{"id":4497,"date":"2023-08-14T00:16:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T21:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/?p=4497"},"modified":"2023-08-14T00:18:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T21:18:37","slug":"zuleyha-state-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/zuleyha-state-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 State of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let me start with Ahmad al-Ghazali’s definition of love: Love is the name of the gravitational force that is created by the task of bringing together two beings that are separated from each other<\/em>.<\/strong> Therefore, the greater the distance between these two beings, the greater the love.<\/p>\n\n

Yes, the examples of love are countless; but I wanted to approach the subject through the lens of Y\u00fbsuf and Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2. After all, it is mentioned in the Qur’an as the best of parables. What makes her so beautiful?<\/em> I wanted to write down what I had read and what was in my heart.<\/p>\n\n

The parable is familiar to most of us, but let me summarize it very briefly for those who don’t know it or want to look at it again:<\/p>\n\n

Hz. Joseph, the Prophet. Yak\u00fbb’s son was a beautiful child. A messenger dreams in the sense that Y\u00fbsuf, who was already jealous of his twelve brothers, becomes even more jealous when his dream is heard among them and is thrown into the well by his brothers. Y\u00fbsuf, who had been in the well for a while, was recognized by the caravans passing by in need of water; he was rescued from the well and sold as a slave. The saint of Egypt, who was the husband of Zuleyh\u00e2, bought her. However, Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 cannot stand the beauty of Y\u00fbsuf and falls in love with him. Yus\u00fbf, overcome by his nafs, wants to get closer, but when Yus\u00fbf sees the sign from his Lord and runs away, he meets the saint of Egypt at the gate. As a result, Joseph is imprisoned without charge and remains in prison for many years. Years later, he became the vizier of the king through his dream interpretations. During this time, Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 loses her husband, becomes ugly, poor, and loses her eyes from weeping for the love of Y\u00fbsuf. In short, she has lost everything except Y\u00fbsuf’s love.<\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, they made peace with their brothers who had come to Egypt to buy wheat because of the famine. His father, who was blinded by weeping, asked Hz. They are also reunited with Ya’ak\u00fbb and at the end of the story, Hz. Ya’qub’s eyes were opened.<\/p>\n\n

In the Qur’anic story, Zuleyh\u0101 is mentioned as the wife of the Egyptian saint and the woman who fell in love with Joseph; she is not mentioned by the name of Zuleyh\u0101 and the rest of the story is not mentioned. However, in the literal interpretations of the parable and in literature, we come across the inner meaning of the story and interpretations of reunion.<\/p>\n\n

We see Ibn At\u0101’s comment about the peace of mind that the s\u016brah gives:<\/p>\n\n

Anyone who is in grief and sorrow will surely be relieved when he hears the s\u00fbrah of Y\u00fbsuf.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

Ayn al-Qud\u0101t Hemad\u0101n\u012b said in a letter;<\/p>\n\n

The beginning of the s\u016brah points to the beginning of the path to Allah Almighty and the end of the path points to the end of this path; for this reason, it is said to be the most beautiful of the s\u016brahs<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

In another letter, we see that he sets a criterion for understanding this s\u016brah. To be fully understood, the s\u00fbrah requires a lover like Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 and Majn\u00fbn, who see their beloved wherever they look. He said:<\/p>\n\n

In order to understand the wisdom in this s\u00fbrah, one must have the attribute of Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 and the nickname of Majn\u00fbn<\/em>; the people of heedlessness cannot be aware of this parable<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

If so, this parable is special for those whose paths cross with love. The path is difficult, but the cure is within. Reaching the state of humanity is the gift of this love.<\/p>\n\n

Hz. Mawlana quotes his interpretation of this s\u016brah in the Masnavi as follows:<\/p>\n\n

The story of Joseph is such a story that its beginning is familiarity and acquaintance, its middle is longing and hijra, and its end is mercy and forgiveness<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Qur’\u00e2nic commentaries explain that this s\u016brah contains the secrets of the human being, that is, the secrets necessary to be human. It is said that the Prophet Ya’qub was the soul of the human being, Hz. Y\u00fbsuf represents the human heart and Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 represents the soul. Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2, representing the nafs, wants to reach the station of the heart, but she is married to the world. Beauty, power and might, he has it all. However, love comes and Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 loses everything. First his reputation, then his wealth, then his eyes… but one thing is increasing day by day: his love. As Y\u00fbnus Emre says, ” When Love comes, all deficiencies end<\/em>,” he has lost everything in the world, but he has Y\u00fbsuf, so he has everything.<\/p>\n\n

