| Abstract: | This article explains how the Sufi tradition was instrumental in molding the imagery, symbolism, metaphors, tropes, and indeed the worldview, that informs all but the earliest Persian poetry. This poetry expresses the precedence of mercy in a pluralistic vision by pointing to an expression of love, and it does this by the magic of beautiful language, enticing imagery and intoxicating rhythm. Therefore, in this tradition, love alone is able to bring together all contradictory and varied qualities and to reinstate them in God's unity, which is the first principle of Islamic faith. What is being celebrated is God's unitary reality. The article then recognizes that love is understood as the unifying divine power that is the unique prerogative of human beings, who alone were created in the full image of God. |
