Thus it is also correct to say ‘May God forgive you*’* (...

( 48:2 ) in the same sense, stating that it is like saying to someone ‘May God forgive you’, and it is not necessary in such benedictive expressions to take into consideration that the addressee already possesses the blessing invoked in the prayer.

Although such an interpretation seems farfetched in relation to this noble verse-and we have already discussed it under one of the earlier traditions’[^2] -it is basically right that mostly the actual possession of that which is invoked in such precative expressions is not taken into consideration.

لقاء (with fathah on lam , or kasrah ) is the verbal noun ( masdar ) of لقي vowelized like رضي ); so also are لقاءة، لقاية، لقياً، لقياناً، لقيانة all with kasrah of lam ) and لقياً، لقى، لقياناً، لقيانة (all with dammah on lam ) are its verbal nouns and signify sight and vision. Later on in this exposition we will explain the meaning of liqa’ Allah, to an extent that is appropriate for these pages. أبغض pertains to the nominal form إفعال .

And بَغُضَ like كَرُمَ، نَصَرَ، فَرِحَ (is its trilateral root). (The lexicographers explain) بغض بغاضة فهو بغيض Bughd (hate) is the antonym of hubb (love) and بغضة and بغضاء signify its stronger degrees. Briefly, love and hate are qualities of the soul ( sifat al-nafsaniyyah ) and are opposite to each other.

Their reality, as revealed by self-examination, is evident, like all other directly experienced and psychic qualities, whose essential reality is more evident than what any description of their meaning (i.e. of the words that stand for them) can divulge. However, an explanation of the signification of the ascription of ‘love’ and ‘hate’ to God’s Sacred Essence will be given later on, insha’ Allah .

As to the narrator’s statement, “Indeed, we detest death,” he said that because he imagined death to involve liqa’ Allah, or because he thought that death was liqa’ Allah itself. So he imagined revulsion for death to be aversion for liqa’ Allah, and hence his question.