Osho states, “In Sufism there is no one compared with Rabiya al-Adabiya.”
In Arabia there has been a woman, a Sufi mystic, Rabiya al-Adabiya…
[..] Sufis are one of the best products of all the religions. There is no comparison. And in Sufism there is no one compared with Rabiya al-Adabiya. She is at the very top.
One of the great Sufis was Hassan. He was a very respected saint. I am reminded of one incident…
Just to make it clear to you, Rabiya is far above even the great masters.
Hassan is a great master, has a following of thousands. He was staying at Rabiya’s house, and as usual, in the morning he wanted to read the holy Koran. But he had not his own copy with him so he asked Rabiya for her copy. Rabiya gave him her copy.
As he opened it he was surprised that in many places Rabiya had edited it – which is very much against Islam. The Koran is the last message of God, and Mohammed is his final messenger. Now there is not going to come any other message. Nobody can edit the Koran; nobody can change anything. And Rabiya had even crossed out a few words, dropped a few paragraphs – she had simply cut them out…!
Hassan said, “Rabiya, somebody has destroyed your Koran.”
Rabiya said, “Why should somebody destroy my Koran? All that has been done is done by me. I had to do it. For example, just look at the page you are at.” There was a sentence that said, “When you come across the Devil, hate him…” Rabiya had cut out this one word, “hate him,” and had written “love him.”
Hassan said, “But Rabiya, this is God’s message; you can’t change it.”
She said, “It doesn’t matter whose message it is, it is against my experience. Since I became aware of myself, there is only love left. Even if the Devil comes in front of me, I cannot do anything but love him. And this is my copy of the Koran! It reflects me. It has to be according to me and my experience. Hatred has completely disappeared from me, so I am helpless. I cannot follow this sentence.
“Even if God comes to tell me, I am going to argue against it, because this is not my experience. And I can say with authority that there comes a moment when you are pure love. Then whoever comes in front of you, you simply can look with love. You can share your love, you can radiate your love. It does not matter who the person is, whether it is God or the Devil. Even if you are sitting alone, a man of realization radiates love, although there is nobody to receive it. It is simply the nature of enlightenment.”
Hassan had to agree. He said, “I had never thought in that way.”
Osho, The Sword and the Lotus – Talks in the Himalayas, Ch 17, Q 1 (excerpt)
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
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