Love is the driving force of the Sufis. The moth is in love with light and annihilates itself for the love of the beloved. It knows the danger that light presents. If it goes too near the light, however, it could die. Yet this does not stop the moth from becoming one with the light.
Rabi’a, the Sufi saint, illustrated the importance of love by running in the streets of Basra with a bucket of water and a burning torch. When someone asked her what she was doing. Rabi’a replied, “I want to pour the bucket of water in hell to extinguish the fire, and use the torch to set paradise on fire.” She added that prayers should not be said for fear of hell or hope of heaven. They should be said for the love of God.
Respecting others and ourselves is an offshoot of living a life of love. Aga Khan III in his memoirs writes:
“All the treasures of this life, all that fame, wealth, and health can bring are nothing beside the happiness that is created and sustained by the love of one human being for another … But as the joys of human love surpass all that riches and power may bring man, so does that greater spiritual love and enlightenment, the fruit of that sublime experience of the direct vision of reality that is God’s gift and grace, surpass all that the finest, truest human love can offer. For that gift we must ever pray.”