84%
Confidence
Belief overview
Mahabba, the love of God
The love of God is treated as the central driving force of spiritual life.
4
Supportive
0
Contrary
0
Neutral
What it is: Mahabba is love for God and the love that comes from God, a recurring theme in Sufi literature.
How the tradition understands it: Love reorganizes the believer's intentions, desires, and motivations, leading the person to seek God not only out of fear or reward, but out of surrender, gratitude, and spiritual intimacy.
Textual basis and context: Verses about God loving and being loved, along with hadiths about divine closeness and countless poetic formulations, gave the theme great centrality.
Debates and variations: The language of love can be highly symbolic and poetic; for this reason, its interpretation varies between more sober schools and currents of more intensely metaphorical expression.
Documentary evidence
Supportive
Hadith of supererogatory acts
A report often used for the idea of growing nearness to God.
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, qudsi hadith about supererogatory acts.
Content: The text describes the servant who continually draws near to God until receiving divine love and assistance.
Use in debate: It is central in discourses about love, nearness, and the transformation of the believer.
Qur'an 2:165
A passage about the intensity of the believers' love for God.
Reference: Qur'an, surah 2, verse 165.
Content: The verse affirms that believers are more intense in their love for God.
Use in debate: It serves as a basis for the spiritual centrality of love in the Sufi tradition.
Qur'an 5:54
A verse about a people whom God loves and who love Him.
Reference: Qur'an, surah 5, verse 54.
Content: The text speaks of people whom God loves and who love Him.
Use in debate: It is often cited in Sufi literature about divine love.
Sayings attributed to Rabi'a al-Adawiyya
Classic formulations about loving God for His own sake.
Reference: Biographical traditions and sayings attributed to Rabi'a al-Adawiyya.
Content: These texts express love of God not reduced to fear of hell or desire for reward.
Use in debate: They became emblematic of the Sufi language of disinterested love.