As long as you are not displeased with me, I do not care what I face...by Rabia Basri

To You, my Beloved,
I complain of my weakness,
and my lack of support
and the humiliation I suffer from my fellowmen.

O the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful!
You are the Lord of the weak,
and you are my Beloved.
To whom do You leave me?
To a distant person who receives me with hostility?
Or to an enemy You have given power over me?

As long as You are not displeased with me,
I do not care what I face.
Your forgiveness is all
that matters to me

I seek refuge in the light of Your Countenance
By which all darkness is dispelled
and dissolve all challenges of the world
and the hereafter,
lest Your wrath descends upon me.

I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction
To You is the supplication
Until it reaches Your Rida

Verily there is no power
and might
other than You.

~ Rabia Basri
(What is Rida ?
It is the Perfect Contentment out of Love of the Beloved.)

To become Your Face. by Rabia Basri

"O Beloved

Everyone prays to You from fear of the Fire;
And if You do not put them in the Fire,
This is their reward.

Or they pray to You for the Garden,
Full of fruits and flowers.
And that is their prize.

But I do not pray to You like this,
For I am not afraid of the Fire,
And I do not ask You for the Garden.

But all I want is the Essence of Your Love,
And to return to be One with You,
And to become Your Face."

~ Rabia Basri

The poverty of my small love....by Rabia

I die , and yet not dies in me
The ardor of my love for Thee.

Nor hath Thy love , my only goal
Assuaged the fever of my soul.

To Thee alone my spirit cries
In Thee my whole ambition lies.

And still Thy Wealth is far above
The poverty of my small love.

~ Rabia
The Essence of Sufism
by John Baldock

Belle art by Belle Heywood

My joy My Hunger My Shelter My Friend ...by Rabia

My joy 
My Hunger 
My Shelter 
My Friend 

My Food for the journey
My journey's End
You are my breath,
My hope,
My companion,
My craving,
My abundant wealth.

Without You
my Life, my Love
I would never have wandered
across these endless countries.

You have poured out so much grace for me,
Done me so many favors, given me so many gifts
I look everywhere for Your love
Then suddenly I am filled with it.

O Captain of my Heart
Radiant Eye of Yearning in my breast,
I will never be free from You
As long as I live.

Be satisfied with me, Love,
And I am satisfied.

~ Rabia
Art by Belle Heywood

Your prayers were Light..by Rabia

Your prayers were Light 
And your worship peaceful
your Sleep an enemy of the prayer.

Your Life was a Test
but you let it go
without a thought.

It's ever passing
slowly vanishes
Before you know it.

~ Rabia Basri

my peace is in my aloneness....by Rabia

Dear Ones, 
my peace is in my aloneness.

My Beloved is alone with me there, always.
I have found nothing in all the worlds
That could match His love,

This love that harrows the sands of my desert.
If I come to die of desire

And my Beloved is still not satisfied,
I would live in eternal despair.

To abandon all that He has fashioned
And hold in the palm of my hand

Certain proof that He loves me
That is the name and the goal of my search.

~ Rabia Basri

O Beloved, Another Night is passing away, Another Day is rising ...by Rabia

O Beloved, 
Another Night is passing away, 
Another Day is rising 

Tell me that 
I have spent the Night well
so I can be at peace,

Or that I have wasted it,
so I can mourn for what is lost.

I swear that ever since the first day
You brought me back to life,
The day You became my Friend,
I have not slept

And even if You drive me from your door,
I swear again that we will never be separated.
Because You are alive in my heart.

~ Rabia Basri

In Love, nothing exists between heart and heart.....by Rabia al-Basri

In Love, nothing exists 
between heart and heart.

Speech is born out of longing,
True description from the real taste.

The one who tastes, knows;
the one who explains, lies.

How can you describe
the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out ?

And in whose being you still exist ?
And who lives as a sign for your journey ?

~ Rabia al-Basri

Only Union with the Friend can cure it. ~ Rabi´a al-Adawiyya

The source of my suffering
and loneliness is deep in my heart.

