Quote by Rabia al-Adawiyya: “I love you with two loves: a selfish love and a love worthy of you.”

Rabia honestly admits there are two layers to her love of God — one that is about her own comfort and joy in prayer, and one that is truly selfless. Rather than pretending to pure devotion, she names the complexity of love and reaches toward the higher form with clarity rather than self-deception.

Rabia's prayers and poems were preserved by her students and later Sufi writers in 8th-century Basra. Her intellectual honesty about the mixed motives behind worship represented a significant contribution to Islamic spiritual thought, distinguishing genuine love from religious self-interest.

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.