II. Rabi’a’s Choice of Celibacy Her Associates

Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya received many offers of marriage, but rejected them all, feeling that in the celibate life only could she pursue her quest unhindered. Among those who sought her hand in marriage was ‘Abd al-Wahid b. Zayd, who was renowned for his asceticism and the sanctity of his life, a theologian and a preacher and an advocate of solitude for those who sought the way to God; the reputed writer of verses declaring that The Ways are various, the Way to the Truth is one, Those who travel on the way of Truth must keep themselves apart. He was the founder of one of the first monastic communities near Başra, and died in A.D. 793. Rabi’a did not welcome his offer but shunned him with the greatest loathing, and said to him, “O sensual one, seek another sensual like thyself. Hast thou seen any sign of desire in me?” Another who sought her hand was Muhammad b. Sulayman al-Hashimi, the ‘Abbāsid Amir of Başra from A.H. 145, who died in A.H. 172. He offered a dowry of a hundred thousand dīnārs and wrote to Rabi’a that he had an income of ten thousand dīnārs a month and that he would bestow it all on her, but she wrote back, “It does not please me that you should be my slave and that all you possess should be mine, or that you should distract me from God for a single moment”.^1,2,3

Another account of this offer says that the governor wrote to the people of Başra asking them to find him a wife, and they agreed upon Rabi’a, and when he wrote to her expressing his wishes, her reply was as follows: Renunciation of this world means peace, while desire for it brings sorrow. Curb your desires and control yourself and do not let others control you, but let them share your inheritance and the anxiety of the age. As for yourself, give your mind to the day of death; but as for me, God can give me all you offer and even double it. It does not please me to be distracted from Him for a single moment. So farewell. Another story tells how Hasan of Başra, with whom the legends persistently associate her (though he died more than seventy years before her death), and others are also said to have come to Rabi’a, urging her to take a husband, and to choose from among the Sufis of Başra whom she would. She replied, “Yes, willingly. Who is the most learned of you, that I may marry him?” They said, “Hasan of Başra”, so she said to him, “If you can give me the answer to four questions, I will be your wife”. He said, “Ask, and if God permit, I will answer you”. She said then, “What will the Judge of the world say when I die? That I have come out of the world a Muslim or an unbeliever?” Hasan answered, “This is among the hidden things, which are known only to God Most High”. Then she said, “When I am put in the grave and Munkar and Nakīr question me, shall I be able to answer them (satisfactorily) or not?” He replied, “This also is hidden”.^4,5,6

She said next, “When the people are assembled at the Resurrection and the books are distributed, and some are given their book in the right hand and some in the left, shall I be given mine in my right hand or my left?” He could only say, “This also is among the hidden things ”. Finally she asked,” When mankind is summoned (on the Day of Judgment), some to Paradise and some to Hell, in which of the two groups shall I be? “He answered as before,” This, too, is hidden, and none knows what is hidden save God, His is the glory and majesty “. Then she said to him,” Since this is so, and I have these four questions with which to concern myself, how should I need a husband, with whom to be occupied? “She is said to have emphasised her refusal with the following beautiful lines, but they cannot be attributed to her with any certainty: My peace, O my brothers, is in solitude, And my Beloved is with me alway, For His love I can find no substitute, And His love is the test for me among mortal beings, When-e’er His Beauty I may contemplate, He is my” mihrab “, towards Him is my” qibla “If I die of love, before completing satisfaction, Alas, for my anxiety in the world, alas for my distress, O Healer (of souls) the heart feeds upon its desire, The striving after union with Thee has healed my soul, O my Joy and my Life abidingly, Thou wast the source of my life and from Thee also came my ecstasy. I have separated myself from all created beings, My hope is for union with Thee, for that is the goal of my desire.^7,8

