Rabias Superiority: Ironically Inferring the Inferiority of Female Sufis - Essay Example

Rabia’s Superiority: Ironically Inferring the Inferiority of Female Sufis As far as Attar’s biography of Rabia is concerned, whether he is of the opinion that female Sufis are inferior to male Sufis may engender a lot of controversies. In his text he appears to justify Rabia’s superior position in the male dominated realm of Sufism, but his way of justification ultimately infers that as he takes female Sufis inferiority for granted, he needs to justify Rabia’s superiority so urgently. It is true that Sulami’s biography does not advocate the position that the female Sufis are generally inferior to male Sufis, but at the same time it does not evidently state that the female Sufis are superior to them. Indeed there are some elements which ironically humiliate the position of the female as Sufis. But Attar’s biography that is written several centuries later necessarily includes the tone highlighting the position of women, though in some cases these highlights appear to be the fairy exaggerations of their position. Attar’s text puts an extra interest to champion Rabia as a personality to be the perfect fusion of the devotion and wit. Attar’s expertise presents her a women who is not the traditional simpleton woman, rather a women who exchanges witty words with the invisible voice to express her devotion. Even her devotion stands a bit high than her contemporary male Sufis. Rabia’s mystical experiences are presented in a way that ensures her a superior position among the male Sufis of the time and also proves that it is difficult for the male Sufis to experience how a female mystic recognizes the spiritual. One may question the way how Attar presents Rabia in his biography as the exaggerations but his points can easily be defended arguing that Attar is conscious enough to perceive the importance of a female Sufis’s position in such a field that is exclusively dominated by male. Necessarily he perceives the significance of Rabia’s position in the male dominated society and subsequently he presents it in his writing. Also at the same time Attar’s portrayal of Rabia in the text infers the scrawniness and inferiority women’s position in the field of Sufism. Individually Rabia’s superiority plays the role of a foil to the inferiority of women in the society. Both Sulami and Attar agree with Rabia’s superiority in spirituality and mysticism. They show the evidences that people rely on her to a great extent for their spiritual knowledge, as Sulami says, “Sufyan ath-Thawri (may God have mercy upon him) sought her advice on legal matters and referred such issues to her. He also sought her advice and supplications. Both ath-Thawry and Shuba transmitted Rabia’s word of wisdom” (Sulami 74). Unfortunately Sulami fails to evaluate Rabia’s unique position in this field and does not say much about her tributes to the realm of spirituality. On the contrary Attar is quite cautious about the status of women in the realm spiritual knowledge and Sufism and Rabia’s uniqueness as a female Sufi. Consequently his text reflects both Rabia’s uniqueness as a Sufi and, at the same time, women’s poor involvement in this field. Moreover Attar offloads his responsibility just simply describing her rank among men, rather he attempts to explain “why her memorial is placed among the ranks of men” (Attar 157). He justifies Rabia’s superiority from the religious point of view of Islam, “God does not regard your forms” and refutes the traditional notion about women’s respect as at the very beginning of the biography he says, “It is not a matter of form, but of right intention. If it is right to derive two-thirds of religion from A’isha Sadiqah…then it is also right……one of his maidservants” (Attar 157). But it is obviously objectionable when Attar does not admit that the spirit of Sufism can be accepted as an attribute of a woman. He is not ready to call a female Sufi as a woman, as he says, “When a woman is a man on the path of the lord Most High, she cannot be called woman” (Attar 157). Attar is cautious enough not to leave out a little bit of evidence that highlights Rabia’s superiority as a female Sufi. He refers to the event of the withdral of the meeting by Hasan Basri, as to pointing out, Rabia is so much superior that her “memorial can be entered into it” (Attar 157). In Attar’s biography portrayal of Rabia’s superiority ironically reveals the inferiority of female Sufis of her age. The realm of Sufism by female personalities was almost barren in her time. Even not a single female Sufi of Rabia’s age has been mentioned by Attar in his text. From the beginning to the end of the text it is evident that Attar puts a lot of stress to put the superiority. His effort necessarily means that either he is continuously in effort to refute the common notion of women’s inferiority in the realm of Sufism or he takes inferiority of female Sufis for granted and tries to prove Rabia as a rare case. Both of these two ideas seem to be true. As he says, “This is especially so for Rabia, who had no equal in proper behavior or mystical knowledge” (Attar 157), it means that Rabia is an exception for the common female Sufis. Rabia’s uniqueness as a Sufi not only lies in the fact that she is a woman, but also in the fact that the fashion in which she seems to gather spiritual experiences is almost unattainable for other male Sufis of her age. Unlike Sulami, Attar forms Rabia’s superiority, though according to him this superiority goes especially with her, not only on the basis of her devotion to God but also on her wit that she applies uncannily to get close to God. In one episode she outwits Ibrahim Ibn Adham. Ibrahim wants to visit God’s house Mecca without undergoing any pain of journey. But Rabia considers that one can get close to God only through pain and sorrow. On her way she meets Kaba welcoming her. This event apparently proves her devotion to God. Her wit is evident in the following speech that she speaks after performing the Hajj, “O my God you promised good things both for performing the hajj and for enduring catastrophe. Now if my Hajj is not acceptable, this is a great catastrophe. Where is the reward for my catastrophe?”(Attar 158) Finally, it can be asserted that Attar in his text affirms the superiority of an individual female Sufi, Rabia, not in general of all of the female Sufis. Works Cited Attar, Farid al-Din. “Rabia Al Adawiyya” Memorial of the Friends of God. (Tazkirat al awliya), Translated by Pavi Losensky. 1230. pp. 157-169 Sulami, Abu Abdal Rahman. “Rabia Al Adawiyya”. Remembrance of Pious Women. 1021. pp. 74-80 Read More