“The Sayings of Rabi’a” is a historical and profound text that will help you truly enter the mind and soul of one of the greatest Sufis of all time.
The Sayings of Rabi’a
The Sayings of Rabi’a, translated here for the first time in the West, are one of the great mystical texts of Islam. Born in Iraq in the eighth century, Rabi’a was, according to one tradition, sold into slavery and then freed by her master, who one day surprised her deep in prayer and bathed in light. According to others, she was a flute player for a time, then a public sinner. After the Enlightenment, she lived in absolute poverty, asking only for “an atom of poverty of spirit,” while radiating the wisdom of her brief, often harsh, paradoxical, and final sayings, which were passed down through the centuries. She died at a great old age, “reduced to a small, worn-out wineskin about to collapse.” Her Sayings are burning fragments and must be placed at the origin of the most radical mystical line of Islam, Sufism, of which Rabi’a has been called “the mother.” And Rabi’a embodies a sublime ‘excess’ of Sufism: that insurmountable detachment from the world whereby everything, even contrite devotion, appeared to her as a distraction and an obstacle, like the first of the veils that keep away the one who, according to one of the ninety-nine “beautiful names” with which God is invoked in Islam, is the Near One, closer to ourselves than our jugular vein.
A series to discover Rabi’a
After bringing you “The Sufi Saints” and “Rabi’a the Mystic,” I couldn’t help but bring you “The Sayings of Rabi’a,” a book that represents the closing of a circle and the beginning of a new series for podcasts on the Medio Oriente e Dintorni. While the first book offered a general overview of the most important Sufi women up to the 12th century, and the second her entire life story, in this one we will instead explore her sayings and thoughts, allowing us to hear her voice and get even closer to her incredible soul. By choice of the publisher, the texts in this book also follow the chains of transmission typical of the world of hadith and traditions, giving the latter a depth unmatched by what the Italian public expects, lending the text even greater authority and solidity.
Naturally, truly understanding “The Sayings of Rabi’a” requires precise and thorough preparation on the subject, and it is precisely from this idea that the desire to create a new podcast series (in Italian) was born, a way to bring the Italian public, Muslim or otherwise, as close as possible to one of the women who most changed the mind and thought of the “Islamic world.” “The Sayings of Rabi’a,” first published in Italian in February 1979, also represents the first ever appearance of this “Sufi saint” in Italian, and remains an absolute milestone for Islamic studies in Italy—two jewels in the same crown. There’s no official release date yet, but to make sure you don’t miss a thing, subscribe to the Middle East Telegram channel and you’ll be the first to learn more.
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