R unning with fire in one hand and water in the other, Rabia explained, I am going to burn paradise and douse hellfire so that both veils may be lifted from those on the quest, and they will become sincere of purpose. Gods servants will learn to see Him without hope for reward or fear of punishment. As it is now, if you took away hope for reward or fear of punishment, no one would obey.
This was the mentality of the most famous female Sufi saint, Rabia al-Adawiyya, who set forth the doctrine of Divine Love. She maintained praises of God werent meant to be merely performed with the tongue, ears, eyes, hands, or feet but with the wakeful heart.
O Sons of Adam, from the eye, there is no way-station to the Real. From the tongue, there is no path to Him. Hearing is the highway of complainers. Hand and foot dwell in perplexity. The matter falls to the heart. Strive for a wakeful heart. (Rabia al-Adawiyya)
Born in year 717 to a poor family in Basra, Rabia al-Adawiyya, was the fourth daughter to her parents. She later became an orphan and was sold into slavery. According to Farid ad-Din Attar, Rabia ran away from her owner and put her face to the ground saying, All I want is for You to be pleased with me, to know whether You are pleased with me or not. She heard a reply reassuring her not to be sad and promising her good. Rabia then went back to her owner.
One night, while she prostrated in prayer to God, her owner overheard her and witnessed a chain-less lantern suspended above her head light up the entire room. Upon this sight, the owner freed Rabia, and she spent her life in devotion to God.
According to Attars Memorial of the Friends of God, which holds the most thorough account of Rabia life, Rabia of Basra is considered one of the Sufi masters. Ironically, during her time, people referred to the masters as the ranks of men. However, the deep Sufi concept of Gods Unity leaves no room for individuals, gender, or status.
Rabia sincerity and love resulted in her being accredited by the men of her time. She delivered passionate and eye-opening words of wisdom to them regarding God, and they took her teachings to heart.
Salih Murri, Gods mercy upon him, often used to say, Whoever knocks at a door will have it opened in the end.
Once Rabia was present. She said, How long will you say, He will open it again? When did He close it that He will open it again?
Salih said, Amazing! An ignorant man and a wise, weak woman.
She referred to herself as a weak woman, and so others called her this as well. However, her title was contrary to her actions, as she was a strong-willed woman who criticized and helped develop the other Sufi masters of her time.
Rabia lived the life of an ascetic, for her only concern was God. She paved the way for later female saints, and she reached a state which all Sufis strive for through the destruction of her nafs (ego/self). She developed a relationship with God built on love and tawakkul (trust). She didnt devote herself to Him out of desires for reward or fear of burning; rather, she only wanted to please God and never be cut off.
Attr references Rabia al-Adawiyya in his famous The Conference of the Birds mystical poem:
No, she wasnt a single woman,
But a hundred men over:
Robed in the quintessence of pain
From foot to face, immersed in the Truth,
Effaced in the radiance of God,
And liberated from all superfluous excess.
Rabia Al-Adawiyya The Female Muslim Sufi Saint from Basra
R abia, the daughter of Ismail, a woman celebrated for her holy life, and a native of Basra, belonged to the tribe of Adi. Al Qushairi says in his treatise on Sufism, "She used to say when holding converse with God, 'Consume with fire O God, a presumptuous heart which loveth Thee.' On one of these occasions a voice spoke to her and said, 'That we shall not do. Think not of us an ill thought.' Often in the silence of the night she would go on the roof of her house and say, 'The lover is now with his beloved, but I rejoice in being alone with Thee.'"
When Rabia grew up her father and mother died. At that time there was a famine in Basra. She came into the possession of an evil man, who sold her as a slave. The master who bought her treated her hardly, and exacted all kinds of menial services from her. One day, when she was seeking to avoid the rude gaze of a stranger, she slipped on the path and fell, breaking her wrist. Lying there with her face to the ground, she said "Lord, I am far from my own, a captive and an orphan, and my wrist has just been broken, and yet none of these things grieve me. Only this one thought causes me disquiet; it is that I know not if Thou art satisfied with me." She then heard a voice, "Vex not thyself, O Rabia, for at the day of Resurrection We shall give thee such a rank that the angels nearest Us shall envy thee." Rabia went home with her heart at peace.
One night, Rabia's master being awake, heard the sound of her voice. He perceived Rabia with her head bent, saying, "My Lord, Thou knowest that the desire of my heart is to seek Thy approbation, and that its only wish is to obey Thy commands. If I had liberty of action, I would not remain a single instant without doing Thee service; but Thou hast delivered me into the hands of a creature, and therefore I am hindered in the same." Her master said to himself that it was not possible any longer to treat her as a slave, and as soon as daybreak appeared, he said to her, "O Rabia, I make thee free. If thou desirest, remain here, and we shall be at thy service. If thou dost not wish to to stay here, go whithersoever it pleaseth thee."
Then Rabia departed from them and devoted herself entirely to works of piety. One day when she was making the pilgrimage to the Kaaba she halted in the desert and exclaimed, "My God, my heart is a prey to perplexity in the midst of this solitude. I am a stone, and so is the Kaaba; what can it do for me? That which I need is to contemplate Thy face." At these words a voice came from the Most High, "O Rabia, wilt thou bear alone that which the whole world cannot? When Moses desired to see Our Face we showed It to a mountain, which dissolved into a thousand fragments."
