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   My master, Imam-i Rabbani, did not consider worldly love to be altogether fitting for the rank of prophethood and therefore said: “Joseph’s virtues pertained to the hereafter, so love for him was not of a worldly kind that it should have been defective.”[1] But I say: “Master! That is an artificial interpretation, the truth of the matter must be this: Jacob’s was not love but a degree of compassion a hundred times more brilliant, more extensive, and more elevated than love.” Yes, in all its varieties, compassion is subtle and pure, while many sorts of love and passion may not be condescended to.
Furthermore, compassion is extremely broad. Because of the compassion a person feels for his child, he may well feel a kindness towards all young and all living beings even, and act as a sort of mirror to the comprehensive name of All- Compassionate. Whereas passionate love restricts its gaze to its beloved and sacrifices everything for it. Or else while elevating and praising its beloved, it denigrates others and in effect insults them and abuses their honour. For example, someone said: “The sun espied my beloved’s beauty and was embarrassed. Not to see it, it veiled itself in cloud.” Lover, fine sir! What right do you have to impute shame to the sun, which is a light-filled page of eight Greatest Names? Moreover, compassion is sincere and wants nothing in return; it is pure and seeks no recompense. The self-sacrificing, unselfish tenderness of animals towards their young is evidence for this at the lowest level. Passionate love, however, desires remuneration and seeks return. The weepings of passionate love are a sort of demanding, a desiring remuneration. Thus, Jacob’s (Upon whom be peace) compassion, the most brilliant light of Sura Yusuf – the most brilliant of the Qur’an’s Suras – points to the names of Merciful and Compassionate. It informs us that the way of compassion is the way of mercy. And as a salve for the pain of compassion, it induces a person to utter:
For God is the Best of Protectors and He is the Most Merciful of the Merciful!(12:64)
The Eternal One, He is the Eternal One!
S a i d N u r s i
[1] Imam Rabbani, al-Maktubat, iii, 134 (no: 100). Double click for meaning of the world. | |||
