RABI’A AL-ADAWIYYA (d.801)

RABI’A AL-ADAWIYYA
(d. 801)

Rabi’a was fated from conception for a life of holiness and selfless devotion to God. As later collectors of the lives of the ‘Friends of God’ (awliya’ Allahi) presented her, she was of humble lineage, she was endowed with exceptional beauty but her only lover was her Beloved One, and she endured much suffering and sacrifice of even modest worldly delights in witness of her love. During her real and to her dutiful journey to Mecca she was kidnapped, abused and managed to gain her escape from her captors, after which she resumed the life of a poor itinerant pilgrim on the earth (faqir). As a ‘Friend of God’ she vowed to forego even the rewards of Heaven and accept the pains of Hell should she ever weaken in her love of God.
What did such an unlearned person know of God? her detractors argued. His laws are hard to bear and most demanding of His would-be lovers. Her response was to retain nothing of herself except her sense of His presence. Her way was spare but without sorrow or fear. In her heart and mind there was only room for Him from whom she received the inspiration to love.
‘By doubting what you see of God’s mercy and plenitude of love, you despair in His power of Justice; if you dwell only on what you have failed to do, you show you are not truly a lover except of yourself. I am poor, I have been exhausted and broken in body, but my yearning (shawq) for You has only increased by what You have given me of Yourself.