Thread by @Jawnmard1

The ‘Sheikh al-Akbar’, Muhyi al-Din ibn al-Arabi (d. 638 AH) says (in Chapter 178— ‘The Station of Love’—of his magnum opus, The Meccan Openings):
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‘Know—may God give you success—that love is a divine station, for He ascribed it to Himself, and called Himself ‘the Loving’ (Al-Wadud).... This station has four names:
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there is hubb (‘love’), which means its pure presence in the heart, purified from the turbidity of distractions, so that one seeks nothing and desires nothing from his beloved.
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The second name is wudd (‘affection’ or ‘love’), from which the divine Name Al-Wadud (‘the Loving’) is derived; it is one of His Qualities, and is affirmed in Him, and this is where the word wudd comes from,
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because of how firmly established it is on earth. The third name is ‘ishq (‘devotion’), which means intense love; the Qur’an speaks of it as ‘ardent love’ when it says: ‘...but those who believe love God more ardently...’ (Al-Baqarah 2:165),
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and speaks of it when it says: ‘...Indeed he has smitten (shaghafa) her heart with love...’ (Yusuf 12:30); in other words, her love for Joseph has become like the skin which covers the heart (‘shaghaf’),
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containing it and surrounding it. The Real also described Himself as having ardent love, although one cannot say that God has ‘devotion’. Devotion means that love penetrates the lover so that it becomes intermixed
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with every part of him and covers him like a robe; it is derived from the word ‘ashaqa (‘a convolvulus tree’). The fourth name is hawa (‘desire’ or ‘impulse’), which means total concentration of the will on the beloved,
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and total attachment to him (or her) whenever anything comes to the heart. No divine Name is derived from this word. It occurs because of specific causes, such as a look, a story, a kindness, or many other things.
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In the realm of sound God-given disclosure, it means God’s love for a man when he does many good deeds and follows the Messenger in all that he conveyed; we call this station hawa...
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People differ as to its definition, and I have never seen anyone give it an essential definition; indeed, such a thing is unimaginable. All those who gave it definitions defined only its effects and results.
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This is especially true when we consider that it is a quality of God Himself. The best I ever heard said about it is what more than one person told me. Abu al-‘Abbas ibn al-Arif al-Sanhaji said
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when he was asked about love: “Jealousy is part of love, and jealousy demands secrecy— do not define it.” Know that all that can be known is of two kinds: what can be defined, and what cannot be defined.
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Those who know love and speak of it hold that it cannot be defined; those who experience it know it, though they do not know what it is, and they do not deny that it exists...
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Love is a special manifestation of the will.’ (Ibn Arabi, Al-Futuhat al-makkiyyah, vol. 2 pp. 317-322)
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📚
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, Love in the Holy Qur'an

#sufism
#tasawwuf