“Gnosis truly, is a light which God casts into the heart. True knowledge of God is gained when the lover comes in contact with the Beloved through secret communion with Him.”

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 86

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Dec. 16, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Gnosis truly, is a light which God casts into the heart. True knowledge of God is gained when the lover comes in contac…" by Abu Talib al-Makki?

Abu Talib al-Makki5

Scholar, mystic

Related quotes

“It is written (1 John 4:16): "He that abideth in charity abideth in God, and God in him." Now charity is the love of God. Therefore, for the same reason, every love makes the beloved to be in the lover, and vice versa… the beloved is said to be in the lover, inasmuch as the beloved abides in the apprehension of the lover, according to Philippians 1:7, "For that I have you in my heart": while the lover is said to be in the beloved, according to apprehension, inasmuch as the lover is not satisfied with a superficial apprehension of the beloved, but strives to gain an intimate knowledge of everything pertaining to the beloved, so as to penetrate into his very soul.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

Source: Summa Theologica (1265–1274) I-II, q. 28, art. 2

“The end of the gnostic is traceable 'when he is as he was where he was before he was.' The gnostic then has made easy effort to discharge his duty to God, and his gnosis is a realization of what God has given him; therefore he truly returns from things to God.”

Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi Sufi Maturidi scholar and Hanafi jurist

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 84

“Patience is a true means for reaching God. In patience the soul rejoices spiritual bliss and kinship with the Beloved. This is stage when the seeker of God heartily welcomes afflictions which appear on the way to Him”

Abu Talib al-Makki Scholar, mystic

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 86

“From all these things the Gods gain nothing; what gain could there be to God? It is we who gain some communion with them.”

Sallustius Roman philosopher and writer

XV. Why we give worship to the Gods when they need nothing.
On the Gods and the Cosmos
Context: The divine itself is without needs, and the worship is paid for our own benefit. The providence of the Gods reaches everywhere and needs only some congruity for its reception. All congruity comes about by representation and likeness; for which reason the temples are made in representation of heaven, the altar of earth, the images of life (that is why they are made like living things), the prayers of the element of though, the mystic letters of the unspeakable celestial forces, the herbs and stones of matter, and the sacrificial animals of the irrational life in us.
From all these things the Gods gain nothing; what gain could there be to God? It is we who gain some communion with them.

“Pure love of God illuminates the soul of the lover and the mysteries of His divinity are revealed by God when the vision of the Beloved is contemplated.”

Abu Talib al-Makki Scholar, mystic

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 86