Basra, Iraq·c. 717 – 801
رابعة العدوية
Rabia al-Adawiyya
The Mother of Sufi Love
She loved God with a love that had no room for fear or hope.
“O God, if I worship You from fear of Hell, burn me in Hell. If I worship You from hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship You for Your own sake, do not withhold from me Your Eternal Beauty.”
Life
Rabia al-Adawiyya was born around 717 in Basra, Iraq, the fourth daughter of a poor family (Rabia means “fourth”). Orphaned as a child, she was captured by raiders and sold into slavery. According to tradition, her master witnessed her praying one night surrounded by a light that illuminated the entire house, and freed her.
She withdrew into a life of devotion, spending years in the desert near Basra in solitary prayer. She never married, famously telling suitors that she had no room in her heart for anyone but God. She attracted disciples and was sought out by the leading Sufis of her time, including Hasan al-Basri, whom she regularly challenged with the sharpness of her insight.
Her revolutionary contribution was to introduce the concept of pure, selfless love (ishq) into Islamic mysticism. Before Rabia, Sufi piety was largely characterized by asceticism and fear of God. She transformed Sufism into a path of love. She died around 801 in Basra.
One Heart
“O God, if I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell. If I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship You for Your own sake, grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty.”
Teachings
Love Without Motive
God must be loved purely, for God’s own sake — not from fear of punishment or desire for reward. Any worship motivated by self-interest is not true worship.
The Fire and the Water
Rabia famously walked through the streets carrying a torch and a bucket of water, saying she wanted to set fire to Paradise and douse the flames of Hell, so that people would worship God for God alone. This is devotion stripped to its essence.
The Beloved as the Only Reality
In Rabia’s vision, the mystic’s heart has room for one thing only: God. All other attachments — even attachment to spiritual attainment — must be consumed by the fire of pure love.
Works & Publications
Poems and Prayers
Rabia left no written works. Her teachings survive in poems, prayers, and dialogues recorded by later writers, especially Farid ud-Din Attar.
Recorded Dialogues
Sharp, often humorous exchanges with contemporary Sufis, preserved in hagiographic texts like Attar’s Tadhkirat al-Awliya.
An Inspiration
Rabia’s teaching on love without motive is the purest expression of nishkama bhakti — selfless devotion. Her fire-and-water parable echoes the Gita’s teaching that the wise act without attachment to results.