Being and the Wine of Love

Being and the Wine of Love

Bismillaah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem
In the Name of AllaaHu, the Infinite Reality of Love, the Inexhaustible Source of Love
The Singular Love, Lover, and Beloved

Being and The Wine of Love




My dear brothers and sisters, fellow travelers in the Path of Love, in the state of loving surrender to the Singular Absolute Reality, al-Haqq 'Azza wa Jalla, in Whom realities are dissolved even as shadows are lost in the light of the day.

There is no inherently existing form in existence (wujud) save al-Haqq, since existence (wujud) manifests itself only through Hu's Dzat (Essence) which is Being, which is the main inherent aspect of AllaaHu Subhaan Hu wa Ta'ala, besides Whom there is none, not even the so-called absolute nothingness. This Being which pervades both being and non-being and dissolves them simply by being in being and non-being is al-Haqq, Whole and Boundless. This is why, both in the realms of transcendence and immanence, al-Haqq is said to be al-Wajib al-Wujud (the Absolute Inherent Existence in everything).

Know that this Infinite Reality, the Beloved, the Sweetheart, AllaaHu (SWT) longs for each one of us with an unlimited love that embraces the entire creation from horizon to horizon, with an ocean of wine that makes anything disappear in eternal happiness. Until the two worlds meet and until the two suns melt in each other's presence, the song of this longing shall be heard throughout existence, within and without ourselves.

Who are we that the Beloved yearns for us so much? As we have said, the Oneness of Existence (Wahdat al-Wujud) is an attribute of AllaaHu alone and its ultimate meaning is to be found only in the Reality of Hu's transcendence, not in our wishful thinking. But one may say that this world (and many other) is a mere shadow of realities existing in Hu's Singular Presence. This comes down to saying that the reality of all possible creations (haqa'iq al-mumkinat) derives from the action of the Divine Names and Attributes on the Void ('Adam) called the Mirror. The real existence of all that manifests on the physical plane of existence has an intrinsic reality in the form of light in the Divine Presence. In order to remind each one of us here of our presence in Hu's Presence, AllaaHu, the Beloved, constantly fills our hearts with love and yearning for the Divine Presence. Hence, know that separation from AllaaHu, the Beloved, is but an illusion and we need to be constantly reminded of this. It is the ego (nafs) alone that spans and fancies this separation. This is the reason why the Beloved echoes Hu's longing in our hearts! Know that the Beloved does so in secret.

"If My lover approaches Me by one's hand's length, I will approach him by one arm's length; and if he comes to Me walking I will come to him running." (Hadith Qudsi)

The secret of this love, which is sweeter than honey and sugar cream and which is healing in its many aspects, can only be discovered in Intimacy (Nearness) with the Beloved. And no one enters the Divine Proximity, which is the Garden of the Presence, unless he drinks the wine of love ensuing from the melting of the snow of his own longing for the Beloved.

From Shaykh Abu al-Hasan as-Shadzili (rahimahullaah) I have learned that:

The wine of love is a light of surpassing intrinsic beauty from the Infinite Beauty and Tenderness (Jamaliyya) of the Beloved (AllaaHu (SWT)).

The cup of love is its subtlety-tenderness, that which connects the Presence (Hadhrat) of the Beloved to the lips of the heart.

The one who drinks the wine of love is the lover to whom the beauty of love is disclosed. That one is said to be the one who absorbs the Breath of the Beloved from within the heart of silence. And no body drinks this wine unless he drinks the sweetness of the Presence and swallows the flame of Intimacy.

The taste of the wine is the taste behind a lover's anxious waiting for his Beloved Sweetheart at the time when the veils (hijabs) are removed.

The true drinker is he who drinks the wine of love in order to lose himself in the Singular Presence of al-Haqq.

The sweetness and freshness of love makes the lover drink over and over again until in his veins nothing other than love flows (with his blood and breath). Indeed, the inexhaustible elixir of love is hidden in the flow of the wine alone.

One is said to be drunk with love when one is intoxicated by love's Reality which is none other than AllaaHu, the Beloved. When the lover's mind is dissolved in the Presence, love dresses him with madness (innocence) and his madness (innocence) becomes his knowing.

Now I say,

This is how love gives the lover the freedom to expand in silence,
This is how love gives the lover the freedom to fly without a shadow,
This is how love gives the lover the freedom to sing without an echo,
This is how love gives the lover the freedom to love without leaving traces.

How many causes must the lover have until he can say:
"O Beloved, indeed You have no partner in Beauty! You alone are everything indescribable my heart desires!"

Salaam e Ishq,

{Dani}