Doorkeepr of the Heart: Versions of Rabia -
[A5] Paperback - 96 pages,
by Charles Upton
Published by Pir Press, USA.
Description :
"One day a rich merchant visited Rabi'a
And saw that she was living in a ruin:
So he gave her a thousand pieces of gold
And told her to buy a new house —
But the day she moved in, she became so fascinated
With the beautiful paintings that covered the walls
That she gave the rich man back his money
And went back to live in her ruin — why?
'Because I was mortally afraid
I might fall in love with that house,' said Rabi'a."
This is one of the many stories told about Rabi'a al-Adawiyya, may Allah be pleased with her, (717 - 801CE). who was
a major saint of Islam & one of the central figures in Sufism. She
was born in Basra in ancient Mesopotamia, what is now Iraq. After her
parents died in a famine, she and her sisters were separated. Rabi'a was
captured and sold as a slave. Later on in her life, she was freed by
her master and may have made her living as a flute player at one time.
Rabi'a was known for her devotion to God and her rigorous ascetic
practices.
Translator James Upton, in his introduction to this Sufi
saint and poet makes the following comparison: "If Rumi is the Ocean,
Rabi'a is the Well." The stories about her and the poems have come down
to us through the generations and the grace of Attar, her major
biographer and Imam al-Ghazali, the towering figure who unifies Sufi lore
and orthodox Islam tradition.
There are several edifying and witty pieces in this paperback on prayer. In one, Rabi'a writes :
"O God, take away the words of the devil
That mix with my prayer —
If not, then take my prayer as it is, devil and all."
There are quite a number of stories about the only
miracles that count, namely the gracious and often surprising ways that
God acts in our lives. Here is one:
"One day, when Rabi'a
was about to boil some meat Hasan of Basra
dropped by. "Speech about
divine things is better food than anything
cooked in a pan," she said,
and laid the meat aside.
They talked until evening.
Then they decided to
break their fast. Rabi'a laid out dry bread and
water, and then reached
for the pan. She burnt her hand. The pan was
bubbling over, the meat
cooked. She took it out and served it: it was
the best meat either of
them had ever tasted.
"Good food for convalescents,' Rabi'a said."
Rabi'a's two most famous images are included here. In the first, she states:
"I love God: I have no time left
In which to hate evil."
That's a good one to keep in mind when there is so
much talk about fighting evil ones and overcoming the dark forces which
surround us. The other zeroes in on the same theme:
"I carry a torch in one hand
And a bucket of water in the other:
With these things I am going to set fire to Heaven
And put out the flames of Hell
So that voyagers to God can rip the veils
And see the real goal."
Review by : Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat [Spirituality & Practice].
Width: 140 mm
Height: 210 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
