RABIA AL BASRA

These are the words of the female sufi saint Rabia al Basra. She grew in the tender love and training of the higher intuitive powers of God and is one of the few women in Sufism - indeed she is considered the first female saint in Islam. She was not trained by a murshid but was born a devotee with great love for God. Rabia was born sometime between 712 and 717 C.E. in Basra, Iraq. Many spiritual stories are associated with her, but what we do know of her life is essentially reality merged with legend. Much of her early life is related, recorded and narrated by Farid al-Din Attar, a later day sufi saint and poet, who is the only source of her history as Rabia herself did not leave behind any written work. She was the fourth daughter of her family and therefore named Rabia, meaning ‘fourth’. She was born in a poor but respectable family. Her parents were so poor that there was no oil in the house to light a lamp, nor a cloth to wrap her in when she was born. Her mother requested her husband to borrow some oil from a neighbour but he had resolved to never ask anything of anyone except the Creator; he pretended to go to the neighbor’s door and returned home empty-handed...
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Know Mind

Alhat Ed Din was a very famous sheikh who lived in Crimea. He had several disciples. One night, when he was sitting by a pond, a sufi named Shams Tabreez passed by. Seeing Alhat Ed Din, he wondered what he was doing sitting next to the pond at night. So he went near him and asked, “Mister, what are you doing? Who are you?” The man replied, “I am Sheikh Alhat Ed Din and I am meditating on the shadow of the moon in this water.

Shams Tabreez asked, “Do you have a boil on your neck that you are finding it difficult to look up at the moon? The real moon is visible in the sky and you are looking for the shadow in the pond!” Alhat Ed Din raised his head - and what did he see? - the radiant face of Shams Tabreez in the moonlight. Automatically his head bowed in reverence...
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A girl is never less than a boy

“A girl is never less than a boy”
The day I was born,
I was considered a storm,
which came into my family’s life,
and the one to blame
was my father’s wife,
yes she was my mother,
who acted as my cover,
b’coz i was not a boy,
so, they treated me as a toy,
“we don’t want her”
they said to the nurse,
as for them I was a curse,
my mother went through the pain,
but all was in vain,
but I was the child of the god,
so I was saved by the lord,
he gave me a new life,
to be a good daughter, mother and wife,
an angel appeared on earth for me,
yes, my mother fought for me,
my family didn’t care,
as if I was no where,
they didn’t send me to school,
as they had to fill my brother’s pool,
when I grew older,
they thought I was being bolder,
so, they found a groom,
who fought me everyday with a broom,
my body used to ache,
but no noise I was to make,
I cried in pain,
but no reply came,
then I made a promise,
that I will give birth to a girl,
who will be a free bird,
to fly in the sky,
whose aim will be so high,
that she will set an example,
in the world of these mindless people,
that “A girl is never less than a boy”………..

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