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“Indeed, I have placed You in the depths of my heart as the one with whom I converse,
while my body I have left to anyone who wishes to sit with me.”
Because of the first half of this couplet some people claimed she espoused incarnation (ḥulūl), and because of the entire verse they charged her with permissiveness and moral license.
I say: that is sheer excess and ignorance. Most likely the person who leveled those accusations was himself an antinomian incarnationist, wanting to use her name as proof for his unbelief—exactly as they cite the report, “I become his hearing with which he hears.” (1)
It is said that she lived for eighty years.
She passed away in the year 180 AH. (2)
- As for Rābiʿah of Syria—the devout worshipper—she is another well-known figure, younger than the ʿAdawiyyah. Stories about the one are sometimes mixed with those of the other, and it is the second who uttered the saying that Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Ḥawārī transmits from
(1) A passage from a hadith transmitted by al-Bukhari, 11/292-297, in the softening-of-hearts section, chapter “Humility,” on the authority of Abu Hurayra: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Allah the Exalted declared, ‘Whoever shows enmity to a wali (friend of Mine) I announce war against him. My servant draws near to Me with nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory for him, and he continues to draw near through the nawafil (supererogatory acts) until I love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks Me, I will certainly give; if he seeks refuge in Me, I will certainly grant it. I have never hesitated about anything I do as I hesitate about taking the soul of a believer—he dislikes death, and I dislike causing him distress.’”
Al-Khattabi explains that these are metaphors: Allah enables His servant to succeed in the deeds performed by these limbs and inclines him to love those deeds by protecting his faculties—keeping him from listening to frivolity with his ears, looking at what is forbidden with his eyes, seizing the unlawful with his hands, or walking toward falsehood with his feet.
Al-Tufi adds that the recognized scholars unanimously hold this to be figurative language expressing Allah’s support, aid, and reinforcement of the servant, as though the Almighty places Himself for the servant in the position of the tools he employs; hence the variant wording, “Through Me he hears, through Me he sees, through Me he grasps, and through Me he walks.”
(2) According to Ibn Khallikan, quoting Ibn al-Jawzi, she died in 135 AH; others say 185 AH. Al-Nujum al-Zahira lists her among those who died in both 135 AH and 180 AH.
(*) Ibn al-Jawzi, Safwat al-Safwa, 4/300; Tabaqat al-Awliya, 35; Shadharat al-Dhahab, 2/110.
وَلَقَدْ جَعَلْتُكَ فِي الفُؤَادِ مُحَدِّثِي ... وَأَبَحْتُ جِسْمِيَ مَنْ أَرَادَ جُلُوْسِي
فَنَسَبَهَا بَعْضُهُم إِلَى الحُلُوْلِ بِنِصْفِ البَيْتِ، وَإِلَى الإِبَاحَةِ بِتَمَامِهِ.
قُلْتُ: فَهَذَا غُلُوٌّ وَجَهْلٌ، وَلَعَلَّ مَنْ نَسَبَهَا إِلَى ذَلِكَ مُبَاحِيٌّ حُلُوْلِيٌّ، لِيَحْتَجَّ بِهَا عَلَى كُفْرِهِ، كَاحْتِجَاجِهِم بِخَبَرِ: (كُنْتُ سَمْعَهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِ (١)) .
قِيْلَ: عَاشَتْ ثَمَانِيْنَ سَنَةً.
تُوُفِّيَتْ: سَنَةَ ثَمَانِيْنَ وَمائَةٍ (٢) .
٥٤ - أَمَّا
: رَابِعَةُ الشَّامِيَّةُ *
العَابِدَةُ، فَأُخْرَى مَشْهُوْرَةٌ، أَصْغَرُ مِنَ العَدَوِيَّةِ، وَقَدْ تَدْخُلُ حِكَايَاتُ هَذِهِ فِي حِكَايَاتِ هَذِهِ، وَالثَّانِيَةُ هِيَ القَائِلَةُ مَا رَوَى أَحْمَدُ بنُ أَبِي الحَوَارِيِّ، عَنْ
(١) قطعة من حديث أخرجه البخاري ١١ / ٢٩٢ - ٢٩٧ في الرقاق: باب التواضع، من حديث أبي هريرة قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ: " إن الله تعالى قال: من عادى لي وليا فقد آذنته بالحرب، وما تقرب إلي عبدي بشيء أحب إلي مما افترضته عليه، وما زال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع، وبصره الذي يبصر به، ويده التي يبطش بها، ورجله التي يمشي بها، وإن سألني لاعطينه، ولئن استعاذني لاعيذنه، وما ترددت عن شيء أنا فاعله ترددي عن نفس المؤمن يكره الموت وأنا أكره مساءته ".
قال الخطابي: هذه أمثال، والمعنى: توفيق الله لعبده في الاعمال التي يباشرها بهذه الاعضاء وتيسير المحبة له فيها، بأن يحفظ جوارحه عليه، ويعصمه من الله مواقعة ما يكره الله من الاصغاء إلى اللهو بسمعه، ومن النظر إلى ما نهى عنه ببصره، ومن البطش فيما لا يحل له بيده، ومن السعي إلى الباطل برجله.
وقال الطوفي: اتفق العلماء ومن يعتد بقوله أن هذا مجاز، وكناية عن نصرة العبد وتأييده وإعانته
حتى كأنه سبحانه ينزل نفسه من عبده منزلة الآلات التي يستعين بها، ولهذا وقع في رواية: " فبي يسمع، وبي يبصر، وبي يبطش، وبي يمشي ".
(٢) في ابن خلطان نقلا عن ابن الجوزي أن وفاتها سنة ١٣٥، وقال غيره: ١٨٥، وأوردها في " النجوم الزاهرة " فيمن توفي في سنة ١٣٥، و١٨٠.
(*) صفوة الصفوة لابن الجوزي: ٤ / ٣٠٠، طبقات الأولياء: ٣٥، شذرات الذهب: ٢ / ١١٠.