108 DESTINY DISRUPTED
as a slave in some rich man's household. Her master, the stories say, kept
noticing a luminous spirituality about her that made him wonder .... One
night, when she was lost in prayer, he observed a halo surrounding her
body. It struck him suddenly that he had a saint living in his house, and
awe took hold of him. He set Rabia free and pledged to arrange a good
marriage for her. He would get her connected to one of the best families in
the city, he vowed. She had only to name the man she wanted to marry,
and he would open up negotiations at once.
But Rabia said she could not marry any man, for she was already in
love.
"In love?" gasped her recent master. "With whom?"
"With Allah!" And she began to pour forth poetry of such rapturous
passion that her former owner became her first and lifelong disciple. Rabia
entered upon a life of ascetic contemplation, mystic musings that fre-
quently erupted into a love poetry so intensely emotional it sounded al-
most carnal, except that the "lover" she addressed was Allah:
0 my own Lord, the stars glitter
and the eyes of men are closed.
Kings have locked their doors.
Lovers are alone with their beloved ones...
And here I am alone with You.^1How much poetry she poured forth, I don't know. The canon that survives
is slight, but in her day, her fame was great: many journeyed to Basra just
to see Rabia for themselves. Many came away convinced that she had
found the key to union with Allah. To her, the key was not fear but love,
utterly abandoned, reckless, and unlimited love.
Easy enough to say but how could one actually fall into such love?
Hungry seekers hung around with the charismatic mystic herself, hoping
to catch her passion like a fever. Some did catch it, they said, which of
course brought more seekers to her gates. I don't call them students, be-
cause no books were involved, no scholarship, no study. Rabia of Basra did
not teach. She simply radiated, and people in her vicinity changed. This
became the pattern in Sufism: direct transmission of techniques leading to
enlightenment from master to mureed, as would-be Sufis were called.