This is a disease
no doctor can cure.

Only Union
with the Friend
can cure it.

~ Rabi´a al-Adawiyya,
Perfume of the Desert
Art by by Virgil Elliott

The remedy - for me was to love...by Rabia

The sky gave me its heart
because it knew mine was not large enough to care
for the earth the way it did.

Why is it that we think of Beloved so much?
Why is there so much talk
about love?

When an animal is wounded
no one has to tell it,
“You need to heal”;
so naturally it will nurse
itself the best it can.

My eye kept telling me, “Something is missing from
all I see.” So it went in search for the cure.

The cure for me was His beauty, the remedy -
for me was to
love.

~ Rabia
Art "Romeo and Juliet" by...James Bryan

O my Lord...by Rabia

O my Lord,
the stars glitter
and the eyes of men are closed.
Kings have locked their doors
and each lover is alone with his love.

Here, I am alone with you.

~ Rabi'a
from Women in Praise of the Sacred
art by Leonardo da Vinci

Everyone prays to You....by Rabia

‎"Everyone prays to You from fear of the Fire;
And if You do not put them in the Fire,
This is their reward.

Or they pray to You for the Garden,
Full of fruits and flowers.
And that is their prize.

But I do not pray to You like this,
For I am not afraid of the Fire,
And I do not ask You for the Garden.

But all I want is the Essence of Your Love,
And to return to be One with You,
And to become Your Face."

~ Rabia

Now You do whatever You will.....by Rabia

‎"O Beloved, my whole occupation
And all my desire in this world,
Of all worldly things,
Is to remember You.

And in the Hereafter
It is to meet You.

This is on my side, as I have stated.
Now You do whatever You will."

~ Rabia

God is one...by Rabia

O God
Whenever I listen
to the voice of anything.
You have made..

the rustling of the trees,
the trickling of water,
the cries of birds,
the flickering of shadow,
the song of the thunder..

I hear it saying
God is One..!

~ Rabia

I am a Doorkeeper of the Heart...by Rabia

I am fully qualified to work as a doorkeeper,
and for this reason:

What is inside me, I don't let out:
What is outside me, I don't let in.

If someone comes in,
he goes right out again.
He has nothing to do with me at all.

I am a Doorkeeper of the Heart,
not a lump of wet clay..!

~ Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya

Union with Beloved my desired end...by Rabia

Brethren, my rest is in my solitude,
And my Beloved is ever in my presence.

Nothing for me will do but love of Him;
By love of Him I am tested in this world.
Wherever I am I contemplate His beauty.

O Thou, ever my joy, my life, from Thee
Is my existence and my ecstasy.

From all creation I have turned away,
For union with Beloved my desired end.

~ Rabia

Your hope in my heart...by Rabia

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 Beloved, I can't live in this world
Without remembering You--
How can I endure the next world
Without seeing Your face?

I am a stranger in Your country
And lonely among Your worshippers:
This is the substance of my complaint.

~ Rabia

My Beloved...! by Rabia

Would you come if someone called you
by the wrong name?

I wept,
because for years He did not enter my arms;
then one night I was told a
secret:

Perhaps the name you call God is
not really His, maybe
it is just an
alias.

I thought about it,
and came up with a pet name
for my Beloved I never mention to others.

All I can say is-
it works.

~ Rabia

Lover of my Heart..!by Rabia Basri

“I set up house for You in my heart

As a Friend that I could talk with.

Gave my body to someone else

Who wanted to embrace it.

This body, all in all, 

is good enough for embracing –

But the Friend who lives in my house

Is the lover of my Heart.”

~ Rabia Basri

The Lover of my Heart..! by Rabia Basri

“I set up house for You in my heart
As a Friend that I could talk with.

Gave my body to someone else
Who wanted to embrace it.

This body, all in all,
is good enough for embracing –

But the Friend who lives in my house
Is the lover of my Heart.”

~ Rabia Basri