Tracing and Chasing the Shadow: The Mysterious Eloquence of Rabi’a

Abstract

The tradition of Sufi poetry has been analyzed extensively through the well known works of Rumi, Hafiz, Ibn ‘Arabi, Ibn Farid, Al- Ghazali, Farid al-Din ‘Attar, and Sa’adi—among many others. These well-known figures of Islamic mysticism are most often referred to by those seeking an understanding of the theory of language present in Sufi poetics; however, through the verse of Rabi’a al- Adawiyya (717-801CE), their predecessor and the first saint of Islam, the tradition of Sufi poetry has yet to be given the kind of scholarly attention and analysis it deserves. In this thesis, I will be outlining the theory of Sufi poetics, and applying this theory to analyze the mysterious words of Rabi’a—this analysis demonstrates the ways in which her ecstatic utterances served as a seed from which the language of Sufi poetics grew and flourished. I hope to locate Rabi’a’s ecstatic utterances within the larger tradition of Sufi thought and poetry, as a way to prove her lasting presence, as a hidden and subtle figure woven within and without this particular intellectual tradition.