Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya

One of the most famous Islamic mystics was a woman: Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya (c.717-801). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).

by Rabia al Basri

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. 

another translation:

I have two ways of loving You:

A selfish one

And another way that is worthy of You.

In my selfish love, I remember You and You alone.

In that other love, You lift the veil

And let me feast my eyes on Your Living Face.

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.

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Rabi'a al-Adawiyya (If I worship You)

                                    

O  My Lord,

If I worship You

From fear of Hell,

burn me in Hell.

O My Lord,

If I worship You

From hope of Paradise,

bar me from its gates.

But if I worship You for Yourself alone

Then grace me forever the splendor of Your Face.

Rabia Al-Adawiyya

Iraq (717-801)

One of Sufism's most revered and beloved poet-saints, Rabia was born to poor parents who died of hunger when she was a young child, resulting in homelessness and permanent separation from her three siblings. She was found wandering on the streets of Basra, begging for food, by a criminal who seized her and sold her into slavery. Her master eventually freed her, awed by her holiness and by the light he saw shining from her face when she prayed.



Rabia pursued a life of solitary prayer in the desert, later taking up residence in a tiny house at the edge of Basra. Someone, perhaps a student, wrote that he saw nothing in the entire house but "a pitcher with a chipped spout which she used for bathing, a brick which she used for a pillow, and a reed mat on which she prayed." As her twelfth-century biographer, Attar, wrote, "She was set apart in the seclusion of holiness." She needed nothing because she had everything, and she refused to marry, even when a suitor promised her wealth. She replied that material riches bring only anxiety and sadness, while the life of surrender brings peace.



-- Mary Ford-Grabowsky





she used to pray":


"O my Lord, the stars are shining and the eyes of men are closed, and kings have shut their doors, and every lover is alone with his beloved, and here I am alone with Thee."


once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When they asked her to explain, she said:


"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..."

She was an ascetic. It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold". She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world. A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug , for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill. Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,


"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"


Rabi'a was in her early to mid eighties when she died, having followed the mystic Way to the end. By then, she was continually united with her Beloved. As she told her Sufi friends, "My Beloved is always with me"






http://www.mythinglinks.org/NearEast~3monotheisms~Islam~Rabia.html

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