Tasting Divine Love

Know, dear seeker of the Real, may God illuminate your heart, that the nonexistent cosmos was made manifest with love. The cosmos was in a state of rest, a rest of non-existence (sukūn ʿadamī), and then the Real gazed upon it with love, and what was at rest began to move with love, by virtue of, “I loved to become known.” What was once at rest is still in motion, and the cosmos is still expanding. Nothing in existence moves except through the power of love, and for love’s sake. A rock tumbles down from the top of a mountain to the bottom for the sake of love. Rain falls from the sky to the earth for the sake of love.

...Thus in the beginning there were two gazes: a gaze from the Real toward creation, and a gaze from creation toward the Real. This is so that you know, O nonexistent one, that it is by the measure of the Creator’s love for you that you love the Creator. He creates preparedness in you, and you come to love Him by the measure of your preparedness (istiʿdād). In a sacred ḥadīth, God says, “My servant continues to draw near unto Me with supererogatory devotions (nawāfil)” until his preparedness becomes strong, whereupon he attains God’s bounty of “until I love him.”

Reflect on His statement “until I love him,” and you will recognize that it is His love for you that comes first. "He loves them, and they love Him" (Q Māʾida 5:54). He did not say, “until the servant loves Me,” because you play no part in it. The love that is attained through supererogatory acts of worship is a particular love (maḥabba khāṣṣa). As for the love that made all creation manifest, that is a universal love. The purpose of this beginningless and universal love is to attain knowledge of the Creator: "I did not create the Jinn or humankind except to worship Me" (Q Dhāriyāt 51:56). Ibn ʿAbbās interpreted this to mean, “to know Me.” Worship is the path, and knowledge is a subtle arrival upon the carpet of, “I loved to become known.”

Dear servants of God, the wayfarer attains love of the Real when his heart becomes permeated by the tawḥīd of the names and attributes, and the disclosures of the names and attributes flow over him. The names become manifest for him through their descent according to the Lām of love and yearning, which is the intermediary between the Real and the effect (athar). However, when you are dominated by the vision of the eye of union, you will attain nothing but bewilderment and obliteration, for when the Essence becomes manifest, the names, the attributes, the acts and the properties become hidden.

Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari (qs)

Taratil al-Ha'iyya