Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya

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Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya (c.713–801 (AH 95–185)). An outstanding Sūfī and one of the few women in Islam to be considered the actual equal of men. Her name Rābiʿa means ‘fourth’; she was the fourth daughter of a poor family, and while still a child sold into slavery, but later freed. She devoted herself to a life of prayer, poverty, and seclusion. She combined extreme asceticism with a purely disinterested love of God, and is generally acknowledged as the first Sūfī to teach this aspect of piety which later became prominent in Sufism. Miracles were attributed to her, and her sayings and teachings were handed down from one generation to another of Sūfīs.