Types and Degrees of Love: A Comparative Study of the Views of Augustine and Ahmad Ghazali

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Student in Religions and Mysticism, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Religions and Mysticism, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

3 Professor of Islamic Mysticism, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/jrr.2023.331515.1995

Abstract

The types of love are one of the concerns of Ghazali and Augustine, the investigation of which is a step in the study of love, conducted with descriptive and comparative methods. The findings show that both scholars considered love as one of the sources of knowledge belonging to the truth and non-truth (God and non-God). Augustine considers the love of the truth and everything along the truth to be the love of God, but he rejects the love of non-truth, except for the loves that are in line with divine love. In Augustine's view, love for untruth is divided into two types; directed to God, such as love for neighbors and self (unequal to selfishness), and non-directed to God. Ghazali considers the types of love (divine and human) as love for the truth lacking Qiblah (direction towards the Kaaba) and does not divide it into real, virtual, accepted, and rejected. Both scholars, while believing in the authenticity of love for the truth, disagree on how it should be; Ghazali, unlike Augustine, considers the figure of speech to be a part of the truth but also of divine love and a non-uniform concept. Regarding the flow of love in existence, Augustine considers it to be inside man having the mode of intentionality and to be a part of human duties, a cause of happiness, a part of the advice of saints, and acquirable. Ghazali, however, considers it to be inside and outside lacking the mode of intentionality and nature. In addition, Ghazali introduces God as the lover and teacher of the first love. From Augustine's point of view, the lack of love for the good or the fear of loss is its justification. Moreover, the love of virtue is conditional on avoiding selfishness, self-admiration, sinful desires, ambitious will, and the rule of human pride, but Ghazali considers virtue to be equal to knowledge (connected to the shore of the sea of love) and knowledge to be immersed in the sea of love.

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