Divine love in sufism: The sample of Sultan Mamdûh Tillov's Dîvânu'l-Munîbî

Love has been one of the notable concepts in the Sufi tradition. This concept has been used frequently by Ahmad al-Ghazzâlî (d. 520/1126) and later by the Sufis. Sufis generally considered love winthin its divine part. They expressed their thoughts on this subject in their works. Both prose and verse works written by Sufis about love have produced a wide literature. One of the Sufis who devoted much space to divine love in his works is Sultan Mamdûh Tillovî (d. 1263/1847). Sultan Mamduh lived in the district of Tillo in Siirt and is the grandson of Ismâil Fakîrullah (d. 1147/1734) and a student of Ibrâhim Hakkı of Erzurum (d. 1194/1780). He has a wide corpus in Arabic, Persian and Turkish which is completely composed in verse. In this study, the understanding of divine love of Sultan Mamdûh is examined in the context of Dîvânu'l-Munîbî. In the first part of the study, information about the life and Works of Sultan Mamdûh is given. In the second part, the concept of love is examined within the framework of the Sufism tradition, the views of the Sufis on the concept of love are discussed and some of the Sufis' understanding of divine love is disclosed. In the third part, the understanding of divine love of Sultan Mamdûh is discussed within the poems in the Dîvânu'l-Munîbî. The data obtained via the study are given in the conclusion.