Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya (Rābiʿa bint Ismāʿīl al-ʿAdawiyya al-Baṣriyya) was born around 713 CE in Basra, in present-day Iraq, during a time when the Islamic civilization was rapidly expanding and spiritual pursuit became a central part of believers’ lives. She was the fourth child of a poor but pious family, and her name Rābiʿa literally means “the fourth.”
After the death of her parents, Rābiʿa was sold into slavery as a young girl. During this difficult period, her exceptional spiritual nature began to manifest — her master is said to have once seen her praying at night surrounded by light, and he immediately set her free. From that moment on, she devoted her entire life to the worship of Allah alone.
Rābiʿa never established a formal school nor had students in the traditional sense, yet scholars and devout seekers from many regions came to learn from her wisdom. Among those who admired her deeply were Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 728), Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 778), and Mālik ibn Dīnār (d. 748). One contemporary famously said of her: “She surpassed the men of her age just as the day surpasses the night.”
Her message was both simple and revolutionary: love for Allah should be unconditional, not motivated by hope for reward or fear of punishment. In one of her most famous prayers, she said:
“O Allah, if I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in it. If I worship You for hope of Paradise, exclude me from it. But if I worship You for Your own sake, do not withhold from me the beauty of Your eternal presence.”
Many stories about her life have been preserved. One tells how she once walked through the streets of Basra carrying a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. When asked why, she replied: “I want to burn Paradise and extinguish Hell so that people will love Allah not out of desire or fear, but for His sake alone.”
Rābiʿa died around 801 CE and was buried in Basra, although some traditions place her tomb in Jerusalem. Her legacy is recorded in some of the most important works of classical Islamic literature, including al-Risāla by Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī and Tadhkirat al-Awliyāʾ (“Memoirs of the Saints”) by Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār.
Although she did not live a long life nor hold an official religious position, her voice never faded. It was the voice of a woman who loved Allah not for what He could give her, but for who He is — and it is precisely this purity of love that makes her one of the most revered spiritual figures in Islamic tradition.
