The Qur‘an: an Encyclopedia
and the related verb 
are used in Arabic to describe intense and passionate love, an extreme case of hubb/muhabba (love). Neither 
nor 
appear in the 
but certain descriptions of Jacob 
and the wife of 
that appear in the twelfth sura (12.23–24 and 30–32 regarding the wife of 
12.84–86 and 94–96 regarding Jacob) allow us to qualify them as 
(passionate lovers) of Joseph. Most opinions on the topic are based on esoteric Sufi interpretations, in particular those offered by representatives of the so-called madhhab 
(school of love).
Etymology and usage in the hadith
An extreme case of hubb/muhabba, 
is generally perceived by the Arabs as something immoderate. It is often regarded as a kind of junun (madness) that is greeted by neither approval nor disapproval. Traditional Islamic medicine treats 
as a mental disease caused by seeing something extremely beautiful.
To highlight the etymological connotations and properties of 
Arab lexicographers related it to 
(ivy, formally Hedera helix), which is a climbing plant that twines itself round the tree so tightly that it allegedly either makes the latter dry or leaves on it an indelible mark.
Insofar as 
implies immoderation, it is an undesirable characteristic for a Muslim: Allah is known not to like the immoderate (6.141; 7.31). To the extent that the substance of the message of the 
consists of threat and promise, it deals with uncontrollable and overwhelming powers like 
only accidentally.
appears in a number of hadith (traditions). In one of them, which apparently alludes to the hubb 
(chaste love) for which the Banu 
tribe that inhabited Yemen were famous, a pure secret love for a human being is compared to martyrdom. Some hadith talk about a love between God and man that is believed to originate in dhikr (remembrance). Certain Meccans—contemporaries of Muhammad—described the Prophet’s attitude to his rabb (lord) exactly as 
Sura Joseph
Sura Joseph is, by and large, the only chapter of the 
in which the issue of 
comes to the surface of the text. The wife of an Egyptian nobleman 
(known by the later tradition as Zulaykha) and Joseph’s father Jacob both passionately love Joseph. However, the character of their love is very different: Jacob’s love is deep, wise and unselfish; the love of the wife of 
is intense and violent, lacking the depth and wisdom that Jacob has achieved through suffering and self-renunciation.
The exact words used to describe the feeling of the wife of 
are shaghafaha hubban (Joseph ‘filled her with love’) (12.30). This expression, paradoxically, shows her as the victim of Joseph’s beauty; this impression is later supported by the scene of Egyptian ladies cutting their hands at the sight of Joseph. In the case of the wife of 
appears as an uncontrollable and irresistible force that overwhelms the human being. This force is generated by contemplation of absolute and divine beauty as it appears in a particular created form (another human being).
In a way, the wife of 
imitates Allah, described in the famous hadith as ‘beautiful’ and ‘loving beauty’ (see, for example, Muslim 1915: Iman 147). In the Sufi tradition, the wife of 
is regarded as an epitome of worshippers of beauty, contemplating the divine beauty in its earthly manifestations.
As for Jacob, Joseph is said to be ahabb (more loved) (12.8) by him than Jacob loved his other sons. After Joseph’s disappearance, Jacob loses his eyesight out of grief over Joseph. Taking Joseph’s disappearance as Allah’s trial sent to test his god-wariness and patience, Jacob nonetheless never believes his son is dead. In return for his patience, Allah gives him a deep spiritual intuition that can be described as 
(mystical) by its nature: when Jacob’s sons leave Egypt, carrying with them Joseph’s shirt, Jacob immediately feels the aroma of Joseph, although the caravan is still hundreds of miles away. When the messenger bringing the shirt arrives and casts it over Jacob’s face (12.96), the old man regains his eyesight.
Judging by its effects (infallible spiritual intuition and powerful grief), Jacob’s love for Joseph is a much deeper feeling than that of the wife of 
the sufferings of separation give the lover a spiritual wisdom that cannot be acquired by mere worship of beauty.
Both stories (that of Jacob and that of 
wife) contain some of the most mystical passages of the 
As such, they have been subject to (attempts at) symbolic interpretation almost since the beginning of the exegetic tradition in Islam. However, the first commentaries attempting to read the entire 
as the Scripture of 
did not appear before the beginning of the twelfth century CE.
Sufi exegesis: the 
as the Scripture of 
To read the 
in its entirety as the Scripture of 
one needs to adopt a particular methodological approach and master a number of special techniques (such as repeating a phrase aloud many times) that allow the reader to distance himself from the outward and literal meaning of the text and to approach insead its hidden and esoteric sense.
It is known that such early Sufi masters as 
Nun al-Misri (d. 246/861), Junayd (d. 298/910), Shibli (d. 334/946), Hallaj (d. 309/922) and, in particular, Nuri (d. 295/907), who called himself 
Allah (the lover of Allah), employed the word 
in their discourses. It is also used by Ibn 
(d. 638/1240) and other great Arab Sufis of the later period. However, 
never came to be regarded as the most crucial concept of Sufism in the Arabic milieu, as happened in the Persian environment. The notion of immoderation and exceeding the bounds of courtesy that is implicit in 
seems to have held some special appeal for the Persian mentality, famous for its aesthetic attitude to life and love of beauty.
No doubt these features of Iranian national character put their stamp on Persian Sufism, which explicitly prefers 
to hubb/muhabba or any other related concept. While the word itself may seldom appear in the sayings and writings of the Khorasan school of Sufism before the second half of the eleventh century CE, the notion of 
is unmistakeably present there.
