Love, the Sufi Way of Being

I came across the following online today quite by chance. It’s a beautiful piece written by Mariam Davids, and one that is appropriate to share as part of my ongoing series on the Sufi Path.

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Love, in the Sufi tradition, is not a simple human feeling, nor a passing emotion. He is the very breath of existence, the key that opens the door of divine mystery. He is both the source and the goal, the fire that consumes the ego, and the light that reveals Unity.

Love, the Essence of Creation

Wise ones say that the whole universe was created by love. “I was a hidden treasure, and I sought to be known,” says an expression attributed to the Divine. Love is therefore the force that drives the Being to manifest itself, to unfold itself through the multiplicity of the world.

Love is what gives meaning to the soul’s journey. He is the invisible thread that connects every being to the Whole. When we truly love, we align with the cosmic movement of returning to the Origin.

Love That Transform

True love is not just an attachment, it is a transformative force. He burns the fleeting to reveal the essential. In the Sufi tradition, the image of fire is often employed:

• Majnoun’s love for Leïla becomes a mystical quest; he doesn’t just love a woman, but through her, he discovers absolute love.

• The Moth and the Flame: Lover is like a butterfly attracted to divine light. He dances around until he’s completely consumed, achieving the perfect unity.

• The Wine of Love: Rûmî speaks of love as an intoxicating wine that makes one forget the self, that dissolves the boundaries between the lover and the Beloved.

Thus, to love truly is accepting to be transformed. It’s losing a part of yourself in order to become greater than yourself.

Loving and Leaving Me

The ego is the greatest obstacle to love. As long as we remain attached to our small identity, we cannot fully love.

Rûmî reminds us: “Tear your ego into thousand pieces, become dust under the feet of the Beloved. Only then will you understand what Love means.”

To love is to die to oneself in order to be reborn into Infinity. It’s to forget, no longer see separation between “I” and “the other,” between “I” and the Divine.

The Love That Unites

In the pursuit of love, there is first separation, desire, drive towards the other. Then comes the union, the dissolution of dualities: there is no longer lover nor Beloved, there is only Love.

True love is not possessive, it does not seek to hold, but to release. He is like the wind that caresses without closing.

Love does not need external proof. He lives in the silence of a glance, in the shared presence, in the simple joy of existing together.

Walk the Path of Love

To love is to choose a difficult path. It’s about accepting yourself to be broken, to be vulnerable, to be transformed.

Sufis dance, sing, cry and laugh, because they know that every emotion, every encounter, every moment can be a mirror of divine Love.

So, what to do?

• Love without expecting in return.
• Be a channel of love, not wanting to own.
• Look for the beauty everywhere, even in adversity.
• Remember that every being is a manifestation of the Beloved.

Love Is the Way

Love is not a destination, it’s the journey itself. The one who loves is already walking on the path.

Rûmî whispers to us again: “Yesterday I was clever, I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, I am changing myself.”

Because love begins within us. He is the key that unlocks all doors. He’s the answer to all questions.

And you, on this path of love, where are you?

– Mariam Davids
via Facebook
February 20, 2025

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Sufi Way
• A Precise Metaphysical Claim
• Sufism: Way of Love, Tradition of Enlightenment, and Antidote to Fanaticism
• Sufism: A Call to Awaken
• Sufism: A Living Twenty-First Century Tradition
• Inayat Khan and the Sufi Message
• “Like a Stream Running Into the Ocean”
• Inayat Khan and the Heart of Sufism
• Inayat Khan on Mysticism
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Kabir Helminski
• As the Last Walls Dissolve . . . Everything is Possible
• Clarity, Hope, and Courage
• “Joined at the Heart”: Robert Thompson on Christianity and Sufism
• Doris Lessing on the Sufi Way
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Doris Lessing
• The Gorgeous One
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan and the Winged Heart
• Held in the Presence of God
• The Act of Surrender
• The Journey Home
• Living From the Heart
• Bismillah
• The Road to Love: An Exploration of Coming Out in the Islamic World
• As the Last Walls Dissolve . . . Everything Is Possible


Related Off-site Links:
Recalling Hazrat Inayat Khan and his Universalist Sufism – James Ford (Patheos, February 5, 2022).
Inayat Khan and Universal Sufism – Filip Holm (Let’s Talk Religion, December 8, 2024). The Sufi Concept of “Fana” – And Why Modern Psychology Is Only Just Catching Up – Ahmad Fatahillah (Medium, May 22, 2026).


Image 1: Subject and photographer unknown.
Image 2: Paulo Pascoal as photographed by Francisco Martins.