This story is given in more than one account, and though chronologically it is almost impossible that Hasan of Başra should be the suitor in the case, it is possible that it refers to some other offer of marriage. Another legend also gives an account of an offer said to have been made by Hasan of Başra, in which the same feeling is evident in Rabi’a’s answer. Hasan is reputed to have said, “I desire that we should marry and be betrothed”. Her reply was: The contract of marriage is for those who have a phenomenal existence (i.e. who are concerned with the affairs of this material world). Here (i.e. in my case) existence has ceased, since I have ceased to exist and have passed out of Self. My existence is in Him, and I am altogether His. I am in the shadow of His command. The marriage contract must be asked for from Him, not from me. So, like her Christian sisters in the life of sanctity, Rabi’a espoused a heavenly Bridegroom and turned her back on earthly marriage even with one of her own intimates and companions on the Way. Rabi’a had many disciples and associates, who resorted to her house day and night to seek her counsel or her prayers or to listen to her teaching. As already stated, her biographers constantly associate her with Hasan of Başra, whom they portray as her disciple and follower, though he must have been so much her senior. Either her name has been introduced into anecdotes relating to Hasan, or else Hasan’s name has been substituted for that of one of her own contemporaries in anecdotes which relate to her. Hasan of Başra was one of the earliest Sufis, a saint who took the gloomiest view of life, both in this world and the next, and whose faith was overshadowed by the fear of Hell to such an extent that he even envied the man who would be saved after a thousand years in Hell, and said, “Would⁹ that I were like this man “. Hasan was a learned man, eloquent and a great preacher of sermons. He was strict in ritual observances and constantly under the influence of godly sorrow. He was the author of a number of works of a theological nature, and his opinions on Sufi doctrine carried great weight with those who came after him. He died in A.D. 728. ‘Attār states that if Rabi’a were not present in Hasan’s assembly, he left the assembly at once. The same writer relates that Hasan of Başra said about his relationship with Rabi’a, “ I passed one whole night and day with Rabi’a speaking of the Way and the Truth, and it never passed through my mind that I was a man nor did it occur to her that she was a woman, and at the end when I looked at her, I saw myself a bankrupt [ i.e. spiritually worth nothing ], and Rabi’a as truly sincere”. Again, he tells a story of how once Rabi’a was passing Hasan’s house and Hasan had his head out of the window and was weeping; and his tears fell on to Rabi’a’s garment. She looked up, thinking it was not rain, and when she was certain that it was Hasan’s tears, she at once came to him, and said, “O teacher, this weeping is from pride of self; rather weep tears (as a result) of looking into your heart, that within thee they may become a river such that within that river you will not by searching find your heart again unless you find it in the Lord of Might”. Hasan, who had a sufficient opinion of himself, found that a hard saying and was silent. Another ascetic with whom she is associated, and in^{10,11,12,13,14,15,16} this case with great probability, since he was both her contemporary and also of the same school of thought, is Rabah al-Qays of Başra, who died in A.D. 810. A modern writer, associating him with Rabi’a, says, “With these two ascetics, both of the school of Başra, the quest of the ascetic life leads to mystic states already differentiated and brings up delicate problems of casuistry and dogma”. He introduced ideas of the glorious light of God (tajalli), of the Divine friendship (Khulla) and of the superiority of the saint over the prophet. In the moral life, he advocated chastity, repentance and acts of piety. Abū Nu’aym gives an anecdote which shews how her associates depended upon Rabi’a’s help when faced with a difficult problem. He says that Rabah relates it thus: I came to Abrad b. Dirar of the Bani Sa’d and he said to me, “Are the days and nights long to you?” and I said, “Why?” He said, “Because of your desire to meet God”. Rabah said, “I was silent and said nothing until I came to Rabi’a and said, ‘Veil yourself with your garment, for al-Abrad has asked me a question and I could say nothing in answer to it”. She said, “What did he ask you?” I said to her, “He said to me, ‘Are the days and nights long to you from your desire to meet God?” Rabi’a said to me, “And what did you say?” I said, “I did not say ‘Yes ’, lest I should tell a lie, and I did not say ‘No ’, lest I should debase his soul”. I heard the rending of her chemise under her cloak as she said, “My answer is ‘Yes ’”. Abū Nu’aym is also the source of a story related by Abū Bakr al-Sarrāj about Rabah and Rabi’a: Abū Ma’mur ‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr said: “I saw Rabi’a with Rabah al-Qays and he was kissing a boy belonging to his family and^17,18,19 embracing him and she said, ‘Do you love him, O Rabah? ‘He said, ‘Yes ’, and she said, ‘I did not suppose there was room in your heart for loving any but God ’. Rabah cried out and fell in a swoon; when he recovered, he wiped the sweat from his brow and said, ‘Compassion is from God Most High and He has put it into the hearts of his servants towards little children “. Sufyan al-Thawri appears in all the biographies of Rabi’a as a very intimate friend and a constant visitor at her house, and much of the teaching attributed to her was the result of his questions or of conversation with him. He was born at Kufa in A.H. 95 (= A.D. 713-14) and died in A.D. 778; he was therefore contemporary with Rabi’a and it is reasonable to suppose that he would come into contact with her. He was a great authority on the Traditions, and Rabi’a appears to have taken him to task more than once for his devotion to them. Abū Tālib relates in this connection that Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya used to say of al-Thawri,” Yes, Sufyan would be a (good) man, if he did not love the Traditions “, and she used to say,” The seductive power of the Traditions is stronger than the enticement of property and children “(i.e. the study of the Traditions distracted him from the life with God even more than worldly possessions would have done), and she said once,” If only Sufyan did not love this world, that is to say the gathering of people round him for (discourse on) the Traditions, what a good thing it would be “. The same writer relates how one day Sufyan alThawrī said in Rabi’a’s presence,” O God, mayst Thou be satisfied with us! “and she said,” Are you not ashamed before God to ask Him to be satisfied when you are not satisfied with Him? “and he said,” I ask forgiveness from God “.^20,21,22,23

