Sufi idea of love is to break all barriers

 

Raziuddin Aquil 

Custodians of Islam of different kinds are habituated to hurl fatwas against one another on what is recommended in Islam and what is forbidden. In the process, they belittle and even harm each other.

Sufis' fascination for the love of God has similarly been seen in sceptical terms by naysayers of all hues. Sufis themselves are confident of breaking all boundaries between man/woman and God and between human beings themselves.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya emphasised on the need to transcend juridical boundaries in matters such as permissibility of Sufi music and legitimacy of Sufi idea of love. When Amir Hasan Sijzi, compiler of the Khwaja's spiritually soaked conversations (Fawa'id-ul-Fu'ad) reminded him through a line of a verse that Imam Abu Hanifa, the founder of Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence, has nothing to say on love, Hazrat Nizamuddin added that Imam Shafi'i didn't say anything on it either:

عشق را بو حنیفه درس نگفت 

شافعی را درو روایت نیست 

'Ishq ra Bu Hanifa dars na-guft 

Shafi'i ra dar u rawaayat nist

Abu Hanifa did not teach a lesson on love

No report about this concerning Shafi'i either 

A manuscript of Fawa'id-ul-Fu'ad has added these two lines:

مالک از کار عشق بی خبر است 

حنبلی را درو روایت نیست 

Maalik az kaare 'ishq bi-khabar ast

Hanbali ra dar u rawaayat nist

(Imam) Malik is unaware of matters of love

No report about this concerning Hanbal either

Thus, the Sufi idea of love is beyond the restricted boundaries of the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence, called mazaahib. It's a personal matter - a matter of heart - between human beings and the all knowing Creator.