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

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[1] Imam Rabbani, al-Maktubat, iii, 134 (no: 100).