Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya /Rabi'ah /(Rabi'a Basri d.801)

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"HOW LONG WILL YOU KEEP POUNDING ON AN OPEN DOOR?"
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Apart from tradition, all we know is that Rabi'a lived in Basra, Iraq, in the second half of the 700s (the second Islamic century), that she was probably a freed slave, and that she is considered one of the first of the Sufis (from the Arabic for "mystic"), those Muslims who emphasize an intensely personal relationship with Allah.

According to tradition, Rabi'a was born free, but sold into slavery at her parents' death. She was freed by a miracle, and, except for at least one pilgrimage to Mecca, lived all of her life in Basra as a celibate ascetic who debated with and taught the major religious figures of her time. We have descriptions of Khansa from scholars of the 800s and 900s, but most of the stories of her come down to us from the writings of Faridu d-Din 'Attar (d. c.1230). It is through 'Attar that we have Rabi'a's words; she herself left no written documents.

Basra, near the Persian Gulf, was an important military and trading site, both for sea trade and for overland routes from the Arabian peninsula. From its foundation in the mid-600s, it was a center of Islamic religious and intellectual thought. Hasan al-Basri (d.728) was the city's first major ascetic figure; since he was probably dead before Rabi'a reached adulthood, the anecdotes about their meetings may reflect conflict between their respective disciples. Rabi'a represents those who, while never going outside the bounds of Muslim orthodoxy, moved from an emphasis on ritual to a total concentration on Allah and identification with his will.

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"If I adore You out of fear of Hell...."
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[Rabi'a's most often-quoted prayer:]

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. [ll.8-12, p.45]

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"Take my prayer as it is, devil and all."
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[But she acknowledges the difficulty of that kind of perfection:]

O God, take away the words of the devil
That mix with my prayer--
If not, then take my prayer as it is, devil and all. [p.27]

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"You call yourself a teacher: Therefore learn."
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[Rabi'a's strongest voice is that of clear-sighted common sense:]

Where a part of you goes
The rest of you will follow---given time.
You call yourself a teacher:
Therefore learn. [p.39]

I love God: I have no time left
In which to hate the devil. [p.41]

I carry a torch in one hand
And a bucket of water in the other:
With these things I am going to set fire to Heaven
And put out the flames of Hell
So that voyagers to God can rip the veils
And see the real goal. [p.43]

[And her emphasis is on individual response rather than on ritual:]

How long will you keep pounding on an open door
Begging for someone to open it? [p.51]