Quote by Rabia al-Adawiyya: “O God, if I worship You from fear of hell, burn me in hell.”

Genuine love for God — or for anything — cannot be driven by fear of punishment or desire for reward. Rabia says that if her devotion is only self-interest dressed up as faith, then it is not real love at all.

Rabia lived in Basra during the early Abbasid period, a time when Islamic theology was being formally systematised. As a woman and a freed slave who chose celibacy and spiritual devotion, she was a radical figure whose teachings challenged transactional approaches to religion.

Eighth-century female Sufi mystic and poet from Basra, considered one of the most important figures in the early history of Islamic mysticism. Her theology of pure, selfless divine love — free of fear or hope of reward — fundamentally shaped Sufi thought.