Born in Basra, in seventh century Iraq, the Sufi known as Rabia al-Adawiia is recognized as the first, as well as the best known female saint of this mystical branch of Islam. Although there is little direct knowledge of her life, what is known is that she had a profound impact on Sufism. Rabia was born nearly 500 years before the great Sufi poet, Rumi, and her impact on him was profound.
What we know about Rabia is a blending of reality and the spiritual stories that grew up around this remarkable woman. Most of the stories and traditions we have all come from one source, Farid un din Attar, another Sufi saint and poet. Rabia did not leave any written works of her own.
According to these traditions that have been passed down, Rabia was the fourth daughter born into a poor family. After her birth her father had a dream that informed him his newborn daughter was a favorite of Allah’s. Rabia’s father was then given instructions in the dream as to how to make the money needed to support his family.
Several years later her father died. Shortly afterward Rabia was travelling in a caravan which was attacked by bandits. Rabia was captured and sold into slavery.
Her master worked her extremely hard, but as Rabia’s spiritual longing had already been awakened, so after her chores and tasks for the day were finished, she would turn to prayer and meditation. Even in her slavery she praised Allah. Much of her nights were given to prayer rather than sleep and she would often fast during the day.
Her master is said to have seen her one evening as she was praying. Even as he watched, Rabia was enveloped by a divine light. Shocked and frightened that he was keeping such a pious soul in slavery, her master immediately set her free.
Once she had received her freedom Rabia went into the desert to pray and study. There she became an ascetic. It is said that unlike many other Sufi saints, Rabia did not learn at the feet of a great teacher or spiritual master. She learned directly from God.
Rabia’s asceticism was complete. Her poverty and self-denial were tollay integrated into who she was. Supposedly, she used a brick for a pillow, but spent most of her nights in prayer and contemplation. She begrudged herself sleep because when she slept she could not be actively loving Allah.
Many miracles are attributed to her and she was often offered large gifts for curing people. One story attributed to her when she refused an offered bag of gold perfectly conveys her wit and personality. “Dear, if you leave that, flies will gather as if a horse just relieved himself, and I might slip in it while dancing.”
What is special about Rabia, however, is not her extreme acetic nature and lifestyle. What sets her apart is her theology. Rabia was the first Sufi to teach that God should be loved for God’s own sake, and no other reason. Earlier Sufi teaching was that God should be loved out of fear.
She also taught that repentance was a gift of God. No one could repent unless God had already accepted them and given them the gift of repentance. For Rabia, worship of God should not come from fear of punishment or even hope of reward. Such self-interest was unworthy of Allah’s servants. Emotions such as fear and hope were hindrances to the true vision of God.
A prayer of Rabia was
“O Allah! If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell,
and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise.
But if I worship You for Your own sake,
grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty.”
The poems I have collected demonstrate Rabia’s poetic power.. It is easy to understand why her influence is still being felt today. The passing centuries have in no way dimmed the passion for God reflected in her poetry.
Love
I have loved Thee with two loves -
a selfish love and a love that is worthy of Thee.
As for the love which is selfish,
Therein I occupy myself with Thee,
to the exclusion of all others.
But in the love which is worthy of Thee,
Thou dost raise the veil that I may see Thee.
Yet is the praise not mine in this or that,
But the praise is to Thee in both that and this.
My greatest Need is You
Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours
Are the hours I spend with You --
O Allah, I can't live in this world
Without remembering You--
How can I endure the next world
Without seeing Your face?
I am a stranger in Your country
And lonely among Your worshippers:
This is the substance of my complaint.
The Perfect Stillness
Love is
the perfect stillness
and the greatest excitement, and the most profound act,
and the word almost as complete
as His Name
Die Before You Die
Ironic, but one of the most intimate acts
of our body is death.
So beautiful appeared my death—knowing who then I would kiss
I died a thousand times before I died.
“Die before you die,” said the Prophet
Muhammad.
Have wings that feared ever
touched the Sun?
I was born when all I once
feared—I could
love.
My Beloved
My peace, O my brothers and sisters, is my solitude,
And my Beloved is with me always,
For His love I can find no substitute,
And His love is the test for me among mortal beings,
Whenever His Beauty I may contemplate,
He is my "mihrab", towards Him is my "qiblah"
If I die of love, before completing satisfaction,
Alas, for my anxiety in the world, alas for my distress,
O Healer (of souls) the heart feeds upon its desire,
The striving after union with Thee has healed my soul,
O my Joy and my Life abidingly,
You were the source of my life and from Thee also came my ecstasy.
I have separated myself from all created beings,
My hope is for union with Thee, for that is the goal of my desire
Reality
In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.
Speech is born out of longing,
True description from the real taste.
The one who tastes, knows;
the one who explains, lies.
How can you describe the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out?
And in whose being you still exist?
And who lives as a sign for your journey?
If I Adore You
~If I adore You out of fear of Hell, burn me in Hell!
If I adore you out of desire for Paradise,
Lock me out of Paradise.
But if I adore you for Yourself alone,
Do not deny to me Your eternal beauty.
Dream Fable
I saw myself in a wide green garden, more beautiful than I could begin to understand. In this garden was a young girl. I said to her, "How wonderful this place is!"
"Would you like to see a place even more wonderful than this?" she asked.
"Oh yes," I answered. Then taking me by the hand, she led me on until we came to a magnificent palace, like nothing that was ever seen by human eyes. The young girl knocked on the door, and someone opened it. Immediately both of us were flooded with light.
Only Allah knows the inner meaning of the maidens we saw living there. Each one carried in her hand a serving-tray filled with light. The young girl asked the maidens where they were going, and they answered her, "We are looking for someone who was drowned in the sea, and so became a martyr. She never slept at night, not one wink! We are going to rub funeral spices on her body."
"Then rub some on my friend here," the young girl said.
"Once upon a time," said the maidens, "part of this spice and the fragrance of it clung to her body -- but then she shied away."
Quickly the young girl let go of my hand, turned, and said to me:
"Your prayers are your light;
Your devotion is your strength;
Sleep is the enemy of both.
Your life is the only opportunity that life can give you.
If you ignore it, if you waste it,
You will only turn to dust."
Then the young girl disappeared
With My Beloved
With my Beloved I alone have been,
When secrets tenderer than evening airs
Passed, and the Vision blest
Was granted to my prayers,
That crowned me, else obscure, with endless fame;
The while amazed between
His Beauty and His Majesty
I stood in silent ecstasy
Revealing that which o'er my spirit went and came.
Lo, in His face commingled
Is every charm and grace;
The whole of Beauty singled
Into a perfect face
Beholding Him would cry,
'There is no God but He, and He is the most High.'
My God and My Lord
Eyes are at rest, the stars are setting.
Hushed are the stirrings of birds in their nests,
Of monsters in the ocean.
You are the Just who knows no change,
The Balance that can never swerve,
The Eternal which never passes away.
The doors of Kings are bolted now and guarded by soldiers.
Your Door is open to all who call upon You.
My Lord,
Each love is now alone with his beloved.
And I am alone with You.
Troublemakers
Since no one really knows anything about God,
those that think they do are just
troublemakers
With My Beloved Alone
With my Beloved I alone have been,
When secrets tenderer than evening airs
Passed, and the Vision blest
Was granted to my prayers,
That crowned me, else obscure, with endless fame;
The while amazed between
His Beauty and His Majesty
I stood in silent ecstasy
Revealing that which o'er my spirit went and came.
Lo, in His face commingled
Is every charm and grace;
The whole of Beauty singled
Into a perfect face
Beholding Him would cry,
'There is no God but He, and He is the most High.'