MATHETΩN

“Once, her master woke in the middle of the night to hear Rabia praying in these terms:

” ‘O light of my eyes! Thou knowest well that my keen desire is to carry out Thy commandments and to serve Thee with all my heart. But what can I do when Thou hast made me the slave of a human being?’

“In the morning he called her and told her his decision that, thenceforward, he would serve her, or, if she insisted on leaving, he was willing to free her from bondage.

“Rabia went into the desert to pray. There, she did not learn from a teacher but turned to God himself. …

“As news of her grew, she had many followers. She also had many discussions with the religious leaders of her time. And she had offers of marriage, one even from a king, but she had no time for anything but God. …

“She taught that God must be served for love of Himself and not for fear of hell. She once sang:

” ‘O my God! If I worship Thee for fear of hell, burn me in hell;
If I worship Thee from hope of paradise, bar me from paradise.
But if I worship Thee for Thine own sake,
Grudge me not Thy everlasting Beauty.’

“Rabia was in her mid-eighties when she died; by then, she felt continually united to her Lord. As she told her friends, ‘My Beloved is always with me.’ “