دار بيبليون
Rabi’a and the woman in Sufism
Notes and follow-up to a lecture given by Prof. Lwiis Saliba
On Zoom – Wednesday 08/09/2021 – Part 2
Comparison between the zikhr, (repetitive Sufi prayer) and the mantra.
Celibacy
The first point we touched on last week, on September 1, was celibacy. I discovered it in the quotes from Rabi’a, which I compared with those of the characters who came before and came after her. She did initiate a tradition of celibacy within Islam and Sufism, in obvious contradiction with the sunnah and the hadiths which required marriage.
How did Rabi’a and those who came after her accomplish this feat?
The Sufis indicate very clearly their tendency to celibacy. In their community, they disseminated words of the Prophet which encourage celibacy. I have cited some rather inauthentic hadiths. This is found among the oldest sources of Sufism:
“The best person (according to the Prophet) after two centuries is the one who manages to have neither wife nor child.”
“After two centuries, if we ask ourselves the question of celibacy, then let’s say that if someone raises a dog, it will be more valuable (for their spiritual life) than educating a child! “
“If God wants good for his servant in this world, he does not occupy him with a wife or with children,” said Hasan Al-Basri, one of the first Sufis.
I quote thinker Abd-el-Rahman al Badawi, a contemporary commentator on Sufism who is also now translated into French, German and Spanish and who studied Rabi’a:
“Rabi’a established non-marriage among the Sufis as a law. Before her, it was a matter of personal temperament, afterwards it became a rule. This is all the more striking since she was a woman, and marriage in this condition has traditionally taken on much more importance. “
I pushed a little towards India: many Indian sages say that the woman has two instincts, sexual and maternal, which lead her to marriage more than the man, who has much less fatherly instinct. One Swami I met took as an example the Buddha, the first nuns, his mother-in-law and his ex-wife, who were women and had already had their married life as well as children.
This celibate life was very daring and very exceptional, but had a very important impact on at least two or three centuries of the later history of Sufism, and indeed until now, in the sense of an establishment of the rule of celibacy.
Another quote from Rabi’a: “How many desires and pleasures have vanished, while their (negative) consequences are still there. O Lord, we see that all these pleasures are fleeting and only cause pain. Why talk about the pains of hell? “
This theme struck me as important because it corrects a misconception that the almost absolute rule in Islam was marriage. A lot of people have asked me about this.
Prayer continues
Mâ Anandamayî speaks of prayer, of continuous meditation. This is a state which the sadhaka (spiritual seeker) can come to with diligence in practice. At this point, this state stabilizes and becomes experienceable even outside of formal meditation sessions, that is, in everyday life. “The Name of God is always present like a piece of melted sugar in the mouth”
Rabi’a also experienced this meditation and this continuing divine presence:
“I have made You the speaker of my heart, but my body is there for those who seek Your companionship. My body is ready to receive these people in a friendly way, but the Beloved of my heart with whom I have a conversation is only You! “
In other poems she describes this state. She says that the divine Name, it is he in her who is the way of the Ruh, of the spirit, both in his words and in his silence.
“You are in the Way of the Spirit which is within me. If I speak, you are the subject of my words, if I keep silent, you are the one who dwells deep inside me “
We see this state of continuous meditation in several Sufis Niffari (m354h / 965) said: “He stopped me and said to me: remember Me in all things, and at that time I will remember you. equally in all things. This uninterrupted companionship is not only during waking but also during sleep. It is well known in Yoga: in Sufism Niffari said in this sense “He stopped me and said to me: if my Presence does not stop while you are sleeping, it will continue while you are awake. “
We can cite in this sense the story of a disciple of Ma who wanted to verify whether the sleep of a sage was really different: he therefore went three or four times to where she slept at night and each time he found that she was waving to him that she was awake, and even once spoke to him.
Not to speak aloud the Name of God
It is a habit in Yoga not to reveal the divine Name and to remain discreet in one’s spiritual practices. Ma said: “Take care not to hide the efforts you are making for your spiritual development. Hide them as the miser hides his treasure. It’s a private thing between you and God, you don’t have to divulge it. “
A contemporary poet of Rabi’a, ‘Alia bint al-Mahdi (160-210h / 777-825) was the sister of Caliph Harun-al-Rashid:
“I have hidden the Name of my Beloved from you, and have kept it in my heart.
What nostalgia do I have for a country where I could call my Beloved freely! “
Niffari said on his side: “He stopped me and said to me: my name and my names are my deposits with you, do not take them out, otherwise I will leave your heart”
In this tradition which has remained deep in Sufism, another quote from a famous contemporary poet, Nizar Kabbani (1923-1998):
“Do not ask me for the Name of my Beloved, I am afraid to open the bottle of perfume, and you will be drowned in its scent.
If I even divulge a letter of this Name, you will see flowers growing on the ruins.
You will see my Beloved in the smile of the streams, in the flight of butterflies, in the winter tears, in the bounty of the clouds as well as in the ocean, in the breathing of animals, as well as in the song of the birds.
Do not ask me for the Name of my Beloved, I will not disclose it any more! “
I will conclude on the importance of meditation:
Ma: “Meditation tears off the veil of ignorance. Practice your exercises through meditation or mantra recitation and the tendencies of several lifetimes which cast a veil of ignorance hiding the true nature of things will dissipate. Try it out!
A Sufi sheikh used to say: “Through the zikhr, you will obtain detachment, the” disengagement “and you will arrive in trance (?).
Chidânanda: “Meditation, and this since the dawn of time, is the only method capable of bringing us to the most subtle spiritual experience”