Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/239



ONE of the earliest mystics in Islam was Rabia, who was buried in Jerusalem. She was a native of Busrah and died at Jerusalem as early as the second century of Islam. Her tomb, according to Ibn Khallikan, was an ob ject of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, and was probably visited by Al-Ghazali. The following verses are quoted from her in the Ihya (vol. iv. p. 298):

" Two ways I love Thee: selfishly, And next, as worthy is of Thee. Tis selfish love that I do naught Save think on Thee with every thought: Tis purest love when Thou dost raise The veil to my adoring gaze. Not mine the praise in that or this, Thine is the praise in both, I wis."

The Moslem mystics, or Sufis, however, received their name through Abu Khair, who lived at the end of the second century of the Hegira. His disciples wore a woolen garment, and from the