Rabi'a The Mystic and her Fellow-Saints in Islam Being the Life and Teachings of Rabi'a al-Adawiyya Al-Qaysiyya of Basra together with some account of the place of the Women Saints in Islam

For centuries there has been fascination, within and beyond the Islamic world, with the mystical teachings of Sufism, and with the role of the Islamic 'saints' whose life and work were important to Islamic theology. Margaret Smith's classic work, Rabi'a the Mystic, describes the teaching, life and times of one of the great women of the Islamic tradition, Rabi'a of Basra. This study has never been bettered. It is now reissued unchanged, but with a new introduction by Professor Annemarie Schimmel. This emphasises the importance of the book - and of Rabi'a herself - and questions of major importance today: the nature of mystical belief and experience, the Sufi tradition, and the role of women in the Islamic world.