Margaret Smith's 1928 biography of eighth-century Sufi saint Rabi'a is an authoritative account of Rabi'a's evolution from slave to influential religious teacher and purported performer of miracles. An examination of the role of women in early Islam, and of Sufi teachings on love, purity and the asc...

Margaret Smith's 1928 biography of eighth-century Sufi saint Rabi'a is an authoritative account of Rabi'a's evolution from slave to influential religious teacher and purported performer of miracles. An examination of the role of women in early Islam, and of Sufi teachings on love, purity and the ascetic life.