what is love

Found this in my email drafts.. from 12/9/2006. I never did send it to Pink.. but here goes.

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Pink dearest,

What is love?

"Love is never having to say you're sorry." :p naaah..that's from an old, old movie 'Love story'.

People always think that love is what they feel when they are first get attracted to someone.
But actually when you first fall for a person, what you feel is awe and excitement - most people term it as 'a crush'. SOMETIMES it develops into love.

Love is something much much more than just excitement and awe, or a crush. Love is when you are willing to sacrifice for the other person's happiness.

Then there are the levels of love.

The lowest level is loving for your own sake. You love him because he makes you feel happy, or give you material stuff. I shall not dwell on this further.

The mid level would be loving him for who he is, but still for your own sake. A condition for this love is that, the other person must give you some level of happiness.

The ultimate love is love lillah (for the sake of Allah SWT). When someone loves for the sake of Allah, they are willing to sacrifice for the other person's happiness, without much concern about their own. When this happens, the lover, I truly believe - will not suffer much damage, when the love is not returned appropriately or worse betrayed.