As Hazrat Ken\u00e2n Rif\u00e2\u00ee says; Love has destroyed in order to build<\/strong>, <\/em>the state of absence that Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 experienced was instrumental in her upbringing, and she realized existence in absence.<\/p>\n\n

Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 not only experienced poverty, but also a serious loss of dignity and, one might say, a state of humiliation. One of the comments I read mentioned that this state of humiliation must be experienced in order to be the owner of glory. Isn’t that so? Everything is revealed by its opposite. We are tested with the opposite of whatever we demand, and if we pass, we are gifted our demand.<\/p>\n\n

Of course, Zuleyh\u00e2 is not the only one tested in the parable. Y\u00fbsuf was tested first with his brothers and then with Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2, and as a result of the test, he was tested with years of imprisonment. Jacob was tested by the absence and longing for his son, and Joseph’s brothers were tested by their jealousy.<\/p>\n\n

Joseph, too, was imprisoned for no crime, humiliated and suffered hardships in prison. Regarding the wisdom in this, Mayb\u00fbd\u00ee has the following comment:<\/p>\n\n

It was Our command and Our decree that Joseph should be king over Egypt. We first showed him humiliation through slavery, so that he would be aware of the repentance of slaves and captives. We tested him by throwing him into the dungeon so that he would be aware of the suffering and the fire of the prisoners. We made him grieve over his exile so that he would not be ignorant of the helplessness of those in exile<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Even if he was a Prophet, he was tested with the qualities he possessed, and at the end of the test, he became the sultan of Egypt.<\/p>\n\n

In many narrations it is said that Zuleyh\u00e2 was reunited with Y\u00fbsuf. Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2, who had lost everything, changed her belief patterns with the love of Y\u00fbsuf and turned from idol worship to the belief in Allah. Allah answered his prayer of many years and paved the way for their marriage. A story is told as a proof of the greatness of his love in his heart:<\/p>\n\n

As Zuleyh\u00e2 waits by the side of the road to see Y\u00fbsuf in his pitiful state, they meet him. Y\u00fbsuf sees that Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2’s joy is gone and asks her where everything has gone. Zuleyh\u00e2 also says that she lost for his sake. This time, he wonders about her love and asks what has happened to it; Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 replies that it is the same as it was in the first time, not one iota less. Y\u00fbsuf asks Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 for proof of this statement and while on his horse, the tip of his whip touches Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2. Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2 sighs<\/em> deeply and the whip catches fire. His hand burns from the heat of the whip and he throws it away. Zulayha is reported to have said these words:<\/p>\n\n

O weakling! I have been carrying this fire inside me for forty years, burning with it. I was not afraid of this fire for a moment! And you couldn’t stand this fire for a moment!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

It is narrated that when the fire of Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2’s love in this helplessness is revealed, Allah’s mercy swells and He orders Y\u00fbsuf to marry Z\u00fcleyh\u00e2. At the same time, Zuleyh\u00e2 regains her former charm and beauty.<\/p>\n\n

What I humbly understand from the mention of this s\u016brah as the most beautiful of the parables is not to be faultless on the road to humanity, but to be able to handle the ecstasies that come with love within the framework of decency, and that love leads us to the state of being human.<\/p>\n\n

Let us take the interpretation we quoted at the beginning that the s\u016brah refreshes the heart both materially and spiritually:<\/p>\n\n

For those whose hearts burn with the fire of love, Allah Almighty is reported to have said to the Prophet<\/p>\n\n

If those who are afflicted by the fire of love come to your presence and complain about their situation, recite the s\u00fbrah of Y\u00fbsuf to them and say: “Just as We made Zuleyh\u00e2, who could not reach her goal, reach her goal, We will make you reach your goal.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

This parable is for those who fall into the desert of hijr\u00e2n with the fire of love and search for their origin. Those who find their origin are those who reach the state of humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me start with Ahmad al-Ghazali’s definition of love: Love is the name of the gravitational force that is created by the task of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":4490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-4497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-jale-karakaya-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hernefes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/5C680136-6625-4BB4-AE83-CEED46F958E8-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1900&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4498,"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4497\/revisions\/4498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernefes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}