Rabi'a from Narrative to Myth

Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya is a figure shrouded in myth. Certainly a woman by this name was born in Basra Iraq in the eighth century but her life remains recorded only in legends stories poems and hagiographies. The various depictions of her - as a deeply spiritual ascetic an existentialist rebel and a romantic lover - seem impossible to reconcile and yet Rabi'a has transcended these narratives to become a global symbol of both Sufi and modern secular culture. <p/>In this groundbreaking study Rkia Elaroui Cornell traces the development of these diverse narratives and provides a history of the iconic Rabi'a's construction as a Sufi saint. Combining medieval and modern sources including evidence never before examined in novel ways <i>Rabi'a From Narrative to Myth </i>is the most significant work to emerge on this quintessential figure in Islam for more than seventy years.