Love is a constant part of Hazrat Sultan Bahu’s thought and poetry. Actually, the concept of love has a central position in the philosophy of mysticism. The meaning of the word Ishq, which seems to be clear to everyone, but it cannot be defined mere in words. According to Hazrat Sultan Bahu, love is a universal term. Sometimes it is real and sometimes it is virtual. However, it is a very important emotion for humans without which it is impossible to live. For the last several centuries, Muslim mystics have been using the terms real love and virtual love. Virtual love refers to mutual selfless love of human beings, while God's love beyond the love of persons and things is called "true love". Before Hazrat Sultan Bahu, the concept of love of the later Pujnabi Sufi poets was the same as that of ordinary poets, in which they considered death instead of life, peace instead of movement and laziness instead of struggle but Hazrat Sultan Bahu expanded this concept. According to him, understanding the true and complete meaning of human existence is possible only through the guidance of love. In this article, the concept of love in the Punjabi and Persian poetry of Hazrat Sultan Bahu will be discussed. 

* Assistant Professor, Persian Department, Punjab University, Lahore.

1. Prof. Syed Ahmad Saeed Hamdani, Ahwal-o-Maqamaat-e-Hazrat Sultan Bahu (Lahore: Nashaad Publishers, 1994)64.

2. Sultan Altaf Ali, Ahwal o Asaar e Farsi e Sultan Bahu (Islamabad: Markaz e Tehqeeqaat e Farsi e Iran o Pakistan, 2003)264.

3. Sultan Bahu, Abiyat e Bahu, edited and translated by Sultan Altaf Ali (Lahore: Bahu Publications, 2012)174.

4. Molvi Muhammad Nazir Arshi, Miftah ul Uloom, Sharah Masnavi Maulana Room, Part 1( Lahore: Sheikh Ghulam Ali and Sons)195.

5. Sultan Bahu, Abiyat e Bahu, edited and translated by Sultan Altaf Ali (Lahore: Bahu Publications, 2012)461.

6. As Above, 72.

7. As Above, 459.

8. Sultan Bahu, Deewan e Bahu, edited and translated by Sultan Altaf Ali (Lahore: Bahu Publications, 2003)62.

9. Sultan Bahu, Abiyat e Bahu, edited and translated by Sultan Altaf Ali (Lahore: Bahu Publications, 2012)315.

10. Sultan Bahu, Deewan e Bahu, edited and translated by Sultan Altaf Ali (Lahore: Bahu Publications, 2003)68.

11. As Above, 124.

12. Sultan Bahu, Abiyat e Bahu, edited and translated by Sultan Altaf Ali (Lahore: Bahu Publications, 2012)511.

13. As Above, 624.

14. Hafiz Sherazi, Deewan e Hafiz, edited by Allama Muhammad Qazvini and Qasim Ghani (Tehran: Intisharaat e Farabi)1.

15. Sultan Bahu, Deewan e Bahu, edited and translated by Sultan Altaf Ali (Lahore: Bahu Publications, 2003)36.

16. As Above, 58.

17. As Above, 110.

18. As Above, 118.