What seems wanting in this definition is furnished by the utterances of that female saint, Rābiah, to whom the Poet Jami pays the following exquisite tribute:—
“Were women all alike those whom here I name,
Woman to man I surely would prefer.
The moon, though masculine, depends on her.”
“O God”, she cries, “give unto Thine enemies whatever Thou hast assigned to me of this world’s goods and unto Thy friends whatever Thou hast assigned to me in the Life hereafter, for Thou Thyself art sufficient for me.”
On one occasion she was urged to marry. Here is her reply:—
“My being has for a long time been in marital communion; hence I say that my self is long ere this lost in itself and arisen again in Him. Since then I am entirely in His power, yea, I am He. He who would ask me for a bride will therefore ask me not from myself but from Him.”
Hasan Basri, the famous Muslim theologian, asked her how she knew the Lord. “O Hasan,” she replied, “you know Him by certain methods and means. I know Him without modes or means.”
When Rābiah was ill, three theologians called upon her. With a view to inspiring her with resignation, one of them, the same Hasan Basri, said: “The prayers of that man are not sincere who refuses to bear the Lord’s chastisements.” Another added to that: “He is not sincere who does not rejoice in the Lord’s chastisements.” To Rābiah, however, such sayings still savoured of self. She therefore exclaimed: “He is not sincere in his prayers who does not, when he beholds his Lord, become totally unconscious of the fact that he is being chastised.”
If one feels curious to know the cause of the illness of such a devout woman, this is her explanation: “I suffered myself to think on the delights of paradise, therefore my Lord has punished me.”
A perfect Thy-Will-Be-Done state of spiritual life was this and it is exquisitely reflected in the following verses of Mansur Hallāj:—
“Thy will be done, O my lord and Master!
Thy will be done, O my purpose and meaning!
O essence of my being, O goal of my desire,
O my speech and my hints and my gestures!
O all of my all, O my hearing and my sight,
O my whole and my element and my particle!”
Let us now pass on to the theosophic stage in which, besides the surrender of self, the Sufi strives to solve the problems of the higher self.