Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Manuscript title page in English
- Author’s Preface
- I On the Chapters of the Book
- II May the Word cIshq Be Applied to Love for God and from God?
- III Preliminary Considerations
- IV On the Word Love, Its Derivation, and Its Meanings
- V On the Origin and Beginning of Love and Eros
- VI On the Essence and Quiddity of Love
- VII On the Diverse Views People Hold about Love
- VIII On the Description and Character of Eros
- IX On Praiseworthy Love
- X On Those Who Disparaged Love for Some Cause
- XI On the Effects of Love [and Eros] and Their Signs and Symptoms
- XII On the Signs of Love, Including the Sayings of Unimpeachable Spiritual Authorities among the Mystics and the Righteous
- XIII On the Classification of Love according to Our Opinion
- XIV On the Signs of God’s Love for Man
- XV On the Explanation of the Signs of Man’s Love for God
- XVI On the Signs [of the Love] of Those Who Love One Another in God
- XVII On the Love of the Elite among Believers
- XVIII On the Love of the Commonality of Muslims
- XIX On the Love of All Other Animate Beings
- XX On the Meaning of the Word Shahid
- XXL On the Definition of the Perfection of Love
- XXII On Those Who Died of Natural Love
- XXIII On Those Who Killed Themselves for Love
- XXIV On the Death of Divine Lovers
- Bibliography
- Index of Persons, Peoples, and Places
XXIV - On the Death of Divine Lovers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Manuscript title page in English
- Author’s Preface
- I On the Chapters of the Book
- II May the Word cIshq Be Applied to Love for God and from God?
- III Preliminary Considerations
- IV On the Word Love, Its Derivation, and Its Meanings
- V On the Origin and Beginning of Love and Eros
- VI On the Essence and Quiddity of Love
- VII On the Diverse Views People Hold about Love
- VIII On the Description and Character of Eros
- IX On Praiseworthy Love
- X On Those Who Disparaged Love for Some Cause
- XI On the Effects of Love [and Eros] and Their Signs and Symptoms
- XII On the Signs of Love, Including the Sayings of Unimpeachable Spiritual Authorities among the Mystics and the Righteous
- XIII On the Classification of Love according to Our Opinion
- XIV On the Signs of God’s Love for Man
- XV On the Explanation of the Signs of Man’s Love for God
- XVI On the Signs [of the Love] of Those Who Love One Another in God
- XVII On the Love of the Elite among Believers
- XVIII On the Love of the Commonality of Muslims
- XIX On the Love of All Other Animate Beings
- XX On the Meaning of the Word Shahid
- XXL On the Definition of the Perfection of Love
- XXII On Those Who Died of Natural Love
- XXIII On Those Who Killed Themselves for Love
- XXIV On the Death of Divine Lovers
- Bibliography
- Index of Persons, Peoples, and Places
Summary
Divine lovers are divided into [268] five groups. Those in the first group were so vanquished by love that it made them like itself and translated them to its own abode alive, so that they became spiritual beings together with the angels. Those in the second group were given authority to judge over this terrestrial abode and over all persons and things in it. They enjoined good and forbade evil, and they declared things to be lawful or unlawful. Then, when what it had been willed they should do was accomplished, they asked God to take them back to their original places. Those in the third group were translated from place to place and from life to life. They are alive in their tombs, and at times they can be found there, while at others they cannot. Those in the fourth group, after having remained long on earth, asked their Beloved for release from this abode and escape from this prison so as to be joined with him. Those in the fifth group, having passed continually through veil after veil, at length reached the last veil, which was the veil of their selves. When they cast off this veil, the branch was rejoined to the trunk, and that which had emerged out of it [269] returned to it. The part was rejoined to the whole, and means were abolished. These, then, are the five groups.
So that it will be easier to remember, we may divide those who belong to these groups into three classes: two of prophets and one of saints (awliycāʾ). None of them passed away, however, before choosing to die.
[Section One.]
The first class includes Idrīs, a-Khaḍir, Elijah, and Jesus. In the case of these prophets and those like them, their demise consisted in their being vanquished by the attribute of love to the degree that it made of them spiritual beings like itself. Thus they soared up with the angels and became both celestial and terrestrial, angelic and human.
Idrīs (Enoch), it has been said, was sent to all the people of the earth in his time and gathered for them all the knowledge of those before him and added to it thirty books.
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- A Treatise on Mystical Love , pp. 185 - 206Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2020