Faith Musharraf Hussain

What Rumi taught us about Divine love

- ■Dr Musharraf Hussain is CEO of the Karimia Institute, Nottingham.

THE great poet Rumi (1207-73), so rightly called the troubadour of Divine love, in his Masnavi hints at a probable reason for human longing to love God.

He likens it to the lament of the reed-flute as a symbol of the human soul's sorrow at being separated from the beloved Lord.

"Listen to this reed, how it makes compliant, telling a tale of separation; ever since I was cut off from my reed bed, all have lamented my bewailing. I want the breast torn asunder to reveal the agony of my yearning. Everyone who has been separated from its origin longs to be united with it... this cry of the reed is fire and anyone who does not have this fire of love he is naught."