Divine vs. Earthly Love: The Central Theme of Persian Poetry

From the pre‑Islamic odes to the ecstatic verses of Sufi mystics, Persian poetry has long revolved around a single, sweeping tension: the pull between earthly love (ʿishq‑e majāzī) and divine love (ʿishq‑e ḥaqīqī). Whether celebrating the beauty of a beloved’s face or yearning for union with the Unseen Beloved, Persian poets weave these two dimensions into a tapestry that illuminates the human heart and its ultimate destiny.

1. Defining the Two Loves

1. Earthly (Majāzī) Love

   • Focuses on the beloved’s physical attributes—wine‑rouged lips, cypress‑like waist, night‑shaded hair.

   • Functions as a metaphor for spiritual longing: the beauty of a human face hints at the beauty of the Divine.

   • Often rendered in ghazal form, with playful wordplay and intricate rhyme.

2. Divine (Ḥaqīqī) Love

   • Seeks proximity to, and union with, God.

   • Transcends the sensory world, culminating in fanāʾ (annihilation of the ego) and baqāʾ (subsistence in God).

   • Expressed through allegory, parable, and metaphors drawn from earthly love.

2. From Courtly Romance to Mystical Yearning

A. Early Courtly Traditions

Poets like Nizami Ganjavi and Ferdowsi foregrounded majestic heroes and royal romances. In Nizami’s Layla and Majnun, the tragic love of Qays for Layla becomes an emblem of unattainable longing—foreshadowing the mystical readings that would follow.

B. The Crossover to Mysticism

By the 12th and 13th centuries, Sufi poets such as Farīd ud‑Dīn ʿAṭṭār, Rūmī, and Saulîḥ of Shiraz began to blur the boundary between earthly and divine love. The human beloved became the “veil” through which the seeker glimpses God’s face:

“The wine of …