Islamic Literature (Part I)

          Love has certain signs which the intelligent man quickly detects and the shrewd man readily recognizes. Of these the first is the brooding gaze. The eye is the gateway of the soul, the scrutinizer of its secrets, conveying its most private thoughts and giving expression to its deepesthid feelings. The lover will direct his conversation to the beloved even when he purports, however earnestly, to address another: the affection is apparently to anyone with eyes to see. When the loved one speaks, the lover listens with rapt attention to his every word; he marvels at everything the beloved says. Other signs of love are sudden confusion and excitement betrayed by the lover when he unexpectedly sees the one he loves coming upon him unawares, that agitation which overmasters him on beholding someone who resembles his beloved or on hearing his name suddenly pronounced. In addition, signs of love are the clod suddenly become sharp-witted, the boor turned into the perfect gentleman, the stinker transformed into the elegant dandy, and the sloucher smartened up. And all because of love.

          Another sign is when you find the lovers almost entreating to hear the loved one's name pronounced, taking an extreme delight in speaking about him. It can happen that a man sincerely affected by love will start to eat his meal with an excellent appetite. It is the same if he is drinking or talking. You will notice the change in his manner of speaking, the sure signs are his long silence and the way he stares at the ground. Besides that, another sign of love is that you will see the lover loving his beloved's kith and kin and the intimate ones of his household, to such an extent that they are nearer and dearer to him than his own folk.

Another sign of love is the way the lover pays attention to the beloved; remembering everything that falls from his lips; searching out all the news about him, so that nothing small or great that happens to him may escape his knowledge.

( Ibn Hazm has been called the greatest scholar and the most original thinker in Spanish Islam. His greatest work is a gigantic study of comparative religion, but his most popular and beautiful work is a treatise about love and lovers called The Dove's Necklace. He was imprisoned several times for his political associations. He died in 1064.)