Rabia Al Basri In Love (717-801ad) Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Rabia al Basri, a woman of Islam,
Lived in Iraq in 8th century AD
With life surrendered to Allah hu Akbar
As did Andal and Meera to Krishna
Or as did Tereasa of Avila to Christ
With their erotic poetry displaying
Their ardent love for God and their fervent
Longing for blatant union with God.1

There was no oil in house to light a lamp,
Nor a cloth even to wrap her with at home.
Prophet Muhammad appeared in her father's dream
And told him about his newly born daughter.
‘She is a favourite of the Lord,
And shall lead many Muslims to the right path.'
She underwent famine, robbers' custody
And slavery at young age with parents gone.2

The master heard his slave Rabia's prayer
And its intensity in the middle of a night,
And released her from the bondage of labour.
Since then began her spiritual journey.
She remained celibate and died of old age;
She was the first female Sufi mystics,
And the one who first set forth the doctrine
of Divine Love and cried in love of God.3

‘If I adore You out of fear of Hell,
Burn me in Hell!
If I adore you out of desire for Paradise,
Lock me out of Paradise.'
‘But in the love which is worthy of Thee,
Thou dost raise the veil that I may see Thee.
Yet is the praise not mine in this or that,
But the praise is to Thee in both that and this.' 4

Rabia al Basri pours her love for Him,
"And my beloved is with me always,
For His love I find no substitute
And His love is the test for me among mortal beings."
"Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours are the hours I spend with You -
O Allah, I can't live without remembering You—" 5

‘With my Beloved I alone have been,
When secrets tenderer than evening airs
Passed, and the vision blestwas granted
To my prayers, that crowned me, else obscure.'
‘Between His Beauty and His Majesty,
Amazing I stood in silent ecstasy;
Revealing that which o'er my spirit went and came.
Charm and grace are commingled in his face.' 6

‘The doors of Kings are bolted and guarded (by soldiers.)
Your Door is open to all who call upon You.
Each love is now alone with his beloved.
And I am alone with You. My Lord.' said she..
Only Allah knows the inner meaning of the maidens.
I have separated myself from all beings,
My hope is for union with Thee,
For that is the goal of my desire.' 7

‘My peace, O my brothers and sisters, is my solitude,
And my Beloved is with me always,
For His love I can find no substitute,
And His love is the test for me among mortal beings,
In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.
Speech is born out of longing, The real taste.:
The one who tastes, knows; the one who explains, lies.'
whoever loves a thing mentions it frequently."8
Nov.,2020
(Rābiʻa is said to have been born between 714 and 718 CE in Basra, [1] Iraq, of the Qays tribe.[4] Much of her early life has been recounted by Farid ud-Din Attar, a later Sufi saint and poet.)