The early woman mystic of Basra who taught the love of God for God's own sake — a founder of the Sufi ideal of pure, disinterested devotion.
Life
Tradition holds that Rabia was born poor in Basra around 717, sold into slavery as a child and later freed, and lived a life of extreme asceticism and prayer, refusing marriage to devote herself wholly to God. She became a revered teacher and died in Basra in 801.
Struggles & Trials
Her early life, as the tradition tells it, was one of slavery and hardship; her later struggle was the ascetic's — the renunciation of all worldly attachment, including marriage and comfort, for undivided devotion.
Teachings & Character
Rabia is remembered for teaching love of God untainted by hope of paradise or fear of hell — famously wishing to burn paradise and quench hell so that God might be loved for Himself alone. Her sayings and prayers are classics of the Sufi ideal of pure love (mahabba).
Campaigns & Conflicts
Rabia was an ascetic and mystic wholly withdrawn from worldly affairs, let alone war; her only "battle" was the inner struggle (jihad al-nafs) against the self and its desires.
Contested & Debated
As with many early Sufis, the historical Rabia is hard to separate from the devotional traditions that grew around her; the sayings and stories attributed to her come largely through later Sufi literature such as Attar's hagiography. Scholars note the legend outstrips the documentation.
Legacy
Rabia stands at the fountainhead of the Sufi tradition of divine love and is one of the most venerated women in Islamic spirituality, her sayings quoted across the centuries. She helped turn Sufism from mere asceticism toward the mysticism of love.