The Journey of Divine Love

Love stories such as Leyla and Mecnun, Kerem and Aslı, and Ferhat and Şirin have been cherished and retold through the centuries, listened to with admiration. The suffering of the protagonists for their beloveds and their ultimate inability to be united have left deep impressions on the people.

Indeed, romantic novels, television series, and films written in recent times may have been more emotionally powerful than these ancient tales, yet none have left the same mark as Leyla and Mecnun. Do you think this is because the unfulfilled lovers are never forgotten, or because Mecnun’s sincerity has been felt for centuries? I believe both are valid reasons. But beyond that, what has deeply affected people is the fact that in these stories, the protagonists ultimately attain divine love by the end. A common feature among the tales I have examined is that the narrators always conclude the story by linking it to love for God. It is for this reason that I believe the yearning to reach divine love has touched people so profoundly.

I am not qualified to define love or to articulate what love for the Creator entails. My only question is this: how does love for God transcend earthly love? How does Mecnun find Leyla within himself when he descends into the deserts? When I read poets like Yunus Emre, I understand that one cannot reach divine love without first passing through earthly love. Therefore, even if not in every case, I feel compelled to examine whether the authors allude to divine love. Again, taking Yunus Emre as an example, he says: “I do not rejoice in abundance nor grieve in want. I find solace only in love; I need only You.”^【1】 In these words, he speaks of the Creator as if speaking of his beloved.

Faced with the unattainability of divine love, it is more accessible for the lover to become consumed by seeing and loving their earthly beloved. Such a person loses their reason, falls into anguish, and falls ill. Yet they never complain. This resembles how a person endures hardships in worldly life without complaint. After all, these trials too come from the Lord. While enduring the pain of earthly love, the human being is in fact being prepared by the Creator for divine love.

When the lover attains this station, they have long since lost themselves in the Lord, and in His sight, all things have lost their meaning. The lover no longer seeks the beloved; they see only the Lord.