(d. AD 801; AH 185)
One of the first mystic poets whose work has come down to us is Rabiya al-Adawiyyah of Basra. Many of the poems attributed to her have not been authenticated, but she is highly regarded as a foremost mystic. Born into a poor family, she became a follower of the famous Sufi Hassan of Basra.
She was noted for her absolute asceticism and many legends are told about her life, often citing her devout nature and absorption in God. More interesting than her asceticism, however, is Rabia’s concept of divine love. She was the first to introduce the idea that God should be loved for His own sake and not out of fear, as the earlier Sufis had taught.
Your prayers were Light
And your worship peaceful,
Your sleep an enemy of prayer.
Your life was a test, but you let
It go by without a thought.
It’s ever-passing, slowly vanishes
Before you know it.
You have infused my being
Through and through,
As an intimate friend must
Always do.
So when I speak I speak of only You
And when silent, I yearn for You.
O Lord, if I worship You
Because of fear of hell
Then burn me in hell.
If I worship You
Because I desire paradise
Then exclude me from paradise.
But if I worship You
For Yourself alone
Then deny me not
Your eternal beauty.
Two loves I give Thee: love that yearns
And love because Thy due is love.
My yearning my remembrance turns to
Thee, nor lets it from Thee rove.
Thou hast Thy due whene’er it please Thee
To lift the veils for me to see Thee. Praise is
Not mine in this, nor yet in that, but Thine in this and that.
Martin Lings
Brethren, my rest is in my solitude,
And my Beloved is ever in my presence.
Nothing for me will do but love of Him;
By love of Him I am tested in this world.
Whereso I be I contemplate His beauty;
He is my prayer-niche; He mine orient is.
Died I of love and found not His acceptance,
Of mankind I most wretched, woe were me!
Heart’s mediciner, Thou All of longing, grant
Union with Thee; ’twill cure me to the depth.
O Thou, ever my joy, my life, from Thee
Is mine existence and mine ecstasy.
From all creation I have turned away
For union with Thee mine utmost end.
Martin Lings
I could not move against this wind if I did not pray.
And all that is said of me that is untrue
would make lame my gait if I
could not free myself from
the weight of other’s
malice.
I could not move against all His light
if I did not
pray.
See how things become: what a change
can happen, when we find a way
to keep Him
close.
Daniel Ladinsky
In
my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church
where I kneel.
Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist.
Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is
illumined nothing,
where ecstasy gets poured into itself
and becomes
lost,
where the wing is fully alive
but has no mind or
body?
In
my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque,
a church
that dissolve, that
dissolve in
God.
Daniel Ladinsky