نَعَمْ سَرٰى طَيْفُ مَنْ أَهْوٰى فَـأَرَّقَنِي وَالْحُبُّ يَعْتَـرِضُ اللَّـذَّاتِ بِالأَلَـمِ

8/8. Yes! (I affirm my love for Rasulullaah SallAllaahu Alayhi Wasallam.) Thoughts of my beloved came to me at night and kept me awake (and made me restless); and (indeed) love transforms pleasure into pain.

In the previous portion, the poet had denied that he was smitten with the sickness of love. After two trustworthy witnesses were brought forward and his love was proven, the judge passed decision against him and entered the judgment into the records. Now to deny this love is futile. Eventually, the poet is forced to admit that this love is existent. Now the secret of love has become apparent and it has been established that the poet does have love.

The wording now changes from the second person to the first person. This is referred to as iltifaat (grammatical shift) in Arabic rhetoric. The poet is forced to accept that he is in love.

When a person has true love for someone or something, then thoughts of the beloved keep coming to one’s mind. Therefore, he even sees the beloved in his dreams.

Kept me awake – This can have one of two meanings:

a) The outward, apparent meaning : When a person is overcome with thoughts of the beloved, then sleep vanishes. Before, sleep was enjoyable to him. Now, this enjoyment has been replaced with the pain of separation and thoughts of his beloved.

b) A figurative (majaazi) meaning : The thoughts of the beloved have made me unmindful of the enjoyments of this world. The sentence thereafter, gives credence to this meaning. Love repels enjoyments by means of difficulties and pain. According to this definition, it means that the pain of separation from the beloved is removed by sleep. I then gain some comfort. However, I am currently not getting any sleep. 

The poet has uses the word enjoyments in the plural form, whilst pain is in the singular form: This is to highlight that in love, a single jab is enough to destroy all other enjoyments. In love, every enjoyment is mixed with difficulty. No enjoyment is free from hardship and difficulty.

Summary of this portion:

1) The poet has affirmed his love.

2) He makes mention of thinking of his beloved at night.

3) Due to these thoughts, he cannot sleep.

4)  To emphasise this point, he states that generally love destroys all other enjoyments.

Love is such that its pain also yields enjoyment. It is as though the pain becomes the medicine. The enjoyment of the thoughts of the beloved terminates the enjoyments of the world and whatever is therein.

This true love was found in the hearts of the Sahaabah RadhiAllaahu Anhum, which the Quraan praises in the following words;

كَانُوا قَلِيلًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ مَا يَهْجَعُونَ وَبِالْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ

They would sleep for a very short portion of the night, and at the break of dawn they would engage in seeking forgiveness.
(Dhaariyaat verse17-18)

تَتَجَافَى جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا

Their sides separated from their beds, calling out to their Sustainer, with fear and hope. (Sajdah verse 16)

In a duaa, Rasulullaah SallAllaahu Alayhi Wasallam said, “When You grant happiness to the people of the world with things of this world, then grant us enjoyment in your worship.”
(Musnadul-Firdaws no. 1965)

مَوْلَاىَ صَلِّ وَ سَلِّمْ دَائِمًا أَبَداً  عَلىٰ حَبِيْبِكَ خَيْرِ الْخَلْقِ كُلِّهِمِ