First Among Sufis

First Among Sufis : The Life and Thought of Rabia Al-Adawiyya, the Woman Saint of Basra -  Born in Basra in the 8th century of an impoverished family, orphaned and sold into slavery, Rabia al-Adawiyya, may Allah be pleased with her, rose to become one of the greatest Sufi teachers.

 

 

An extraordinary kaleidoscope of myth and reality, of imagination and fact... is it not of importance that a woman of such stature and independence of mind existed so early in the story of Islam, to show what women could be, and how they could be regarded?

Introduction by Doris Lessing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents :

 

---Introduction,

 

---[1] The star of Rabia al-Adawiyya,

 

---[2]. The City of Basra,

 

---[3]. The time of Rabia,

 

---[4]. Among the God-intoxicated Men and Women,

 

---[5]. Rabia makes the Pilgrimage,

 

---[6]. From an Ascetic into a Sufi,

 

---[7]. The Loving of God,

 

---[8]. From Slave to Holy Woman,

 

---[9]. Rabia's End.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Sufi Women,

Also see Sufism : Homepage.

 

 

 

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Dimensions : 21.5 x 13.5cm (approx).

 

**Off-mint condition due to age. 2009 print.