Again Sufyan, who seems to have been somewhat of a poseur, or at least anxious to provoke Rabi’a to retaliation, said to her, “Alas, for my sorrow! (for my sins)”, but she rejoined, “Do not lie, but say rather, ‘Alas, for my lack of sorrow ’, and if you were truly sorrowful, life would have no delight for you ”. That her intercession was valued even in her lifetime by her disciples, is proved by an account of a man who said to Rabi’a,” Pray for me “, and she said,” Who am I? Obey your Lord and pray to Him, for He will answer the suppliant when he prays “. More than one episode, of doubtful authenticity, connects Rabi’a with the great Egyptian Sufi Dhū al-Nūn al-Mişrī, one of the chief exponents of the Sufi doctrine and especially the doctrine of the heavenly gnosis (ma’rifa) derived from spiritual experience, not from acquired learning. He elaborates the Sufi conception of Unification (= tawhid) and employs for the love of God to the saint and the saint’s love to Him, the term which Rabi’a also used (bubb). He died in A.D. 856 and therefore survived Rabi’a for nearly half a century. It is quite possible, however, that he may have met her in his early years. There is a story connecting the two which has a good deal of interest, related by Sa’d b. ‘Uthman, who says, I was with Dhū al-Nūn the Egyptian… and behold, someone arrived and I said,” O teacher, someone has come “, and he said to me,” See who it is, for no one sets foot in this place, except my friends “, and I looked and lo, it was a woman, and I said,” It is a woman “, and he said,” She is a friend, by the Lord of the Ka’ba “, then he ran up to her and greeted her… and said,” I am your brother Dhū al-Nun and there is no one present (i.e. no strangers) “, and she said,” May God welcome^24,25,26 your soul in peace “. Then he said,” What led you to enter this place? “and she said,” A verse from the book of God… His most exalted Word says, ‘Is not God’s earth wide? Therefore wander about in it “. Then he said to her:” Expound Love to me “, and she said,” Praise be to God, for you speak with the tongue of knowledge and (yet) you ask me about it “. He said to her,” The asker has a right to an answer “. Then she is said to have recited her famous verses on the two types of love to God. Another of her contemporaries and acquaintances was ‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. Sulaymān Abū al-Rasībī of Başra, who died in A.H. 150 (= A.D. 767), an ascetic and devotee whom Rabi’a called” The Chief of the Devotees “(Sayyid al-‘Abadin). Others mentioned as visitors to her house who came to discuss problems with her, were Şalih b. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz and Kilāb b. Harī, the latter a Sufi Shi’ite. More than one story associates Rabi’a with Malik b. Dīnār, a very well known ascetic, who was one of the disciples of Hasan al-Başrī. As he died in A.H. 128 (= A.D. 745) Rabi’a can have known him only in her youth. It was chiefly among men that Rabi’a found her disciples and friends, we hear less of her association with women. Among her companions who were evidently of her own kinsfolk we hear of Mu’adha al-‘Adawiyya, a famous woman ascetic, and Layla al-Qaysiyya. Rabi’a’s name is often connected with that of Umm al-Darda, but the latter must have been considerably^{27,28,29,30,31,32} older than Rabi’a. We are given the names of two of her servants, who were themselves pious and devout women. One of these was Mariam of Başra, a devotee and ascetic who loved Rabi’a greatly and became her servant, and survived her for some time. She used to listen to and take part in discussions on Love and was so deeply moved thereby that she would at times lose consciousness. On one occasion she was in the assembly (of the Sufis) when they were speaking of Love, and the effect on her was so great that she yielded up her soul, there in the assembly. Among her sayings was this, “I have not concerned myself with my daily bread, nor wearied myself in seeking it since I heard this verse from the Word of God, ‘In Heaven is your provision and what has been promised to you”. The other was ‘Abda bint Shuwal, who is described as herself one of the virtuous handmaids of God Most High, of whom several stories are told in connection with her service to Rabi’a and who was with Rabi’a at the time of the latter’s death. The anecdotes related in this chapter shew that Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya associated on equal terms with the Sufi leaders of her day, and her biographers, in despite of the Oriental preference for the male sex and belief in its essential superiority, are prepared to grant to Rabi’a a position of equality with, even of pre-eminence above her contemporaries, including those who were accepted as leaders of thought and revered teachers of the Sufi doctrine.³³