Rabia al-Basri (Rabia al- Adawiyya): I carry a torch in one hand

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I carry a torch in one hand

by Rabia al-Basri (Rabia al- Adawiyya)
(717 - 801) Timeline

English version by
Charles Upton

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

I carry a torch in one hand
And a bucket of water in the other:
With these things I am going to set fire to Heaven
And put out the flames of Hell
So that voyagers to God can rip the veils
And see the real goal.

-- from Women in Sufism: A Hidden Treasure - Writings and Stories of Mystics Poets, Scholars & Saints, Edited by Camille Adams Helminski

Amazon.com

/ Photo by nblumhardt /

Themes

Fire

Water

Recommended Books

	Doorkeeper of the Heart: Versions of Rabia, Translated by Charles Upton
	Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Quran, Miraj, Poetic and Theological Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Michael A. Sells
	First Among Sufis: The Life and Thought of Rabia Al-Adawiyya, the Woman Saint of Basra, by Widad El Sakkakini
	Islamic Mystical Poetry: Sufi Verse from the Early Mystics to Rumi, Translated by Mahmood Jamal
	Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

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