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Sufis talk about two kinds of love. One they call muhabbah; it means the ordinary love, lukewarm,
momentary, partial. One moment it is there, another moment it is gone. It has no depth, no intensity.
You call it passion, but it is not passionate. It is not such a flame which can burn you. You don’t
become aflame with it; it remains something under your control. You don’t become possessed by it,
you don’t lose yourself in it. You remain in control.
The other kind of love, the real love?. the authentic love, Sufis call it ishq; ishq means love with total
intensity. One is lost in it, one is possessed by it. One goes mad in it.
I have heard, the great Sufi Master Ruzbihan was once on the roof of his khaniqah while in a state
of WAJD….
The khaniqah is the place where Sufis meet; it is a temple of love. It is a temple of madness, of
utter rejoicing. This is a khaniqah. No other god than love is worshiped, no other prayer than love is
preached. In a khaniqah, only those who are becoming aflame with love are invited, who are on the
verge of madness.
Ruzbihan was on the roof of his khaniqah while in a state of wajd. Wajd is a moment when you
are not and God is, a moment of absolute harmony. A window opens, and you can see the whole
sky, you are no more confined within the walls of your body and mind. For a moment, a lightning
happens and all darkness disappears. Wajd is a momentary samadhi, a glimpse, a satori. It comes
and goes. Slowly, slowly, it establishes itself.
But even to know God for a moment is of immense beauty and benediction. Even to know for a
single moment that you are not separate from existence, that there is no ego, that all is one – La
illaha ill Allah – even to know this just as a passing experience, just like a breeze that comes and is
gone – by the time you become aware of it, it is no more there, but it has been there, it has refreshed
you, rejuvenated, resurrected you…