God & Man: A Relationship of Love
A Poem on Divine Love & Purification of the Heart and Selected Excerpts in the Light of Ismaili Gnosis
For the benefit of our readers who would like to know more about the ‘traditional material’ that informs or relates to the above poem, Ismaili Gnosis would like to present some carefully selected sources that may enhance one’s understanding of concepts and themes mentioned or alluded to by the author of the poem. As our astute readers will no doubt observe, there is a marked difference (in terms of language, technical terminology and scope) between the explanatory material below and what is explicitly written in the poem itself, which, as it was originally composed for a non-specialist readership interested in spirituality and religion in general, purposely avoided any overt or specifically Islamic terminology (the single mention of the Qur’an in the poem’s opening line being the only exception).
The purpose of this post, as indicated above, is to show readers of Ismaili Gnosis Stacks how the content of the “Relationship of Love” poem — despite its exoteric (zahiri) appearance — is, in fact, inspired by, derived from, and related to specific religious teachings of Islam, primarily from the esoteric (batini), spiritual and intellectual tradition of Ismailism — to which the author of the poem and this post adheres — but also from the mystical and theosophical tradition of Sufism. Some of the Qur’anic verses, ahadith (Prophetic or Divine sayings), and excerpts from primary and secondary sources presented below were already known to and at the forefront of the poet’s mind while composing the poem. Others were discovered (or re-discovered) while preparing this post and are being included due to their strong connection to the theme and message of the poem.
While much of the source material will easily be seen as related to the poem it seeks to explain, some quotes and excerpts may, at times, introduce or bring to light noetic concepts that may not be immediately apparent (zahir) from the limited and explicit wording of the poem. Nevertheless, such intellectual matters most certainly are related (or relatable) to both the form and, especially, the spirit of the poem, which therefore does contain — if only implicitly or by way of allusions (isharas) — spiritual secrets of gnosis (ma‘rifa) in the form of hidden (batin) treasures of wisdom (hikma) waiting to be discovered or uncovered by faithful and fortunate seekers of Truth (haqiqah).