A long 'bio':
Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya by Sidi Muhammad Press
www.sufimaster.org/teaching...wiyya.htm


The Tale of Torch and Water

One day, she was seen running through the streets of Basra carrying a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. When asked what she was doing, she said:

I want to put out the fires of Hell, and burn down the rewards of Paradise. They block the way to God. I do not want to worship from fear of punishment or for the promise of reward, but simply for the love of God.


In My Soul
~~~~~~~~~~

In my soul
there is a temple, a shrine,
a mosque, a church
where I kneel.

Prayer should bring us to an altar
where no walls or names exist.

Is there not a region of love
where the sovereignty
is illumined nothing,

where ecstacy
gets poured into itself
and becomes lost,

where the wing is fully alive
but has no mind
or body?

In my soul
there is a temple,
a shrine,
a mosque,
a church

that disolve,
that disolve
in God.



It Acts Like Love
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It acts like love----music----
it reaches toward the face,
touches it, and tries to let you know
His promise: that all will be okay.

It acts like love----music and,
tells the feet, "You do not have to be so burdened."

My body is covered with wounds
this world made,

but I still long to kiss Him, even when God said,

"Could you also kiss the hand
that caused each scar,

for you will not find me
until you do."

It does that----music----helps us
to forgive.



www.poetseers.org/spiritual...bia_poems/