Rabiah Al-Adawiyyah was a leader and example of asceticism and closeness to God. She is a spiritual role model who inspires us to worship Allah (SWT) full-heartedly, for His (SWT) pleasure alone. Rabiah was a mystic of slave origin from Basra and often called the first Islamic saint.
She was born between 714 and 718 CE in Basra, Iraq of the Qays tribe. Rabiah grew up in a poor family and lost both her parents in childhood. Later in life, a stranger kidnapped her as a young orphan girl and sold her into slavery.
To preserve her connection with Allah (SWT), Rabiah would fast all day and spend the night in prayer. One night her master woke up from his sleep and saw Rabiah through his bedroom window in prostration making the following dua: “Ya Allah, you know that my heart desires align with Your commands and that the light of my eye is in serving You. If I had the choice, I wouldn’t rest even an hour from serving You, but You have set me under the hand of this creature (her master).”
When her master overheard her plea and witnessed the light radiating around her and throughout her room, he became awestruck and summoned Rabiah in the early morning to grant her freedom.
A few centuries after her death, the great scholar and jurist Imam al-Ghazali in his famous anthology, The Revival of the Islamic Sciences, contemplated upon Rabiah’s thoughts, and experiences. Besides citing some of her well-known poetic verses, Imam al-Ghazali quotes the answer Rabiah gave when asked about Paradise, “First the neighbor, then the house.”
This reply demonstrates that Rabiah desired the Lord of Paradise Himself (SWT), not the pleasures of Paradise. Her primary goal was to please Allah (SWT) and worship Him (SWT) in this world for the sake of His pleasure alone, rather than just focusing on the delights Allah (SWT) has promised us in Paradise.
She is the first to introduce this doctrine of selfless love that countless others have followed by worshipping and fearing Allah (SWT) only for His (SWT) pleasure. Rabiah demonstrated that it’s not sufficient to fulfill our ritual obligatory like prayers by just going through the motions. But highlighted the importance of praying to Allah (SWT) with the same humility and concentration as the Prophet (SWT)-to pray out of complete love and fear of Allah (SWT) and not simply to pray out of requirement.
She accentuated ascetic detachment, renunciation of the world, meditation, love of Allah (SWT) and taught that people should worship Allah (SWT) out of love, instead of the fear of hell or promise of Paradise. Rabiah represents the importance of spiritual excellence regardless of gender and is a historical example of female independence and freedom from male authority.