During the twelfth century there appeared a number of treatises in Persian which conceptualized the doctrine of 
among them Sawanih (Inspirations) by Ahmad Ghazali (d. 520/1126), the Tamhidat (Prolegomena) by al-Qudat Hamadani (d. 525/1131) and Abhar 
(The Yellow Narcissus of Lovers) by Ruzbehan Baqli (522–606/1128–1209). Together with the poe-tical works of Farid al-Din 
(d. 618/1221) and Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 672/1273), and perhaps the Flashes 
of Fakhr al-Din 
(d. 688/1289), they constitute the corpus of key texts of the so-called madhhab 
(the School of Love)—a phenomenon that, regardless of its somewhat elusive properties, is believed to constitute the main current of Persian (and probably Turkish) Sufism.
Among the published and relatively easily available Sufi commentaries, at least three works explicitly represent the approach of the School of Love in treating the 
in its entirety as the Scripture of 
These are Kashf alasrar wa 
al-abrar (Unveiling of the Secrets and Equipment of the Devout) by Rashid al-Din Maybudi (d. after 520/1126), 
al-bayan fi 
(The Brides of Explication concerning the Hidden Realities of the 
by Ruzbehan Baqli and, specifically on the sura Joseph, Bahr almuhabba fi asrar al-mawadda (The Sea of Love concerning the Secrets of Affectionate Friendship) by Ahmad Ghazali. Such treatises as Ruzbehan Baqli’s Abhar 
and 
al-Qudat Hamadani’s Tamhidat can themselves be regarded as introductions to symbolic commentary on the 
‘Ushshaq as Allah’s chosen people: the Covenant of 
Although the Sufis who represented the School of Love regarded the entire 
as a textbook of 
they believed that a number of words and phrases in it conveyed the 
specific messages that served as passwords providing access to its most hidden meanings. Among such expressions, the oft-cited phrase fa sawfa 
Allah bi qawm yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbunahu (
will bring forth a people whom He loves and who love Him’) (5.54) was considered to be of particular importance. (Even though, when read in the context of the relevant verse, habba corresponds to a slightly emphasized ‘like’, falling short of the intensity of love, in this instance the term seems to be close to 
)
The phrase is outwardly part of the warning that Muhammad, on behalf of Allah, gives to some of his unsteady followers, telling them that Allah can easily replace the apostates with people who are worthier. At this moment, the replacement is only a possibility: the would-be substitutes have apparently not yet been brought into existence. (Probably it is hoped that the wavering followers will themselves assume the characteristics of their possible substitutes.)
Sufi writers (Maybudi, for example) typically take the promise of replacement as ready cash, assigning the latter role to themselves. The description ‘a people whom He loves and who love Him’, in its broader sense, can be attributed to every creature insofar as it perceives itself as an object of Allah’s love and, simultaneously, as his lover. However, in a narrower sense, it is commonly applied to accomplished 
(mystics) who have forsaken this world and the hereafter for the sake of the Beloved—that is, Allah—thus realizing fully the principle of tawhid (unification, worshipping one god).
It did not escape the notice of Sufi authors that yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbunahu implies some sort of walaya (guardianship or patron–client relationship) between both sides. The Sufis believe that this walaya manifests itself in Allah’s beloved as replacement of their bad character traits with good ones (hence the abdal, meaning substitutes or replaced ones, is one of several strata in the Sufi hierarchy of sainthood, although the term is sometimes applied to Sufi saints in general), and placing them under Allah’s coat, as a result of which they remain unknown to all but Him.
The Sufis claim that the relationship of mutual love between Allah and man was established in pre-eternity, before the material creation of human beings, in the so-called 
(
I not’ covenant) (7.172). The content of the oft-cited ‘covenant’ verse, which has been subject to a great number of batini (esoteric, but not necessarily Sufi) interpretations, is outwardly limited to an unequivocal affirmation of the eternal and unalterable rabb–‘abd (lord–servant) relationship between both sides. The followers of the school of love typically read the rabb as 
(beloved) and the ‘abd 
as 
(lover). Thus a solemn testimony to Allah’s full authority over his subject was turned into a passionate pronouncement of the lover’s fana (annihilation) in the beloved. Maybudi, for instance, quotes his teacher 
Ansari (d. 481/1088) saying that ‘the torrent of lordship was given authority over the dust of servanthood’ (Maybudi, 1952, Vol. 3:795). The fana, however, brings the lover to baqa (subsistence) in the beloved. In keeping with the terms of the covenant of love, Allah appoints the human being to be the keeper of his amana (trust) (33.72). Hence the difference between the general objective of Islam and the goal of Sufism, as it is represented by the School of Love, becomes evident: if the former, in its practical dimension, is supposed to provide means for putting into effect the treaty settled between lord and servant, Sufi practice is aimed precisely at the implementation of the covenant of love that was concluded in pre-eternity between the beloved and the lover.
References and further reading
Ghazali, Ahmad (1986) Inspirations (Sawanih), trans. N.Pourjavady, London: KPI.
Maybudi, R. (1952) Kashf al-asrar wa 
al-abrar (Unveiling of the Secrets and Equipment of the Devout), Tehran: Daneshghah.
Muslim (1915) Al-Sahih, Cairo: 
Muhammad 
Sabih.
Murata, S. and Chittick, W.C. (1994) The Wisdom of Islam, New York: Paragon House, 309–12.
Schimmel, A. (1975) Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 107–21.
See also: baqa; Bilqis; servant; shahada; taw hid; Zulaykha
YANIS ESHOTS
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