Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya al-Qaysiyya

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Representation of Rabia in a Persian miniature .

Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya al-Qaisiyya ( Arabic رابعة العدوية القيسية, DMG Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya al-Qaysiyya , * 714, 717 or 718 in Basra ; † 801 ibid.) Was a legendary Islamic mystic and saint who is considered one of the first Sufists . Their name is often found in the Europeanized form Rabia von Basra or in the Egyptian-Arabic form Rabaa El-Adaweya .

Life

The known life dates were compiled from many different hagiographic sources. Separating the facts from the legends is difficult. However, historical key data can be recorded. Rābiʿa was born in Basra during the Abbasid era and most likely influenced by her socio-religious milieu . The head of the Islamic School for Social Education in Vienna, Zeynep Elibol, refers to the fact that Rābiʿa lived as an orphan and a slave . Back then, Basra housed a school for female ascetics at a time when asceticism was growing in popularity. Basra was also the home of the renowned ascetic al-Hasan al-Basrī , with whom Rābiʿa is often associated in the legends, but whom she probably never met. On the other hand, there is no reason to doubt the story of her contemporary al-Jahiz , according to which she was associated with other mystics and led an ascetic way of life. According to some sources, Rābiʿa was a slave of the al-Atik clan until her master gave her freedom when he recognized her great spiritual abilities, after which she devoted her life to constant worship of her God.

Teaching

Rabia's best-known teaching is the mystical love and friendship with God . Every true lover seeks intimacy with his beloved, as does the true believer with God. In doing so, she distinguishes between an egoistic and short-term love for God, just to receive his favor, and a love worthy and lasting, namely the love of God's beauty. Like all Sufis, she ultimately sought unity with the divine ( an-nafs as-safiya ). Love (ḥubb) is for God only, not his prophets and no other religious symbols. God should be loved because of himself, not because of the fear of hell and the desire for paradise. Herein lies the innovation of Rābiʿa, which became the standard for later Sufism.

Works

There are some poetic works attributed to Rabia, but many of them are of unknown origin. She left no written documents, most of the stories about her have come down to us based on the literary works of the famous Sufi Fariduddin Attar (* approx. 1136; † approx. 1220).

influence

Over the centuries, the character of Rābiʿa has been constructed and reinterpreted in various ways as each narrator has shaped and reshaped her legacy. In the Islamic world, Rabia's legendary life gave birth to many romanticizing biographies. Some of their sayings were commented on by al-Ghazālī . She is particularly popular in Sufi circles, where her teachings also had a significant influence. As early as the Middle Ages, some legends about them were spread in Christian Europe.

The tales of al-Jahiz portrayed a self-limiting ascetic who was known to renounce all worldly things. Accordingly, her love was for her God alone. So she wanted to live celibate and not be distracted by the promise of paradise or the fear of fire (Arabic: al-nar as a metaphor for hell ).

The Persian mystic Fariduddin Attar described Rābiʿa nearly four centuries later as possessing supernatural powers, sarcastic humor, and deep piety. In one story, he attributed her ability to fly through the sky on her carpet. In another story, she lit the darkness with her fingers, which one night glowed like lanterns. When she set out on the Islamic prescribed pilgrimage to Mecca ( Hajj ), the Kaaba came to her as if by a miracle. She was also often credited with sarcastic rebuke from male students for being too secular.

Several Egyptian films have been made about her in recent times.

The 1963 Egyptian film Rabia al-Adawiyya, directed by Niazi Mostafa, portrayed her as a beautiful young slave who was forced by her master to perform oriental dances until she discovered her faith in God and devoted her life to preaching and praying. The famous Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum recorded the songs for the film and starred in it. The film, shot in Agfacolor, tells the story in a romantic and musical way, is still shown frequently on Egyptian television and is very popular in Egypt due to the portrayals of Umm Kulthum, Nabila Ebeid (in the role of Rabia) and Farid Shawqi .

Followers of Rābiʿa believe that her tomb is on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in a 17th century mosque, which is near a church that commemorates the place where he is in Islam as a prophet and in Christianity as Messiah ( Jesus Christ ) worshiped Jesus of Nazareth according to Christian belief to have ascended to heaven .

A modern Egyptian mosque named after her in her honor was built in the suburb of Cairo and on August 14, 2013, with the so-called Rabia massacre, it was the central scene of "one of the most brutal mass executions of demonstrators in recent world history" ( Human Rights Watch ), with which the military-backed regime, after the military coup on July 3, 2013 under the current Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah as-Sisi against the first democratically elected government of Egypt under the Muslim Brother Mohammed Morsi, put down the month-long mass protests against the coup The Rābiʿa-al-ʿAdawiyya Mosque has a high level of mystical and religious symbolism, as the religious narrative to the name-giver of the mosque is cultivated in Egypt and offers Islamist coup opponents opportunities to identify with the saint, who according to the story lived as a slave during the day and at night prayed After the mass killings of pro-Mursi protesters in July and August 2013 in Rābiʿa-al-ʿAdawiyya Square in front of the Rābiʿa-al-ʿAdawiyya Mosque in Nasr City , the R4bia campaign also referred to the name of the saints in the square and the mosque and became a lasting symbol of the anti-coup movement of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Legends (selection)

