Love and Fear in Poetry by Mansur al-Ḥallāj and Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār

Written for CompLit 340: Mystical Literature (Instructor: Prof. Jessica Barr)

The Sufi poets Mansur al-Ḥallāj and Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār both utilize contradictions to contemplate ideas of devotion and love. Sufism, a spiritual path within Islam, focuses on reaching an intimate relationship with God and annihilating the self to transcend the material world and become one with the divine. While the two poets lived in different centuries in Persia, their poetry contains similar ideas, such as using human love to reach divine love and associating the love of God with pain and longing. Two of their poems also address the connection between love and fear and the idea of approaching divine love without hesitation, even if it brings death or annihilation. In Mansur al-Ḥallāj’s “I Swim in the Sea of Love” and Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār’s “The Path of Love,” the Sufi poets explore the endlessness of divine love that brings fear and annihilation, but while al-Ḥallāj’s language explores surrender, ʿAṭṭār’s violent imagery emphasizes the death of the self to reach transcendence.

Al-Ḥallāj’s poem “I Swim in the Sea of Love” opens with the idea of waves lifting and falling, similar to a person ascending and descending in divine love. The speaker swims in “the sea of Love / Tossed up and down by waves.” The word “love” with a capital letter refers to divine love, and the speaker is completely enveloped by it, like a person swimming in a sea. The word “tossed” offers a gentle image of a person rolling with the waves and accepting whatever the sea, or relationship, throws at them. The second couplet complicates the image and states, “They lift me up at times / At others in them I drown.” The waves are sometimes gentle, and they can allow for ascension and happiness as they “lift” the speaker closer to the divine. The speaker points out that this is not a permanent phenomenon since the sea’s waves also create danger due to the risk of drowning. However, the waves do not intend to cause harm. The speaker says “in them I drown” (al-Ḥallāj 33), showing the reader that the love of God overwhelms them due to its immensity. The threat of drowning is scary and affects those who seek closeness with the divine, but even if the waves of love become tumultuous, the seeker will continue to accept what the relationship brings them.

The connection between love and fear continues in the last part of al-Ḥallāj’s poem. The last couplet states, “Till this Love brought me to / Where there was no shore in sight…” (al-Ḥallāj 33) and ends with an ellipsis. The speaker has been tossed around by waves so much that they are trapped in the middle of the sea with no end or rescue in sight. The picture follows the previous idea of drowning, adding to the fear of how overwhelming the love of the divine can be. An endless sea is an intimidating concept, and it shows the powerful contradiction of how love can be both rewarding and frightening. Addressing this overlap between fear and love is important in Sufi poetry because it shows how connecting with the divine can be challenging for a person who wants to contemplate and reach a more intimate relationship with something that exists beyond the limitations of the self. The ellipsis at the end makes the last couplet incomplete and leaves it open, while the other two are closed. It adds a sense of uncertainty as the speaker is lost in this sea of love and is forced to keep swimming in it, but because it is divine “Love” that brought them to this place, there is still a sense of comfort. Uniting with God may require overcoming fear and the self, but it also involves an ascension that brings a person closer to the relationship they seek.

Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār’s poem “The Path of Love” also connects fear and the endlessness of love, but where al-Ḥallāj’s speaker contemplates drifting in uncertainty, ʿAṭṭār’s speaker urges decisiveness to the reader. The first couplet begins, “The path of Love is without end; / If you value life then stay away.” Like al-Ḥallāj, ʿAṭṭār discusses love with a capital letter, and while the capitalization could be an editorial intervention, it suggests a love that is connected to the divine and its limitlessness. Instead of talking about his own experience, though, ʿAṭṭār speaks directly to the reader and provides a warning: the love of the divine could end a person’s life. Valuing life connects to valuing the self, and remaining in the self prevents a person from becoming one with God and leaving the physical world behind. The second couplet shows that following the path is worth it and reveals, “If you give your life, then learn, / A thousand are given in return.” If the reader accepts “the path of Love” and gives away their life, following the path allows them to live a thousand times over. A new contradiction appears: accepting death brings new life “in return.” The person considering the path should not hesitate, because the third couplet urges, “He who shies away and saves his life / Shall be forever regretful of his fate” (ʿAṭṭār 77). Like al-Ḥallāj’s sea of love, fear and hesitation should never stop a person from reaching for the love of the divine. If they do, they will regret it “forever” and find their fate unsatisfying. Saving the self will not bring the person closer to the divine, but will instead bring them a life of regret.

