Rabia of Basra
Eighth-century Iraqi Sufi mystic and poet whose teaching of mahabba — pure, disinterested love of God 'for God's sake alone, not for fear of hell or hope of heaven' — became one of the foundational threads of Islamic mysticism and influenced every later Sufi master. Born around 717 CE in Basra (modern-day Iraq), she was orphaned young, sold into slavery, and (according to traditional accounts) freed by her master after he witnessed her in nightlong prayer surrounded by light. She lived the rest of her life in voluntary poverty, refusing all marriage offers (including from the great Hasan al-Basri), eating little, sleeping less, and pouring her life into love of God. She died around 801 CE in Basra. Her poetic prayers and sayings, preserved in collections by later Sufi biographers (notably Farid al-Din Attar in the Memorial of the Friends of God), have been translated and re-translated across twelve centuries — and remain among the most-quoted texts on the love of God in any tradition.
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Quotes by Rabia of Basra
107 quotes“But if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, withhold not Thine everlasting beauty.”
“This is the prayer that defines my life.”
“I love God: I have no time left in which to hate the devil.”
“What I have to do is so much more important than what others do.”
“All my life I have been knocking on the door of the Beloved.”
“Now the door is open and I see that I have been the door all along.”
“I am the lover and the Beloved, the seeker and the sought.”
“There is no longer the slightest separation between us.”
“My God, my whole occupation and all my desire in this world is to remember Thee.”
“My whole occupation in the next world is to meet Thee.”
“This is on my side. As for Thy side, do as Thou wilt.”
“O God, if I am only a poor servant — Thou art God.”
“If Thou art God, then Thou must be patient with me.”
“Reveal what I cannot see. Forgive what I cannot bear.”
“This is the prayer of the unworthy lover.”
“O Lord, the stars are shining, the eyes of men are closed, kings have shut their doors, and every lover is alone with his beloved.”
“Here am I alone with Thee.”
“O Lord, when the heart is full of Thee, what room is left for anything else?”
“O God, if I worship Thee in fear of hell, burn me in hell.”
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