Rabi'a Basri- The Mystic and Her Fellow Saints in Islam

About the Book Rabi'a of Basra, the subject of this memoir, has long been known to students of Sufism and to a lesser extent to those interested in Mysticism generally, as a unique personality among the early Sufis, one who, in spite of her early date +she died in AD 801-was a true mystic.

The material for this account of her life and teachings is derived from one or two short biographical notices and from scattered references to be found in Arab and Persian writers on Sufism and is the first biography of this early Muslim saint to appear, which aims at being complete, so far as the sources at present available make this possible.

About the Author Margaret Smith (1884- 1970) was a scholar writing on early Christian and Muslim mysticism presenting a view from an open-minded Christian perspective. Smith was the first westerner to chronicle the lives of the Sufi mystic Rab i'o of Basra, and compiled brief histories of other Sufi teachers and their doctrines, translating Arabic and Persian texts into English.

Smith counted among her mentors Thomas Walker Arnold, Alfred Guillaume, R A Nicholson, and Louis Massignon.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages