|
GOD IS LOVED BECAUSE HE IS PERFECT
Perfection is loved because of itself
In Sharh al-Mawaqif,
Sayed Sharif al-Jurjani writes: ‘The cause of love is either pleasure
or benefit or sexual or natural inclination or perfection. Perfection is
loved because of itself.’ That is, you love something or someone
because of either the pleasure it gives or the benefit it brings or the
sexual or natural (fatherly, motherly or filial, etc.) inclination you
feel towards it or the perfection it has. If it is perfection which
arouses love, there is no need to search for another cause to love. For
example, people tend to love men of perfections, of perfect virtues,
although they have no relations to them whatever.
So, by virtue of being true, indisputable and
infinite, all the perfections of Almighty God and all His Most Beautiful
Names are loved because of themselves. The Majestic Being, Who is
absolutely worthy of love and the True Beloved One, loves His
perfections and the beauties of His Names and Attributes, which are all
true, in a manner fitted for Him. He also loves the works of His Art,
which are the mirrors to His Perfections, and the beauties of His
creatures. He loves His Prophets and saints, and particularly His noble
beloved, who is the lord of the Messengers and the master of the saints.
Because of His love for His Own Beauty, He loves His beloved, who is the
mirror to that Beauty. Because of His love for His Own Names, He loves
His beloved, who manifests those Names in a most comprehensive way, and
his brothers-the other Prophets-and Companions. Because of His love for
His art, He loves His beloved, who displays that art, and those who are
like him, that is the rest of the Prophets. Because of His love for His
creatures, He loves His beloved, who welcomes those creatures with due
appreciation and applause, saying: ‘What wonders God has willed! God
bless them! How beautifully they have been created!’, and those who
follow him. Because of His love for the beauties of His creatures, He
loves His beloved, who is the most comprehensive embodiment of all those
beauties and all moral virtues shared by them, and his brothers and
followers.
All of the perfections in
the whole of the universe are the signs of a Majestic One’s
perfections and indications of His Beauty. In relation to His
perfection, all the beauty and perfection in the universe are an
indistinct shadow. The following is a brief pointer to five of the
evidences of this reality.
-
A splendid, perfectly built and decorated
palace evidently points to perfect engineering, architecture and
joinery, and shows that its builder is a perfect engineer,
architect, decorator and joiner. All those names and skills
demonstrate the perfection of the builder’s artistry and
competence. The perfection of the competence necessarily shows that
the builder is a perfect one of most sublime nature.
Similarly, the palace of the world, that
perfectly built and decorated work, evidently points to the
perfection of acts. For the perfection of a work results from the
perfection of acts. The perfection of acts necessarily points to the
perfection of the Names like the Organizer, the Fashioner, the Wise,
the Decorator, the Builder, which are involved in the building of
that place. The perfection of the Names and Titles undoubtedly shows
the perfection of the qualities or Attributes. For if the attributes
are not perfect, the names originating from them cannot be perfect.
The perfection of the Attributes evidently demonstrates the
perfection of the competence. The perfection of the competence shows
of a certainty that the One Who has built that palace is absolutely
perfect, for although His perfection has manifested itself through
the veils of Attributes, Names, acts and works, still it reveals
such faultless perfection and beauty so far as can be observed in
the universe.
After you see that infinite perfection
originating in the Essence of the One Who has it, you may understand
how much the relative perfections manifested in comparison to others
or by way of contrast signify.
-
As you know, perfect and well-proportioned
works of art depend on perfect planning. Perfect planning is based
on comprehensive knowledge, perfect mind, intellectual refinement
and spiritual purity. The purity of the spirit manifests itself in
the work through knowledge. So, with all its material beauties, this
universe consists in the drops issuing from an infinite knowledge
belonging to One Who has infinite beauty and perfection.
-
As you know, one of light diffuses light and
illuminates, and benevolence proceeds from wealth and grace
originates from a gracious one. Since this is so, like light
pointing to the sun, all the beauty and perfection observed in the
universe point to a perpetual beauty.
Like a mighty river glittering with the
reflections of the sun’s light, the creatures flow over the face
of the earth glittering with the reflections of beauty and
perfection. Just as the reflections of light in the bubbles on the
surface of the river do not originate from the river itself, so too,
the beauties and perfections glittering temporarily on the flood of
creatures do not belong to the creatures themselves; rather they are
the reflections of the lights of the Names of an Eternal Sun.
The disappearance of the mirrors and death of the
creatures in contrast to the perpetuity of the reflections in them
of the inseparable grace and beauty are among the most manifest
proofs that the apparent beauty does not belong to those reflecting
them, and that there is One with an ideal beauty and an
ever-manifested kindness and grace, One Whose existence is
absolutely necessary, Who is Eternal and All-Loving.
In the same way, all the people who are able to
uncover the hidden truths and have as certain knowledge of them as
seeing them with the naked eye, who belong to either the different
classes of truth-seeking, purified scholars or the different ways of
the saints or the different schools of the sages, all differing from
one another in time, place, method, temperament, and capacity, have
all unanimously agreed that the beauties and perfections observed in
the mirrors of creatures in the universe are the reflections of the
Perfection of a Single Necessarily Existent One and the
manifestations of the beauty of His Names, their consensus is an
unshakeable decisive testimony.
The pleasure, beauty and
grace a person or a thing has are judged according rather to those that
receive and manifest them, than to their opposites. For example,
generosity is a beautiful and praiseworthy virtue. A generous person
receives pleasure from the happiness of those whom he has favored a
thousand times greater than that he receives from his superiority to the
others in generosity. Also, a caring and compassionate one feels greater
pleasure in proportion to the comfort of those for whom he feels
compassion. For example, the pleasure which a mother receives from the
happiness and well-being of her children because of her compassion for
them is so great and strong that she nearly sacrifices her life for
them. The pleasure of that compassion causes a hen to attack a dog to
protect her young.
