Rabe’a al-Adawiya- Part 7

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

Anecdotes of Rabe’a


12- Once Rabe’a fasted for a whole week, neither eating
nor sleeping. All night she was occupied with praying.
Her hunger passed all bounds. A visitor entered her
house bringing a bowl of food. Rabe’a accepted it and
went to fetch a lamp. She returned to find that the cat
had spilled the bowl.
“I will go and fetch a jug, and break my fast,� she
said.

By the time she had brought the jug, the lamp had
gone out. She aimed to drink the water in the dark, but
the jug slipped from her hand and was broken. She
uttered lamentation and sighed so ardently that there
was fear that half of the house would be consumed
with fire.

“O God,� she cried, “what is this that Thou art
doing with Thy helpless servant?�

“Have a care,� a voice came to her ears, “lest thou
desire Me to bestow on thee all worldly blessings, but
eradicate from thy heart the care for Me. Care for Me
and worldly blessings can never be associated together
in a single heart. Rabe’a, thou desirest one thing, and I
desire another; My desire and thy desire can never be
joined in one heart.�

“When I heard this admonition,� Rabe’a related, “I
so cut off my heart from the world and curtailed my
desires that whenever I have prayed during the last thirty
years, I have assumed it to be my last prayer.�



13- A party of men once visited her to put her to the test,
desiring to catch her out in an unguarded utterance.

“All the virtues have been scattered upon the heads
of men,� they said. “The crown of prophethood has
been placed on men’s heads. The belt of nobility has
been fastened around men’s waists. No woman has
ever been a prophet.�

“All that is true,� Rabe’a replied. “But egoism and
self-worship and ‘I am your Lord, the Most High’ have
never sprung from a woman’s breast. No woman has
ever been a hermaphrodite. All these things have been
the specialty of men.�



14- Once Rabe’a fell grievously sick. She was asked what
the cause might be.

“I gazed upon Paradise,� she replied, “and my Lord
disciplined me.�

Then Hasan of Basra went to visit her.

“I saw one of the notables of Basra standing at the
door of Rabe’a’s hermitage offering her a purse of gold
and weeping,� he reported.

“I said, ‘Sir, why are you weeping?’

‘On account of this saintly woman of the age,’ he replied. ‘For if the blessing of her presence departs from among mankind, mankind will surely perish. I brought something for her tending,’ he added, ‘and I am afraid that she will not accept it. Do you intercede with her to take it.’ “

So Hasan entered and spoke. Rabe’a glanced up at
him and said,

“He provides for those who insult Him, and shall He
not provide for those who love Him? Ever since I knew
Him, I have turned my back upon His creatures. I
know not whether any man’s property is lawful or not;
how then can I take it? I stitched together by the light
of a worldly lamp a shirt which I had torn. For a while
my heart was obstructed, until I remembered. Then I
tore the shirt in the place where I had stitched it, and
my heart became dilated. Ask the gentleman pray not
to keep my heart obstructed.�



15-Abd al-Wahed-e Amer relates as follows.
I went with Sofyan-e Thauri to visit Rabe’a when she
was sick, but out of awe for her I could not begin to
address her.

“You say something,� I said to Sofyan.

“If you will say a prayer,� Sofyan said to Rabe’a,
“your pain will be eased.�

“Do you not know who has willed that I should suffer?

Was it not God?� Rabe’a demanded.

“Yes,� Sofyan agreed.

“How is it that you know that,� Rabe’a went on,

“and yet you bid me to request from Him the contrary
of His will? It is not right to oppose one’s
Friend.�

“What thing do you desire, Rabe’a?� Sofyan asked.

“Sofyan, you are a learned man. Why do you speak
like that? ‘What thing do you desire?’ By the glory of
God,� Rabe’a asseverated, “for twelve years now I
have been desiring fresh dates. You know that in Basra
dates are of no consequence. Yet till now I have not
eaten any; for I am His servant, and what business has
a servant to desire? If I wish, and my Lord does not
wish, this would be infidelity. You must want only
what He wishes, to be a true servant of God. If God
himself gives, that is a different matter.�

Sofyan was reduced to silence. Then he said,

“Since one cannot speak about your situation, do
you say something about mine.�

“You are a good man, but for the fact you love the
world,� Rabe’a replied. “You love reciting Traditions.�
This she said, implying that that was a high position.
“Lord God,� cried Sofyan, deeply moved, “be content
with me!�

“Are you not ashamed,� broke in Rabe’a, “to seek
the contentment of One with whom you yourself are
not content?�



16- Malek-e Dinar relates as follows.
I went to visit Rabe’a, and saw her with a broken
pitcher out of which she drank and made her ritual
ablutions, an old reed-mat, and a brick which she occasionally used as a pillow. I was grieved.

“I have rich friends,� I told her. “If you wish, I will
get something from them for you.�

“Malek, you have committed a grievous error,� she
answered. “Is not my Provider and theirs one and the
same?�

“Yes,� I replied.

“And has the Provider of the poor forgotten the poor
on account of their poverty? And does He remember
the rich because of their riches?� she asked.

“No,� I replied.

“Then,� she went on, “since He knows my estate,
how should I remind Him? Such is His will, and I too
wish as He wills.�



17-One day Hasan of Basra, Malek-e Dinar and Shaqiqe
Balkhi went to visit Rabe’a on her sickbed.

“He is not truthful in his claim,� Hasan began,

“who does not bear with fortitude the lash of his
Lord.�

“These words stink of egoism,� Rabe’a commented.

“He is not truthful in his claim,� Shaqiq tried, “who
is not grateful for the lash of his Lord.�

“We need something better than that,� Rabe’a
observed.

“He is not truthful in his claim,� Malek-e Dinar
offered, “who does not take delight in the lash of his
Lord.�

“We need something better than that,� Rabe’a
repeated.
“Then you say,� they urged.

“He is not truthful in his claim,� Rabe’a pronounced,

“who does not forget the lash in contemplation
of his Master.