An ecstatic rapture: losing oneself under the impact of a powerful feeling or a spiritual impulse that stirs intense excitement or fervor.

“In the language of Sufism, jadhba (attraction) means that a servant is attracted toward God by God Himself, purified thereby of human imperfection in spiritual elevation, and equipped with Divine qualities or exalted morals as specified in the Qur’an. It also means feeling and observing clearly the manifestations of Divine Majesty and Unity. A purified soul capable of receiving such manifestations abandons itself to the tides originating from the realms beyond and, like a competent swimmer, swims in ecstasy, in deep submission to God and without fear and anxiety.”¹⁾

“There are two kinds of attraction. One is felt inwardly and is not manifested outwardly by its possessor. Such a person loves God, feels great contentment with and pleasure in fulfilling His commandments, and feels incessantly attracted to the source of a deeper delight. The second kind of attraction is that which is manifested. One who feels such attraction cannot help but manifest it as ecstasy. Feeling attracted by God with a continuously increasing force, he or she lives as an ecstatic, in excessive joy and with great happiness.

Those who are unaware of such degrees of spiritual elevation think such a person is crazy. The following couplet of ‘Abdu’l-‘Aziz Majdi Efendi expresses this degree of ecstasy quite meaningfully:

There is a kind of madness called attraction, which is a secure triumph. By means of it mysteries of madness reach higher and higher.”²⁾

“The feeling of attraction sometimes comes as a Divine favor in return for an initiate’s sound intention and steadfastness to reach God, and it serves them for reaching the heaven of perfections in an instant.”³⁾

“Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi was a man of truth who always ran toward God and made others run as well; a balanced man of attraction who overflowed at every moment with love and ardor and, by teaching love, set those around him alight. Alongside his gnosis, affection, and burning longing, he was also a hero of reverence and awe; a strong-voiced herald calling everyone to God and to that blessed end. His satisfaction was a result of God’s good pleasure, and his love and yearning were manifestations of the Divine regard—he was a comprehensive master.”⁴⁾

“When the Imam of Alvar fell into attraction, in a voice that sent shivers he would say, ‘May God make us truly human.’ By this plea, the venerable man was surely wishing to become the perfect (or universal) human being.”⁵⁾

“Our conscience (conscious nature) indicates eternal happiness. Whoever listens to their alert conscience hears it saying eternity over and over again. Even if we were given the entire universe, we would not be compensated for the lack of eternity, for we have an innate longing and were created for it. Thus our natural inclination [attraction] toward eternal happiness comes from an objective reality—eternity’s existence and our desire for eternity.”⁶⁾

“The conscience recognizes God through its attraction: In the conscience there is an attraction, an infatuation; the conscience feels that it is constantly attracted by the pull of an attractive force. If the All-Beautiful, Gracious One was to manifest Himself permanently without a veil, conscious beings would be overcome with ecstasy.”⁷⁾

M. Fethullah Gülen, “Jadhb and Injidhab (Attraction and the Feeling of Being Attracted Toward God)”

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