Monday, April 07, 2008
Eight Love Definitions according to Al Quran
at 1:32 AM
According to a hadith of Prophet Muhammad, a person who is in love tends to always remember and mention the one he loves (man ahabba syaian katsura dzikruhu). Prophet Muhammad also said that a person can be enslaved by his love (man ahabba syaian fa huwa `abduhu). Prophet Muhammad also said that there are three characters of a person in a true love (1) like talking to the beloved one better than to others, (2) like gathering with the beloved ones better than with others, and (3) like following wishes of the beloved ones better than wishes of others or oneself. One who has been in love God will prefer to talk to God by reading His sayings, prefer to interact with Allah in i’tikaf, and like to follow commands of Allah better than to follow others’ commands.In Al Quran, love has eight definitions/kinds. Here are the explanations:
1. Mawaddah love is a kind of love that is flaring up, burning, and seducing. The person who has this love of mawaddah wants to be always together with his/her beloved one, doesn’t want to be separated from the loved one, and always wants to fulfill his thirsty of love. He wants to monopolies his love and almost can’t think other things.
2. Rahmah love is the kind love that is full of affection, gentle, ready to sacrifice, and ready to protect. The person who has love of rahmah pays more attention to his beloved one than to himself. For him, the more important thing is the happiness of his beloved one although for it he has to suffer. He tolerates his beloved one’s weaknesses and always forgives his beloved one. Included in the love of rahmah is love between people connected by blood with each other, mainly parent’s love to his/her sons/daughters and vice versa. Therefore, Al Quran, relative is called al arham, dzawi al arham, which are people having natural affectionate relations coming from mother’s affection that is called rahim (from the word “rahmah” or bless). Furthermore, people connected by blood with each other are recommended to maintain silaturrahim or affectionate interactions. Wife and husband united by love of mawaddah and love of rahmat at the same time are usually can be loyal to each other now and in the Hereafter.
3. Mail love is the kind of temporary and very burning love that is given almost all of attentions so that other things tend to be lack of attention. This love of mail in Al Quran is mentioned in the context of polygamy in which the husband in burning love with the younger wife (an tamilu kulla al mail) tends to ignore the older one.
4. Syaghaf love is a very deep, natural, orisinal, and fuddling love. The person who experiences this syaghaf love (qad syaghafaha hubba) may look like a crazy person, forgetting himself and almost not realizing what he has been doing. Al Quran uses term “syaghaf” in telling how love of Zulaikha, the wife of an Egyptian official to her servant, Yusuf.
5. Ra’fah love is a very deep affection love that often ignores norms of truth, for example having pity on one’s son so one doesn’t dare to wake him up to do salat/prayer, defending him even he’s wrong. Al Quran uses this term when reminding that this ra’fah shouldn’t avoid people from upholding law of Allah, in this case punishment for adulterers (Q: 24: 2)
6. Shabwah love, or blind love, is a love causing one to do deviant behaviours inevitably. Al Quran uses this term when telling how Prophet Yusuf prayed to be separated from Zulaikhah flirting him every day (requesting to be imprisoned), otherwise he will lapse into fool behaviours, wa illa tashrif `anni kaidahunna ashbu ilaihinna wa akun min al jahilin (Q:12:33)
7. Syauq love (missing someone). This term doesn’t come from Al Quran but from a hadith interpreting Al Quran. In surah al `Ankabut : 5, it is said that whoever long to meet Allah will surely meet Him in the future. This syauq (missed feeling) is expressed in a ma’tsur prayer quoted from a hadith told by Ahmad, “wa asa’luka ladzzata an nadzori ila wajhika wa as syauqa ila liqa’ika” (I beg to enjoy the delight of looking at Your face and delight of yearning for meeting You). According to Ibn al Qayyim al Jauzi in a book entitled Raudlat al Muhibbin wa Nuzhat al Musytaqin, syauq (missed feeling) is the heart’s adventure to one’s loved one (hurqat al mahabbah wa il tihab naruha fi qalb al muhibbi).
8. Kulfah love, a love feeling accompanied with awareness to educate one’s love ones to do positive but difficult things, such as a parent’s love that causes him to order his son to sweep and clean the son’s own room, although there is a servant ready to help. This kind a love is mentioned by Al Quran when stating that Allah will not burden someone except within his ability la yukallifullah nafsan illa wus`aha (Q: 2:286).
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