====== Love ======

  * Inclination towards beauty, benevolence, and perfection with a spiritual pleasure.

  * “**Love** is the cause of the universe’s existence, the bond between all things, and the light and [[life|life]] of the universe. Since we are the most comprehensive fruit of existence, a **love** so overflowing that it can invade the universe has been included in that fruit’s heart (its seed or core). One who deserves such an infinite **love** can only be one with infinite perfection.”((Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, //The Words//, New Jersey: The Light, 2013, p. 377.))

  * “//Mahabba// means fondness, tender and kind feelings, preference, and **love**. **Love** that affects and invades one’s feelings is called passion; **love** that is so deep and irresistible that it burns for union is called fervor and [[enthusiasm|enthusiasm]]. Sufis have defined **love** as the relation of the heart with the Truly **Beloved** One, the irresistible desire felt for Him, the struggle to comply with His will or commandments in all acts and thoughts, and the state of being enraptured and intoxicated without “sobriety” until the time of union or re-union. These definitions can be summed up as “standing” in the [[presence|Presence]] of God, as being freed from all transient relationships and worries.

  * “True **love** means that a **lover** is set wholly on the **Beloved**, is always and inwardly with Him, and never has any other desire or wish. The heart of a person who has such a degree of **love** always beats with a new [[contemplation|contemplation]] for the **Beloved** at every moment. His or her imagination always travels in His mysterious climate, his or her feelings receive new messages from Him at every moment, his or her will takes wings with these messages, and he or she passionately desires to meet Him.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Emerald Hills of the Heart: Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism// (vol. 1), New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2011, p. 151.))

  * “**Love** is the essence of being. God Almighty has created the existence as an expression of **love** to His Divine Essence. He has created man as an index, essence and vital element of these vast realms. But this is a sacred and exonerated **love**. It is not like our **love**. Our **love** is either an expression of weakness and inclinations that we cannot control, or it is an emotion that has become a part of our nature and character. None of these can be attributed to the Divine Essence. Therefore, to declare that God is free from any defect, we say that He has created existence as an expression of an exonerated, sacred and exempted **love**.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //İstikamet Çizgisi (Kırık Testi-17)//, New Jersey: Süreyya Yayınları, 2020, p. 108.))

===== See Also =====

  * [[compassion|Compassion]]
  * [[enthusiasm|Enthusiasm]]

===== Further Reading =====

  * M. Fethullah Gülen, //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/520499.Toward_a_Global_Civilization_of_Love_and_Tolerance|Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance]]//

===== Other Languages =====

  * [[https://fr.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=amour_muhabbah|Français]]
  * [[https://nl.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=liefde|Nederlands]]
  * [[https://tr.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=muhabbet|Türkçe]]

===== Footnotes =====