Since the true pleasure, beauty and perfection of
laudable virtues and praiseworthy qualities are judged according rather
to those that they are related with than to their likes or opposites,
for sure, the Beauty of the Mercy of the Perfect and All-Gracious One,
Who is the All-Living, the Self-Subsistent, the All-Benevolent, the
All-Caring, the All-Merciful and the All-Compassion-ate, should be
considered in view of the beings He has mercy for. According to the
degree of the happiness and well-being of those whom He favors with His
Mercy, and particularly of their enjoyment of His bounties in Paradise,
the All-Merciful and All-Compassionate One feels what we call sacred
love, sacred pleasure, sacred exhilaration and sacred joy, which are in
accordance with His Holy, Transcendent Being, and are infinitely
greater, more sacred, more elevated and more refined than their
counterparts existing in the creation. You may look at a single
manifestation of the comprehensive meaning of this mighty truth by means
of the telescope of the following comparison.
The Almighty “feels” sacred love and pleasure
because of the happiness and well-being of His servants
Suppose there is a kind, compassionate and generous
man. In order to feed some people who are extremely poor, hungry and
destitute, he prepares a banquet on his fine ship traveling in the sea.
While they are eating, he watches them from above. You may understand to
what extent their enjoyment of the food and happiness, and the gratitude
they feel in return, please and exhilarate that noble and generous one.
Similarly, the All-Merciful and Compassionate One has
spread out a vast table on which are all varieties of food on the face
of the earth which He causes to travel in the space with all the
beings-men, jinn and animals-on it. Together with feeding all those
beings here in the world on the foods on that table, He invites those
innumerable servants of His who are infinitely hungry and destitute, to
the everlasting gardens of Paradise each of which He prepares as if a
magnificent table laid out with all kinds of food and drink which are of
pure pleasure and delight.
Now, considering the pleasure and happiness which the
generous one mentioned in the comparison above feels at the enjoyment of
his guests, although he is only like an officer charged with delivering
God’s bounties, not the true owner of the foods he offers, you may
compare the sacred love and pleasure which the All-Merciful One feels,
which we are unable to describe.
To cite another example, if a skilful technician
invents something like a phonograph and displays through it the results
he wants to obtain, you may understand how he will be pleased and say,
‘What wonders God has willed!’.
A man is pleased with the working of a simple
instrument like a phonograph. Whereas the Majestic Maker has invented
the vast universe like a phonograph or a unique composition of music. He
has made the earth in general and all the creatures in it in particular,
and especially the head of man, each like a Divine phonograph or a piece
of Divine music, that sciences should be lost in admiration of it. Thus,
since all those creatures display the results expected of them to the
utmost degree and in a extremely beautiful way, their obedience to God’s
laws of the creation and operation of the universe, which comprise their
sort of worship and glorification and their specific praise and
exaltation of God, and the attainment of Divine purposes for their
lives, please God to the extent that, even if united into a single
intellect, all mankind could not comprehend it.
Still as another example, a just judge who receives
great pleasure from doing and establishing justice, becomes extremely
happy with restoring the rights of the oppressed against oppressors.
Likewise, you may compare with this the sacred meanings arising from the
reality that the Absolutely Just Ruler, the Majestic Overwhelming One,
gives all creatures the right of existence and animate beings the right
of living, and protects and maintains their existence and lives against
all kinds of aggressions. He also restores all the rights in the
universe and acts in absolute justice, and especially He will judge in
the Hereafter all men and jinn and establish absolute justice.
The essence of the universe is love. All creatures
move with the motive of love. All the laws of attraction, rapture and
gravity originate in love
As in the examples above, in each of one thousand and
one Divine Names there are numerous sorts of beauty, grace and
perfection, and an abundance of levels of love, pride, honor and
grandeur. It is for this reason that the exacting saintly scholars who
are the objects of the manifestation of the Divine Name the All-Loving,
have concluded: ‘The essence of the universe is love. All creatures
move with the motive of love. All the laws of attraction, rapture and
gravity originate in love.’ One of them even said:
The spheres are intoxicated, angels are
intoxicated, so are stars.
The heavens, the sun, the moon, and the earth are
intoxicated.
Intoxicated are the elements and plants and trees
and human beings.
All the animate beings are intoxicated, and so are
all particles of the creation.
That is, every creature is intoxicated with the ‘wine’
of Divine love, according to its capacity. As is known, every soul loves
the one who does him kindness and loves true perfection and transcendent
beauty. He also loves the one who does kindness to those whom he loves
and for whom he has mercy. Should it not be understood from this that
the Majestic and Beautiful, the Most Beloved of Perfection, in each of
Whose Names are innumerable treasuries of kindness, Who makes all those
whom we love happy with His favors and is the source of countless
perfections and levels of beauty and grace, is worthy of infinite love
and the intoxication of the whole of the creation with His love? It is
because of this that some saints who have manifested the Divine Name the
All-Loving have said: ‘We do not even want Paradise. A gleam of the
Divine love is eternally sufficient for us.’ It is also because of
this that, as the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings,
said: ‘A single minute spent in beholding the Divine Beauty in
Paradise excels all the bounties of Paradise’.
So, all perfections of love are produced within the
spheres of the Divine manifestations of Unity and Singleness from the
Names and creatures of the Majestic Being. The perfections imagined
outside those spheres are not true.
|
|
