Mahabba محبة

Mahabba (محبة) — Doctrinally load-bearing. The maḥabba/hawā/ʿishq triplet structures the Akbarian erotic-mystical lexicon: maḥabba is the foundational relational bond, hawā is the perplexity-inducing passion (already in glossary), ʿishq is the consuming intensification. The “kuntu kanzan” hadith anchors maḥabba cosmologically (“I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known, so I created”). Nicholson 1921’s “Divine Love” in the Khamriyya commentary maps to maḥabba; capitalize when the divine referent is in view. Distinguish from hawā (which is in this glossary) and from ʿishq (added v0.4); rendering all three as “love” collapses the doctrinal differentiation.

Etymology

[STUB: editor to author etymology, root, and morphological notes.]

Cross-tradition resonance

Related terms across traditions (each relation is a stub the editor expands):

• Agape (christian-mysticism) — [STUB: editor to expand — shared-relational-love]
• Ahavah (jewish-mysticism) — [STUB: editor to expand — shared-covenantal-love-proposed]

Primary sources

[STUB: editor to list locus classicus and other canonical attestations.]

Scholarly literature

[STUB: editor to list standard secondary scholarship.]

Hekhal Editorial. "Mahabba." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified May 2, 2026. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/mahabba.

Hekhal Editorial. 2026. "Mahabba." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/mahabba.

Hekhal Editorial. "Mahabba." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition, May 2, 2026, hekhal.org/lexicon/mahabba.

Hekhal Editorial. (2026). Mahabba. Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/mahabba

@misc{hekhal-lexicon-mahabba-2026,
  author       = {{Hekhal Editorial}},
  title        = {{Mahabba}},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {{Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition}},
  url          = {https://hekhal.org/lexicon/mahabba},
  urldate      = {[date accessed]}
}