GhazzaUs Alchemy of Happiness. 



145 



I do not love him, (our refuge is in God), you would make 

 yourself an infidel. And if you say in answer, " I love 

 him/' yet you have no signs or tokens of your loving Him. 



Now know that there are seven signs of love to God. In 

 whomsoever these marks are found, his pretensions to lov- 

 ing God are to be regarded as well founded. 



The first sign of love to God is, not to be afraid of death, 

 and to be always waiting for it. For death unites the 

 friend to his friend, — the seeker to the object which he 

 seeks. As long as attachment to and dependence upon 

 the world cannot be broken off, the traces of love to God 

 cannot be visible. If a person, however, is afraid of death 

 and does uot feel a readiness to go into the presence of 

 God, and yet is making every provision for his journey 

 into the other world, it does not follow that he does not 

 possess the love of God. It is, on the contrary, an evidence 

 that he does love God. 



It is a second sign of love to God, when a man prefers 

 the love of God to any worldly object, chooses whatsoever 

 draws him near to God, and forsakes whatsoever has a 

 tendency to turn him away from God. He desires always 

 to act in accordance with his will and with his approbation. 

 But it is not an indication that a person is entirely destitute 

 of love to God, because he is not in every circumstance 

 submissive to the holy will of God. For, in some persons 

 love may exist in perfection, while in others it may be in 

 some measure defective. It is said, for example, that dur- 

 ing the life of the apostle of God, one of his companions 

 was a wine drinker, and he had oftentimes been punished 

 for it. Another of his companions one day vexed at his 

 conduct, cursed him. The prophet happened to hear him 

 curse him, and knocked for him to come in. When he 

 had come into his presence he said, " Why do you curse 

 that man ? He is both a friend of God and of his prophet, 

 and loves them." 



Trans. oiii.~] 19 



