Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya

[Goswin_van_Eyck]

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. These traditions come down to us from the writings of Faridu d-Din 'Attar (d.1230), who said that he was using earlier written sources. 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.

http://home.infionline.net/~ddisse/rabia.html

More about her life and ideas:

http://www.mythinglinks.org/NearEas...slam~Rabia.html

http://www.sufimaster.org/adawiyya.htm

Rabi'a continued the Heathen Arabian tradition of female poetry, which would cease to exist when Islam grew more potent and made a turn for literalist rigidity and persecute crypto-heathen elements within Islam.