But when His image all mine eye possessed, a voice descended,
‘Well done, O sovereign Wine and peerless Cup!’”
The love thus symbolised is the emotional element in religion, the rapture of the seer, the courage of the martyr, the faith of the saint, the only basis of moral perfection and spiritual knowledge. Practically, it is self-renunciation and self-sacrifice, the giving up of all possessions—wealth, honour, will, life, and whatever else men value—for the Beloved’s sake without any thought of reward. I have already referred to love as the supreme principle in Sūfī ethics, and now let me give some illustrations.
“Love,” says Jalāluddīn, “is the remedy of our pride and self-conceit, the physician of all our infirmities. Only he whose garment is rent by love becomes entirely unselfish.”
Nūrī, Raqqām, and other Sūfīs were accused of heresy and sentenced to death.
“When the executioner approached Raqqām, Nūrī rose and offered himself in his friend’s place with the utmost cheerfulness and submission. All the spectators were astounded. The executioner said, ‘Young man, the sword is not a thing that people are so eager to meet; and your turn has not yet arrived.’ Nūrī answered, ‘My religion is founded on unselfishness. Life is the most precious thing in the world: I wish to sacrifice for my brethren’s sake the few moments which remain.’”
On another occasion Nūrī was overheard praying as follows:
“O Lord, in Thy eternal knowledge and power and will Thou dost punish the people of Hell whom Thou hast created; and if it be Thy inexorable will to make Hell full of mankind, Thou art able to fill it with me alone, and to send them to Paradise.”
In proportion as the Sūfī loves God, he sees God in all His creatures, and goes forth to them in acts of charity. Pious works are naught without love.
“Cheer one sad heart: thy loving deed will be