LEARN TO LOVE YOUR LORD FROM THIS WOMEN SUFI SAINT Rabe’a al-Adawiya

Rabe’a al-Adawiya- Part 1

Rabe’a bint Esma’il al-‘Adawiya, born in humble
circumstances and sold into slavery as a child,
later settled in Basra where she attained great
fame as a saint and a preacher and was highly
esteemed by many of her pious contemporaries.
The date of her death is given variously as 135
(752) and 185 (801). To her, a lifelong celibate, is
attributed a large share in the introduction into
Islamic mysticism of the theme of Divine love.
Her tomb used to be pointed out near Jerusalem.
Rabe’a, her birth and early life
If anyone says, “Why have you included Rabe’a in the
rank of men?” my answer is, that the Prophet himself
said, “God does not regard your outward forms.” The
root of the matter is not form, but intention, as the
Prophet said, “Mankind will be raised up according to
their intentions.” Moreover, if it is proper to derive
two-thirds of our religion from A’esha, surely it is permissible
to take religious instruction from a handmaid
of A’esha. When a woman becomes a “man” in the
path of God, she is a man and one cannot any more call
her a woman.
The night when Rabe’a came to earth, there was
nothing whatsoever in her father’s house; for her father
lived in very poor circumstances. He did not possess
even one drop of oil to anoint her navel; there was no
lamp, and not a rag to swaddle her in. He already had
three daughters, and Rabe’a was his fourth; that is why
she was called by that name.
“Go to neighbour So-and-so and beg for a drop of
oil, so that I can light the lamp,” his wife said to him.
Now the man had entered into a covenant that he
would never ask any mortal for anything. So he went
out and just laid his hand on the neighbour’s door, and
returned.
“They will not open the door,” he reported.
The poor woman wept bitterly. In that anxious state
the man placed his head on his knees and went to sleep.
He dreamed that he saw the Prophet.
“Be not sorrowful,” the Prophet bade him. “The
girl child who has just come to earth is a queen
among women, who shall be the intercessor for seventy
thousand of my community Tomorrow,” the
Prophet continued, “go to Isa-e Zadan the governor
of Basra. Write on a piece of paper to the following
effect. ‘Every night you send upon me a hundred
blessings, an on Friday night four hundred. Last night
was Friday night, and you forgot me. In expiation for
that, give this man four hundred dinars lawfully
acquired.’”

Rabe’a’s father on awaking burst into tears. He rose
up and wrote as the Prophet had bidden him, and sent
the message to the governor by the hand of a chamberlain.
“Give two thousand dinars to the poor,” the governor
commanded when he saw the missive, “as a
thanksgiving for the Master remembering me. Give
four hundred dinars also to the shaikh, and tell him, ‘I
wish you to come to me so that I may see you. But I do
not hold it proper for a man like you to come to me. I
would rather come and rub my beard in you threshold.
However, I adjure you by God, whatever you may
need, pray let me know.’”
The man took the gold and purchased all that was
necessary.

(Continue....)