Rabia of Basra

Rabia of Basra (Arabic: رابعة البصري, romanized: Rābiʿa al-Baṣrī; c. 714, 717 or 718—801 was an Arab Muslim saint and Sufi mystic.

Quotes

I so detached my heart from the world and cut short my hopes that for thirty years now I have performed each prayer as though it were my last and I were praying the prayer of farewell.
- as quoted in Early Islamic Mysticism (New York: Paulist Press: 1996), p. 165

and 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.

I want to put out the fires of Hell, and burn down the rewards of Paradise. They block the way to Allah. I do not want to worship from fear of punishment or for the promise of reward, but simply for the love of Allah.
- as quoted in Farid al-Din Attar, Memorial of the Friends of God (c. 1230, 2009 Translation edited by Losensky).

Love, for Rabia, is the basis of spiritual perfection at all the stages on the journey to God. She teaches to love God for the sake of God.
- p. 29
O my Lord! If I worship Thee on account of the fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship Thee with the hope of Paradise, exclude me from it, but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, then withhold not from me Thine Eternal Beauty.
- p. 29, also quoted in her prayer.
I have not served God for fear of Hell, for I should be like a wretched hireling, If I did it for fear: nor for love of Paradise, for I should be a bad servant if I served for the sake of what was given, but I have served Him only for the love of Him and out of desire for Him.
- p. 29-30
Repentance is attained by the saints with the Divine grace and it comes from the side of God who enlightens the hearts of those whom He loves. Seeking a formal forgiveness is the sin for lying. If I seek repentance of my self, I shall have need of repentance again.
- p. 30
Seclusion is the soul's ideal preparation for reaching God. It is in the state of solitude that the soul contemplates on the attributes of God.
- p. 30
The soul comes from God and it can be united with Him if it is purified through the process of mortification.
- p. 30

Were Women all like those whom here I name,
Woman to man I surely would prefer;
The Sun is feminine, nor deems it shame;
The Moon, though masculine, depends on her.
- Jami, Nafahat al-Uns, as quoted in A Literary History of Persia by E. G. Browne, p. 299.

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Rabia of Basra