Among the Ṣúfí Shaykhs Sumnún al-Muḥibb holds a peculiar doctrine concerning love. He asserts that love is the foundation and principle of the way to God, that all “states” and “stations” are stages of love, and that every stage and abode in which the seeker may be admits of destruction, except the abode of love, which is not destructible in any circumstances so long as the way itself remains in existence. All the other Shaykhs agree with him in this matter, but since the term “love” is current and well known, and they wished the doctrine of Divine love to remain hidden, instead of calling it “love” they gave it the name of “purity” (_ṣafwat_), and the lover they called “Ṣúfí”; or they used the word “poverty” (_faqr_) to denote the renunciation of the lover’s personal will in his affirmation of the Beloved’s will, and they called the lover “poor” (_faqír_). I have explained the theory of “purity” and “poverty” in the beginning of this book. `Amr b. `Uthmán Makkí says in the _Kitáb-i Maḥabbat_[156] that God created the souls (_dilhá_) seven thousand years before the bodies and kept them in the station of proximity (_qurb_), and that he created the spirits (_jánhá_) seven thousand years before the souls and kept them in the degree of intimacy (_uns_), and that he created the hearts (_sirrhá_) seven thousand years before the spirits and kept them in the degree of union (_waṣl_), and revealed the epiphany of His beauty to the heart three hundred and sixty times every day and bestowed on it three hundred and sixty looks of grace, and He caused the spirits to hear the word of love and manifested three hundred and sixty exquisite favours of intimacy to the soul, so that they all surveyed the phenomenal universe and saw nothing more precious than themselves and were filled with vanity and pride. Therefore God subjected them to probation: He imprisoned the heart in the spirit and the spirit in the soul and the soul in the body; then He mingled reason (_`aql_) with them, and sent prophets and gave commands; then each of them began to seek its original station. God ordered them to pray. The body betook itself to prayer, the soul attained to love, the spirit arrived at proximity to God, and the heart found rest in union with Him. The explanation of love is not love, because love is a feeling (_ḥál_), and feelings are never mere words (_qál_). If the whole world wished to attract love, they could not; and if they made the utmost efforts to repel it, they could not. Love is a Divine gift, not anything that can be acquired. Footnote 156: “The Book of Love.” SECTION.