The Concept of True Love

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) said, “Love is certainly not a concept that Western culture is unfamiliar with, and undoubtedly most people lay claim to loving and being loved, to knowing the meaning of love, and to it being an important aspect of their lives, indeed the most important.  But the love we refer to, in connection with the Divine Name, al-Wadud, is not the physical, transitory love that is rapidly becoming the only meaning of love applicable to modern man; the love that one may find in the zoo.  If we cannot imagine a love other than what is on the level of animals, then we belong in the zoo. 

There is Real Love, unchanging, undying love, and then there is temporary animal love.  Both are in us through the Wisdom of the Creator, but the permanent Love is the Love Given to us through the Divine Name, al-Wadud.  To realise that love is the challenge and fulfillment of human existence, to come into contact with those oceans of Divine Love, for He has Given His Divine Love to His most Honoured representatives in Creation, humanity. 

One may love a young lady for her youth, and when that youth departs, one loves her no longer.  That is false love.  Sometimes, we may have both kinds of love simultaneously, but usually the physical overpowers the spiritual, so that it is never allowed to appear.  But to reach the ultimate goal of life, we are in need of permanent Love, and it is only the Lord of the Universe Who Grants it.  Therefore, when we say, ‘Ya Wadud’, we are opening ourselves up to that Divine Love, asking our Lord to Awaken that Love that knows no limitations, that is eternal and extends to all Creation.”