointed as soon as the sun sets. If someone were to fall in love with another person and that person were to respond positively to her feelings, that love would only be limited to this life. Love for the creation is fleeting and may cause disappointment, sadness, and sorrow, but divine love will not disappoint or leave you. Furthermore, it makes you more mature day by day and makes you able to interpret the world accurately.
Mevlana says “This world is like a tree and we are like the fruits of this tree. When fruits are unripe, they cling tightly to the branches of the tree. However, when they become ripe and sweet enough, they can no longer hold on to the branches and fall off.” The reason we should love the creation is because of the Creator. Accordingly, the core message that can be taken here is that real love comes from the Creator. Everything perishable gives us joy only for a short time. However, humans want to feel permanently protected. Just as we want the Highest Authority to provide us with security and joy, we must also dedicate our love to that Highest Authority.
Prophet Ibrahim first dedicated his love to the sun, then to the moon, and then to the stars, but then he saw that the sun sets and the moon and stars disappear. Although just a child at the time, he said to himself “The Creator that I love cannot set like the sun or disappear like the moon and stars. The Creator that I will dedicate my love to is the one who has created the sun, moon and the stars”. Saying this, he opened his heart to the One who has created everything and Prophet Ibrahim obtained the taste of real love. Love gains its meaning when it is dedicated to nonperishable things. When men taste this love, they will look at the entire creation of the Creator with love. He will treat the creation with love and in this way he will become more relevant. Furthermore, others will appreciate such a person. However, the main advantage is that he will be able to see the entire creation with the love of Allah.
Such a precious and valuable feeling as love should not be dedicated to something finite. For example, if a very rare historical work falls into the hands of a person who does not know anything about it at all, it will be wasted. However, if the historical work were to come to the attention of an expert who knows archaeology, he would give it the necessary attention. Love is the most precious emotion we have and only the Creator of that feeling, that emotion, can give love the necessary response.
14.09.2021