The next two couplets further the idea of contradictions defining love. The poem states, “Love of the Beloved enters my heart, / Announces that tonight is the night.” The speaker uses their own experience with “Love of the Beloved” and its announcement that something will happen tonight, and the finality of the statement suggests that the upcoming event will be the speaker’s death. While al-Ḥallāj makes the connection between love and being overwhelmed by its sheer amount, ʿAṭṭār shows that “Love” is directly connected to death. The next couplet reveals, “If your heart is annihilated for your Beloved, / Then peace is being restless and distraught” (ʿAṭṭār 77). If joining the divine, or “the Beloved,” involves annihilating the self, then it is logical that “Love” involves annihilating the heart, the organ directly connected to love, to reach divine love. The second line creates a contradiction between the idea of “peace” and “being restless and distraught,” but it follows al-Ḥallāj’s image of entering an endless ocean. Following the infinite path of “Love” brings a peace that involves a person living with emotions that can be seen as negative, similar to the waves of the “sea of Love” that sometimes threatens to drown the swimmer.

The threat of “Love” continues in the last three couplets of ʿAṭṭār’s poem. The path of “Love” turns into a field when it declares, “Your first step in the field of Love / Is to be slain or reach the cross!” The speaker gives a command to the reader and tells them what they need to do when they reach the field. If they hesitate in the field and pause, they will be killed. If they keep moving, they will reach “the cross.” The cross could either mean a religious symbol or a manifestation of a choice, such as a crossroads, but it represents a destination as the person crosses the “field of Love” with the threat of being killed. It differs from the “sea of Love” where a person has no destination in sight but must continue swimming despite the threat of being overwhelmed. The next couplet states, “And then you will be burnt, so you can see / That the light of Love shines in the fire’s heart.” The violent imagery continues as the speaker says that the reader will be burnt in the field in order to learn the lesson of divine love. It shines in the fire that burns the speaker, but it is rewarding, because the last couplet reveals, “And when you become ashes and dust, / Then you will dance reflected by the Sun” (ʿAṭṭār 77). When the fire completes its job and turns the person into “ashes and dust,” the person will lose their connection to the self and material world and become free. They will be fully connected to their beloved and the love of the divine, and the pain will be worth it as they “dance,” or celebrate.

While al-Ḥallāj’s poem ends with uncertainty, ʿAṭṭār’s poem ends with finality and positions for the reader to follow its directions. Both poems offer a warning, but al-Ḥallāj’s poem does not refer to the reader as it shows a person thrown up and down by waves in an endless sea. The path in ʿAṭṭār’s poem is also infinite, but the reader must decide whether they follow it or not. The depictions of “Love,” whether it is a sea or a field, provide challenges and a sense of danger for a person wishing to be with God, and it is up to them to accept divine love without fear causing hesitation. Connecting with the divine, something both within and beyond all things, in a close and intimate relationship means leaving the self and physical world behind, and surrendering oneself to divine love results in feeling overwhelmed and burning in its light. A person can drift in the sea or annihilate the self in a field, but it will be worth it once they lose themselves in the paradox of divine love, both a wound and a cure, and become one with their beloved.

Work Cited 

Marissa Bell is a senior English and Comparative Literature double major with a concentration in Creative Writing and a specialization in Literature as History. She is currently working on her Honors Thesis focused on studying adaptations of Arthurian legend and creating her own feminist retelling. In her free time, she enjoys playing the flute and traveling.