In His Name! And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.

There are numerous instances of wisdom in the Names of Most Merciful and Compas­sionate being included in "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate" and at the start of all good things. Postponing the explanation of these to another time, I shall for now recount a feeling of mine:

My brother, to me the names of Merciful and Compassionate appear as a light so vast it embraces the whole universe and satisfies all the eternal needs of all spirits, and so luminous and powerful it secures a person against all his innumerable ene­mies. The most important means I have found for attaining to these names, these two vast lights, are poverty and thanks, impotence and compassion.

1. Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, also known as Imam-i Rabbani. Ahmad Faruqi, and the Regenerator of the Second Millennium He lived in India 971/1563-1034/1624, where he purified the religion of Islam of polytheistic accretions and efforts to degener­ate it, and reformed Sufism. [Tr.|,

That is, worship and realizing one's neediness. What comes to mind in connection with this and I say contrary to the great mystics and religious schol­ars, and even to Imam-i Rabbani,¹ one of my mas­ters, is this: the intense and brilliant emotion the Prophet Jacob (Upon whom be peace) felt for Joseph (Upon whom be peace) was not love or pas­sion, but compassion. For compassion is much sharper and more brilliant and elevated than pas­sionate love, and purer and more worthy of the rank of prophethood. Intense love and passion for worldly (inecazî) beloveds and creatures are not fit­ting for the elevated rank of prophethood. This means Jacob's feelings, which the All-Wise Qur'an describes with brilliant eloquence, and were a way of attaining to the name of AU-Compassionate, were a high degree of compassion. As for passionate love, a way of attaining to the name of All-Loving, that looks more to Zulaikha's love for Joseph (Upon whom be peace). That is to say, however much higher the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition shows Jacob's (Upon whom be peace) emotions to be than Zulaikha's, compassion is higher than passionate love to the same degree. My master, Imam-i Rab­bani,¹ did not consider worldly (mecazT) 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." But I say: "Mas­ter! That is an artificial interpretation, the truth of the matter must be this: that 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.