The subject of love (ʿishq, ḥubb, maḥabbat, hawā) in the major premodern Islamic textual traditions (Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish, and Urdu poetry) can be characterized by two broad issues: one is an ongoing tension between sacred (ḥaqīqī) and profane (majāzī) love; the other is the question of the gender of the beloved, especially as it is reflected through the prism of language(s). It would be well to keep in mind that much of the literature on love is the production of male writers situated in privileged positions (often as ed…