  • As an orphan of impoverished parents, Rabia was sold into slavery, with her master also having sexual control over her. She often did not sleep for weeks and spent the time in fasting, in prayer and in meditation. One night her master noticed a bright glow of light over her head that illuminated the entire house. Frightened about this, he released her and she began a secluded life as a Sufist in the desert. Even when she later returned to the city of Basra, she remained chaste the rest of her life and, despite her legendary beauty, refused any offer of marriage.
  • Rabia was seen walking the streets of Basra with a bucket of water in one hand and a torch in the other. When asked what this meant, she replied: “I want to pour water into hell and put fire on paradise so that these two veils will disappear and no one will worship God out of fear of hell or in hope of paradise, but only for the sake of His eternal beauty. "
  • Rabia was once asked: “Do you love God?” She replied: “Yes.” - “Do you hate the devil?” She replied: “No. My love for God leaves me no time to hate the devil. "
  • When Rabia was once asked why she refused the help of her friends who wanted to offer her a slave to enable her to carry out her worship services, she replied: “I would be ashamed to ask the goods of this world from someone who to whom they belong. How should I then claim it from people who do not own it? "
  • One prayer attributed to her read as follows: “O Lord, if I love You for fear of Hell, I will be burned there, and if I love You in the hope of Paradise , shut me out there, but if I do Love you out of love for yourself, do not deprive me of your divine beauty. "
  • Shortly before her death, Rabia is said to have ordered her friends to move away and give way to the messengers of God. As her friends were leaving the room, they heard Rabia speak the Islamic Creed ( Shahada ), to which a voice replied: “O soul who have found rest (in faith)! Return to your Lord satisfied and well-loved. Join the circle of my servants and include yourself in my paradise ”( Koran , sura 89 , 27-30). After her death, one should have dreamed of her and asked her how she escaped the angels of death Nakir and Munkar .

swell

Report about Rabia's life:

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Sophia Pandya: Rabia al-Adawiyya (Rabia al-Basriyya, Rabia al-Qaysiyya) . In: Juan Eduardo Campo: Encyclopedia of Islam , Infobase Publishing, New York 2009, pp. 578f., ISBN 978-0-8160-5454-1 .
  2. ↑ Lexicon of Religions, religion ORF.at, April 23, 2014
  3. ^ Fire (Arabic: al-nar) . In: Juan Eduardo Campo: Encyclopedia of Islam , Infobase Publishing, New York 2009, pp. 240f., ISBN 978-0-8160-5454-1 .
  4. ^ A b George Richards: Why Rabaa Al-Adaweya ?: The Story Behind the Mosque. In: Muftah Newspaper. August 3, 2013, accessed March 12, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Egypt: Killings in Rabaa and Other Killings Arguably Crimes Against Humanity - No Justice One Year After Series of Fatal Attacks on Protesters ( Memento August 13, 2014 on WebCite ) , Human Rights Watch, August 12, 2014, archived from the original .
  6. ↑ All According to Plan - The Rab'a Massacre and Mass Killings of Protesters in Egypt ( Memento August 13, 2014 on WebCite ) (English; PDF: 3.42 MB), Human Rights Watch, August 12, 2014, archived from Original .
  7. ↑ Egypt: No Acknowledgment or Justice for Mass Protester Killings Set Up a Fact-Finding Committee as a First Step ( Memento from December 25, 2013 on WebCite ). Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, December 10, 2013, archived from the original .
  8. ↑ Egypt: No Acknowledgment or Justice for Mass Protester Killings ( Memento from December 25, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). Human Rights Watch, December 10, 2013, archived from the original .
  9. ↑ Rights groups demand Egypt probe killings of Mursi supporters ( Memento from December 26, 2013 on WebCite ). Reuters Edition US, December 10, 2013, by Tom Perry, archived from the original .
  10. ↑ Who is Egypt's Rabaa al-Adawiya? ( Memento of 26 November 2013 Webcite ) (English). Al Arabiya News, Aug. 24, 2013, by Ramzy Baroud, archived from the original .
  11. ↑ Egypt - wave of arrests in Egypt shows effect ( memento from August 24, 2013 on WebCite ) , Deutsche Welle, August 23, 2013, by Markus Symank, archived from the original .
  12. ^ Protests in Ankara: Thousands of Turks show solidarity with Mursi , German Turkish News, August 25, 2013, accessed on August 26, 2013.
  13. ^ State of emergency - one dead during protests in Egypt ( memento from September 17, 2013 on WebCite ) , Zeit Online, September 13, 2013, archived from the original .
  14. ↑ Images from Egypt ( Memento from December 11, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). Voice Of America, August 23, 2013, archived from the original .
  15. ↑ Reza Aslan: No god but God. The Faith of Muslims from Muhammad to the Present . Piper, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-25123-5 , pp. 223, 233 .
  16. ↑ Annemarie Schimmel (Ed.): Gardens of Knowledge. The Book of the Forty Sufi Masters . Diederichs, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-424-00697-1 , p. 21 .
personal data
SURNAME Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya al-Qaysiyya
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rabia of Basra
BRIEF DESCRIPTION islamic mystic
DATE OF BIRTH at 717
PLACE OF BIRTH Basra
DATE OF DEATH 801
Place of death Basra