Iraqi: Love is all things

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Fakhruddin Iraqi, first introduced to these pages here, made insightful and ecstatic commentaries upon a series of lectures given by the Sufi al Qunawi on his teacher, the highly influential Andalusian mystic and philosopher Ibn Arabi.  The commentaries are collected in a book called Divine Flashes, and this is taken from ‘Flash VII’.  There is a strong resonance between the totality of love expressed here and the totality of the Divine Being expressed at the conclusion of the recent post of Hazrat Inayat Khan on his training for the service of God and humanity. Love courses through all things. … No, It is all things. How deny It when nothing else exists?  What has appeared–if not for Love–would not have been.  All has appeared from Love, through Love, and Love courses through it.  No, all of it is Love. Love is the lover’s essence, nor could this essence cease to be, however his attachment may flit from beloved to beloved.

Shift, transfer your heart where you will– Love belongs but to the First Beloved

Love where you may, you will have loved Him; turn your face whatever way, it turns toward Him–even if you know it not.

Everyone drawn to a beloved must be subject to him. All are subject to Thee but know it not.

The poet means to say,

Whether they know Thee or not all creatures of the world now and forever-without-end bend but toward Thee. All love for someone else is but a whiff of Thy perfume: none else can be loved.

It is not so much wrong as impossible to love other than Him, for whatever we love (aside from that love which springs from the very essence of the lover, the cause of which is unknown), we love either  for its beauty, or its goodness–and both of these belong to Him alone.

The beauty of each lovely boy each comely girl derives from His– on loan.

Fakhruddin Iraqi “Divine Flashes” Tr. William C. Chittick and Peter Lamborn Wilson

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3 Replies to “Iraqi: Love is all things”

  1. Sakina Angeli Janssen

    Could “on loan ” be substituted with “through Grace” ….if not, the word loan is interesting. ..what are we supposed to give in return for this loan? Thank you, Nawab for the beautiful texts on over. With warm regards, Sakina

    Reply ↓
    • Nawab Pasnak Post author

      Dear Sakina, many thanks for the question. Here, ‘on loan’ suggests something that we have temporarily, but that will be returned. For example, “Because it was raining, she loaned me her umbrella.” Since our limited existence is only transient, whatever we have been loaned, including the reflection of Divine beauty, must someday be returned.
      With kindest greetings, Nawab

      Reply ↓

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