Rabia (Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya): O my Lord, if I worship you

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O my Lord, if I worship you

by Rabia (Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya)
(717 - 801) Timeline

English version by
Charles Upton

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

O my Lord,

if I worship you
from fear of hell, burn me in hell.

If I worship you
from hope of Paradise, bar me from its gates.

But if I worship you
for yourself alone, grant me then the beauty of your Face.

-- from Doorkeeper of the Heart: Versions of Rabia, Translated by Charles Upton

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/ Photo by BohPhoto /

Themes

Fire

Recommended Books

	Doorkeeper of the Heart: Versions of Rabia, Translated by Charles Upton
	Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Quran, Miraj, Poetic and Theological Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Michael A. Sells
	First Among Sufis: The Life and Thought of Rabia Al-Adawiyya, the Woman Saint of Basra, by Widad El Sakkakini
	Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
	Muslim Women Mystics: The Life and Work of Rabi'a and Other Women Mystics in Islam, by Margaret Smith

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This poem is a truly courageous prayer. It is fierce in its renunciation of false worship. In it Rabia demands of herself genuine worship, which she rightly defines as love of God for God alone -- not for what the individual can "get" from God. Even the attainment of heaven or the avoidance of hell can become to the mind like possessions, something desired, something avoided, ultimately drawing the attention away from the radiant Divine Face everywhere.

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