ABSTRACT
The first point emphasized by al-Dabbiigh is the dynamic process of wandering on the Path. The wayfarer must not stop in his ascent toward his beloved. Whenever he sees a quality of his beloved and adheres to it without trying to attain other qualities, this interruption prevents him from attaining a higher position. Each exalted state obtained by the lover paves the way to attaining another, more perfect state. The lover does not cease his wandering until he reaches the station of bewilderment (dahash).184 This is a station in which the lover's soul separates from the material world and becomes divine. The soul now only aspires to ascend in the ranks of love and to reject all things except the beloved. AI-Dabbiigh also calls this station the station of freedom (IJurriyya). Following the traditional SUfic interpretation of freedom,185 he states that a free person is whoever is not enslaved by material beings and their accidents, but only by God, his beloved. Like al-Ghaziili
who deals with many issues in relative terms,186 so alDabbagh says that the lover is free in relation to the beings in the world, but he is a slave in relation to the beloved, that is, because the lover who is a slave absolutely needs others (al-faqir mu#aqan), whereas the beloved absolutely does not need anything (al-ghaniyy mu#aqan).187
