QUESTION 2. ‘Many of us were introduced to religion through rules, accountability reward and punishment, yet you place love very early in your book, Should our relationship with Allah ultimately be placed more on love than fear.’ If one reads Qur’an, one is imbued with awe and fear of God. Qur’an is for the people who are God fearing and have ‘Taqwah’ (forbearance, God consciousness) which itself means reverence, piety and guarding against wrongdoing. All monolithic religions revolve around fear and awe of God. You are asked to worship God, because you fear him and pray for salvation. The Qur’an says,
“Qur’an is a book, had it been revealed to a mountain, the fear of God would have ripped the mountain asunder.”Surah Al-Hashr(59: 21). “And who so ever fears Allah; He will make for him a way out. SurahAl-Talaq(65:2-3). The believers are only those who when Allah is mentioned, their hearts become fearful. Surah Al-Anfal (8:2). Although this fear is a kind of “lover’s mortification,” the mortification has the upper hand over love and the fear outpaces the affection. The main motive here seems disciplining the body and restraining the worldly desires to purify the soul. In the Islamic context,love means the very being of God. Love is an ocean is of God from God and is flowing back to God. That is why we say, “Ina lillahwainaelhaetajaun.”We are from God and every breath we take we are returning to God. Ibn ’Arabi says, “Allah‘s motivation forcreation was in first place love. If it was not divine love the world would not have manifested. A Hadith frequently quoted in Sufi circles says, ”If it were not for you, O Muhammad, I wouldn’t have created the heavens and earth.”
Until the fifth century after the demise of the Holy Prophet, Islamic Sufism was based roughly on the idea of fearing God. It was not without reason that in the history of Islamic culture, ascetic and fearful Sufism preceded the Sufism of love, as Abu Hamid al-Ghazali stepped into the arena of culture, before Rumi did. Al-Ghazali was so fearful of God that it led him to the point of paralysis. He says, “You are nothing in relation to such a Transcendent Reality. How can you claim existence or even say it is your will to do something? How can you even claim to worship Him, everything comes from Him and man is a mere recipient of His will and has to accept whatever is given or denied to him.” Rumi’s ‘Masnavi’however is a book of union and this union is borne out of love. He writes, “Bravo to love that so masterfully unites a hundred thousand droplets, just as the potter unites grains of dust to form a jug.”
Rumi believes that the evolutionary process of universal consciousness has a specific goal i.e. the attainment of God. For Rumi, “God is the basis, as well as the goal of all existence.” Rumi says man not conscious of God is akin to an animal, with baser instincts and only true consciousness ennobles him. This doctrine was introduced into Islam by Muslim Philosophers like Al-Farabi and Ibn-Sina. IbnSina known in West asAvicenna suggests that love has an ennobling power, a doctrine advocating suppressing the lower parts of the soul in an attempt to reach the perfection of the highest. For Rumi fear, based religion is poison and his remedy is love. Rumi placed the ‘Masnavi’ “Book of Love” beside the Qur’an’s “Book of Awe,” and gave the single-winged bird of religion the gift of a second wing, so that it could fly more evenly and more joyfully. His religion was the religion of love, which was distinct from all other religions, as he replaced servitude with ardency, obedience with passion and ecstasy and termed this life, a spiritual journey in quest of God.
To him the Beloved was beguiling as well as mysterious and he elevated munificence above the religious law. Rumi says, “For munificence is to give without any cause and religion never speaks of the need for sacrifice. Being in love is neither mastery nor servitude. You demand no reward for being in love. The religion of love is distinct from any other religion. It is the religion of the lovers of God. Love is the ocean without boundary or shore, where lovers drown without sigh or cry. In the way of seeking, the sane and the mad are one, on the path of love, friend and stranger are one. He, who has tasted the wine of union with the Supreme Soul, finds in his religion Ka’aba and idol Temple are one.” “On the seeker’s path, wise men and fools are one. In His love, brothers and strangers are one. Go on and drink the wine of the Beloved. In that faith, Muslims and pagans are one.” – Rumi
Questions asked in North Hills Book Club Meeting in Pittsburg Pennsylvania USA on 13th Sept 26. The questions and the answers given will be appended every Friday. The writer is author of seven books including three on Spiritualty, ‘The Islamic Spirituality and Mysticism-The Path and Destination, ’The Philosophy of Rumi and its relevance in the Present Times,’ ‘Longing for Transcendent-Teachings from Islamic mystical Traditions.’
—The writer is author of six books including “Islamic Spirituality and Mysticism, the Path and destination’ & ‘The Philosophy of Rumi and its relevance in the Present Times.