Sufian [may Allah have mercy on him] said: Divine Love is following Prophet Muhammad SAAWS
Others have said: Divine Love is continued 'remembrance' / Zikr
Others have said: It is placing the Beloved first and foremost/ ahead oneself
Others have said: It is to hate to remain in Dunya/ 'this swift finite world'
And all of the above are symbols/ symptoms signifying the fruits of Divine Love, yet the essence of Divine Love was not captured by any of these sayings.
Others have said: Divine Love is a sentiment/ meaning bestowed by The First Lover/ The Beloved that vanquishes you/ 'is almost intolerable in beauty' as it is beyond the heart's capacity to encompass this unending flow as also tongues cannot put it to words or describe it.
Junaiyd [may Allah have mercy on him] has said: Allah SWT has forbidden Divine Love to those with attachments.
And he said: All Divine Love comes with a price/ stipend/ 'recoupment' thus if the recoupment is ceased so does the Divine Love.
Shibli was asked [may Allah have mercy on him and all the good people mentioned]: Describe to us the 'Arif / 'he who knows Allah', and the lover? And he replied: The 'Arif perishes if he speaks, while the lover perishes if he keeps quiet.
Shibli also said: O' Dearest Benevolent Lord Your Love resides on the inside, You Who lifts sleep from my eyelids, You Who nothing from that which I pass through hides.
And to Others Shibli said: I have wondered at he who says I remembered my Lover, doth one forget to need to remember what he forgot, I die at His remembrance/ Zikr then come back to life, and were it not for my faith in His Kindness I would not come back, thus I live on wishfulness and die longing, for Him how much I die and how much I live, I drank Love cup after cup, and neither did the wine end nor did I replenish.
Rab'aa Al Adawiyya [may Allah have mercy on her] once said: O' who can lead us to Our Beloved? and her maid replied: Our Beloved Is with us yet dunya/ 'the lower, finite, swift, phantom world has veiled us/ created the illusion of separation.
Ibrahim Ibn Adham [may Allah have mercy on him] once said: O' Lord You Know that Heaven to me is not worth the wing of a mosquito compared to what You Have Bestowed upon me from Your Love and Comforted me with Your Remembrance and Freed me to contemplate Your Majesty and Greatness.
Siri [may Allah have mercy on him] also said: He who loves Allah lives, and he who sways to dunya/ 'this finite world' misses, and the imbecile comes and goes to amount to/ achieve nothing, and the sound of mind inspects his vices.
And when asked of the best virtue he said: being content with Allah and loving Him.
Byazid [may Allah have mercy on him] said: the lover does not love dunya/ 'this finite world', nor Akhira/ the latter everlasting world, instead he loves from Allah, Allah.
Shibli also said: Love is a bewilderment in Sweetness and bafflement in Majesty.
And it was said: Love is to erase the trace of you such that nothing of you is left to yourself.
And it was said: Love is the closeness of the heart to the Beloved in good tidings and joy.
And Khawas [may Allah have mercy on him] said: Divine Love is the abolishment of wills and the sublimation of characteristics and needs.
And it was said: the dealings of the lover exist on four levels; Love to The Most High, Grandeur befitting The Most High, bashful innocence in recognition of The Most High, and recognizing the Greatness befitting The Most High.
Haram Ibn Hayyan [may Allah have mercy on him] said: if the believer comes to know Allah He loves Him, and if he loves Him he grows nearer, and if he nears Allah he finds the sweetness of closeness, and in that sweetness he loses sight of dunya and ceases to be enchanted by it, and ceases to see Akhira as something to be avoided, as that sweetness fills one with anguish at dunya and aching for Akhira.
Allah The Most High sent meaning to David PBUH: if those who turn away from Me would know how I Wait for them, and how Compassionate I Am Towards them and Long for them to abandon vices, they would die of longing and would become dismembered from My Sheer Love O' David, that is My Will for those who turn away from Me, what then of My Will for those who grow towards Me, O' David the most needing of Me are those who do without Me, and I Am Most Merciful to those who turn away, and most esteemed are those who turn back to Me.
Khaled AlSafar [may Allah have mercy on him] said: one of Allah's prophets encountered a worshipper and said to him: you worshippers fly on wings us prophets do not, you worshippers fly on wings of fear and hope, while we fly on wings of love and longing.
Shibli said: Allah sent meaning to David PBUH: My Mention is for those who remember me/ Zikr, My paradise is for those who obey, My Appearance is for those who long for Me, while I Am especially for those who love Me.
Allah sent meaning to Adam PBUH: He who loves speaks truth to His Beloved, and he who finds comfort with His Beloved is content with their doings, and he who longs for His Beloved steadies his resolve in journeying towards Him.
And Khawas used to beat his chest and say: O' how I long for He that sees me and I see Him not.
Junaiyd said: Jonas PBUH cried till he went blind, and rose till he was bent, and prayed till he was crippled then said: by Your Most Grand Glory and Esteem if between You and I were a sea of fire I would wade it out of my longing for You.
Ali-Ibn-Abi-Talib [may Allah Be Content with him] said: I asked the prophet SAAWS of his method/ 'Sunnah' and he said: knowledge is my capital, and mind/ contemplation is the origin of my religion, love is my foundation, longing my boat, remembrance of Allah/ Zikr is my companion, confidence/ trust/ faith is my treasure, sadness is my comrade, learning is my weapon, patience is my gown, content/ comfort is my prize/ gain, inability/ lack/ dependency on Allah is my pride, and my asceticism is my craft, certitude my strength, truthfulness is my pleader [before Allah], obedience is my love, perseverance / 'diligence in furthering in righteousness' my mannerism, and the apple of my eye lays in Salaat/ prayer.
Some Sheikhs said: the fire of longing was lit by Allah in the hearts of His Awliyyaa/ custodians to burn what resides in their hearts of thoughts, symptoms/ 'happenings due to attachment to dunya', and needs
