Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya: “The Woman Who Must Be Heard”

by Ilse Eskelsen

There’s little we can say definitively about Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya. As Chase F. Robinson wrote, “There are as many versions of Rabia’s hagiographic persona as there are accounts of her.” 1 Here are the facts: she was born sometime around 717 CE in Basra, in modern-day Iraq. She was a Sunni Muslim ascetic who taught ethics, denied herself the world’s comforts, and exulted in God’s love. 2 She may have been a Sufi, as she has often been described, but evidence is limited. 3 She may have written some of the poems and sayings now attributed to her, but it’s impossible to be sure. 4 We can be sure, however, or almost sure, that Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya commanded respect. 5 She was honored in her clan and her community 6 for her asceticism, Shari’a knowledge, and teaching–including teaching that came from her own opinions rather than outside sources. 7 Accordingly, she is called, by one early biographer, Rabi‘a al-Musma‘iyya: “Rabi‘a the Woman Who Must Be Heard.” 8

Rabi‘a was heard, as a preacher, possibly sharing poetry and definitely sharing wisdom, including her doctrine of divine love. 9 She believed not only that God loved people but that people should love God, and that love, rather than concerns about the afterlife, should be their motivation for living a pious life. In one poem attributed to her, she writes, “O Lord, should I worship you for fear of punishment, then burn me in hellfire. Should I worship you for reward, then keep me out of Paradise. But I worship you only for you. So, do not withhold from me your Eternal Beauty.” 10 She is often pictured with a bucket of water in one hand and a torch as a reflection of this idea: to change people’s motivations from an eternal reward to a relationship with God, she would put out hellfire and set heaven ablaze. 11

In many stories, Hossein Kamaly writes, her love for God is “passionate.” 12 She refers to him as “my Beloved” 13 and craves his presence: “I hope you will remove all veils,” she writes, “that I may see you.” 14 Though scholar Rkia Elaroui Cornell argues that the role of love mysticism in Rabi‘a teachings has likely been overstated, 15 it was still part of her belief system. And while “passion” may not have been the most accurate term for the historical Rabi‘a’s feelings about God, in various sources her “yearning for him” motivates her religiosity, 16 and she claims in one that “the fruit of true knowledge… is constant orientation toward God.” 17 Passionate or not, she was a devoted seeker of Deity, and this devotion prompted her famous asceticism.

Rabi‘a was a connecting link in a long chain of ascetic women, from predecessors a hundred years before her birth to students like Maryam of Basra. 18 She may have even been a member of a “school” for female ascetics seeking closeness to God through poverty and self-denial. 19 For these women, asceticism indicated humility and a refusal to obsess over worldly pursuits. 20 Rabi‘a says, in one source, that she draws close to God “by leaving aside all that does not concern me and by cleaving to Him who always is.” 21 In other words, for Rabi‘a and her peers, the comforts of life are not necessarily evil, but they are irrelevant when compared to the comfort of a connection to the divine. She is critical of the distractions caused by the physical body in another story: “You were told to purify your soul,” she tells a visitor, “but you are always filling your body. You must always respect the inner… yet you only serve the outer.” 22 To satisfy the physical is often to deny the spiritual, in Rabi‘a's view. Spiritual satisfaction, by contrast, comes from sacrifice. This includes, for Rabi‘a, celibacy. 23 She argues that her relationship with God is an “obligation” that makes fulfilling another “obligation,” marriage, impossible. 24 For her to be truly close to Him, she has to be free of distractions, and that includes a husband. 

Rabi‘a al-’Adawiyya is, ultimately, a mythic figure. 25 Her first dedicated biography appeared approximately four centuries after her death, 26 and depictions vary too widely to make firm conclusions. Still, for the past millennia, Rabi‘a has been an awe-inspiring icon for the Muslim world as a teacher, a poet, and a self-sacrificial lover of God. 27 Even now, even with our limited understanding of her life, Rabi‘a remains “the Woman Who Must Be Heard.”

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Footnotes

1 Chase F. Robinson, Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives: The First 1,000 Years (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2016), quoted in Hossein Kamaly, A History of Islam in 21 Women (London: Oneworld Publications, 2020), 45.

2  Kamaly, History, 40, 43; Rkia Elaroui Cornell, Rabi‘a from Narrative to Myth: The Many Faces of Islam’s Most Famous Woman Saint, Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya (London: Oneworld Academic, 2019), 372.

3 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 372.

4 Kamaly, History, 44.

5  Cornell, Rabi‘a, 57.

6 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 47.

7 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 74, 255, 57.

8 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 57.

9 Kamaly, History, 42.

10 Kamaly, History, 43.

11 Kamaly, History, 43.

12 Kamaly, History, 42.

13 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 40.

14 Kamaly, History, 42.

15 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 150.

16 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 145.

17 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 213.

18 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 3, 44.

19 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 122.

20 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 144.

21 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 144.

22 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 100.

23 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 53.

24 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 53.

25 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 4.

26 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 12.

27 Cornell, Rabi‘a, 372.