Sufism is often called by its proponents as, “the creed of love” because all Sufis, irrespective of the schools of thought they belong to, have made the theme of love a matter of main concern. For them love is the ultimate secret of the secrets (Sir-ul-Asrar) behind the creation of the cosmos and if there were no love, the universe would cease to exist. The cycle of creation is attributed to the will of the creator which loves to manifest itself in one form or the other. The mystics of all the major traditions of the world have been emphasizing on the development of a consciousness that derives its energy from the powerhouse of love. A consciousness that transcends the ethnic, religious and other socio-cultural boundaries. Everything that deviates a seeker from this divine love is described as ‘other’ and it has no place in the consciousness of a true Sufi. Shiekh Sa’di of Sheeraz puts it across like this:
‘Whatever you render except the name of the beloved is in vain
Whatever you read except the letters of love is in vain
O Sa’di! wash the marks of ‘Other’ from the slate of heart
The knowledge which shows not the path of Truth is ignorance’
The great Sufi Masters like Ghazali, Rumi and Ibn Arabi in particular have laid special stress on the theme of love through their writings. Ghazali has written an extensive chapter in his masterpiece ‘Ihya ul Uloom’ on the place of love in religious experience. He has presented a detailed and magnificent analysis of this theme and has concluded with “Love has a very high status in all the spiritual states [of a Sufi] because all other states either follow it or act as its introduction.” Rumi says, ‘Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love. Love is the bridge between you and everything. ‘There is hardly a boundary between the earthly and the Devine love as both are the faces of the same coin. When a person loves someone, he or she desires perfection, thus the earthly love may act as a prelude to divine love. When Ibn Arabi says, ‘My creed is love; wherever its caravan turns along the way, that is my belief, my faith”, he opens up his heart to all the diversities of the world and boils them down into unity. For Sufis, love is not just a strong emotion but a complete philosophy of living that motivates human soul to contemplate beauty and truth in everything. Here they seem to agree with John Keats who says,
‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’
From the moment a person opens his eyes to the world, God ordains every event that takes place. All is created by God in compliance with a plan, and for a divine purpose. For a person willing to recognize beauty and good in all things, he finds only blessings and a divine purpose hidden, within an entire complex of being. Rumi in his magnum opus ‘Mathnavi’ terms this philosophy of love as ‘Mazhab e Ishq’ i.e., the creed of love.
“Amongst all other creeds, the creed of love is altogether different one
The faith and creed of the lovers is God Himself”
Rumi is not speaking of love as an end in itself but as a means through which one can feel the presence of the Eternal Beloved. The analogy of human love as a reflection of real truth, so often expressed in Sufi poetry, has in particular left outstanding influences upon the diverse cultures through the ages.‘Aṭṭár, Rúmí, Ḥáfiẓ, and Jámi—to mention only a few of the great Persian poets whose works, translated into various languages, have introduced this philosophy of love to all parts of the world. Widening his compass of consciousness, Ibn Arabi says,
'My heart has become capable of every form; it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks, and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Ka‘ba and the tables of the Tora and the book of the Koran.I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take, that is my religion and my faith.'
The heart of a Sufi is not just occupied with the love of the creator but it also opens itself to the love the entire creation. A Sufi dedicates his all efforts for the restoration of peace and harmony in the society not because of any rigid sense of obedience to God, but out of love. A Sufi puts it like this, “Love conquers all, conquer the heart of everyone around you as the Sufi law of life requires, kindness to the young, generosity to the poor, good counsel to friends, forbearance with enemies, indifference to fools and respect to the learned.” Sufis respect the sentiments of all the faiths of the world as they do not adhere to the dogmatic conceptions. According to them, God is not involved in any controversy because divinity is a matter of personal experience and the love of the Creator must open minds to the love of the creation. The Sufi ideology of love effaces the myriad discriminations made on the bases of cast, creed and colour and looks forward for the establishment of unity in the cosmos. The worship of God transcends the fear of hell-fire and the desire of the joys of paradise, in the words of Rabia of Basrah , “True devotion is for the love of God, not to desire heaven nor to fear hell.” Love is the bridge which leads a seeker to the ultimate beauty. Love is the effacement of the lover’s attributes because a lover has to adopt the attributes of the divine, these spiritual states are termed as ‘fana’ and ‘baqa’. The lover has to go through the mystical state of self-annihilation (fana) in which the lover effaces his desires and ambitions and surrenders his will before the Divine Beloved and attains spiritual subsistence. Thus, True love is a process of self-effacement; it does not demand anything embarks the perilous path of self-realization. This mystical love is selfless and fearless. It is oblivious of death and life, success and failure, acceptance and rejection, pleasure and pain, and commits itself for the sake of the divine Beloved. The Sufi paradigm is undogmatic, flexible, tolerant and non-violent and as a result is suited for inter-religious dialogue, inter-cultural harmonization and peaceful mutual co-existence.
It is not surprizing that when Maulana Rumi died, his funeral was attended by people of every description. A Christian was asked why he wept so bitterly at the death of a Muslim spiritual teacher. His reply shows how love transcends every discrepancy and conquers every human soul. He replied,
“We esteem him as the Moses, the David, the Jesus of the age. We are all his followers and disciples.”
Interestingly his epitaph reads as,” When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.”