Manifestations of love from the point of view of Masdar and Imam Khomeini (may God have mercy on him)

Abstract

Love is one of the most basic pillars and perhaps the most important component of Islamic mystical thinking. Love in any form and color is sacred to a group of Sufis. Not only true love is the love of a true lover, but also virtual love that is sacred to them. This is why the Sufis did not completely reject exoteric love and great people like Molasdra Shirazi and Imam Khomeini dealt with it in different ways. Sadr al-Muta'lihin al-Shirazi, based on his existential principles of sublime wisdom, considered love equal to existence and considered it current in terms of levels of existence in all the particles of the world. Love is considered the path of human existence and the most worthy of divine interventions in human nature, and it is considered full of wisdom and interest. It seems that Imam Khomeini (may God bless him) also used the ideas of Ibn Arabi and Malasdra, intending to present a Shiite mystical interpretation of the category of love, human and divine love with the tendency of the Imami Shiites and paying attention to practical mysticism and even examples of ideal human beings, to be more in line with the reality of objective existence. In addition, they both try to have their own content in their approach to the subject of "love" of religious norms, in their mystical and philosophical interpretation. The topic of love in general, in philosophy and the mystical approach of Masdar and Imam Khomeini, is closely related to each other, and despite some obvious differences between the philosophers of love, they established an inseparable relationship and judged the manifestations of love, true love, and God. In this article, while examining the manifestations of love and beauty and its relationship to God in the biographies of each of the great Sufis of the Shiite world, we compare these two views to reveal the differences and similarities between these two views.