Divine Lover According to Richard Rolle and Aḥmad Ghazālī with an Emphasis on Fire of Love and Sawāniḥ al –ushshāq

This article compares the views of Richard Rolle (ca. 1300- 1349), an English hermit, mystic, writer and Bible interpreter and Aḥmad Ghazālī (ca. 1060- 1126), an Iranian mystic, writer and preacher on love. These mystics have spoken of love in detail in their works, Fire of Love and Sawāniḥ al -ushshāq. This paper, shows that topics on love in these two books include: The essence of love, The beloved, Characteristics of a lover, Essentials of love and Results of love. Re-examining these categories illustrates the differences and similarities between the two mystics' views of the concept of love and lovers. The ideas of Rolle and Ghazālī are overlapping in the nature of love, but their views differ significantly on other topics. From Rolle's point of view, love cannot be realized except through the religious context and Christian ethics, and it only makes sense in relation to God, Christ and the Trinity. However, in Ghazālī's view, the ontological and psychological aspects of love and lover are more intense, and it is capable of being experienced in relation to God and his creatures. The present study compares the view of this two mystics on the Characteristics of lover in detail.