Benjamin B. Warfield, in the “Princeton Theological Review.”

VIII
AL-GHAZALI AS A MYSTIC

One of the earliest mystics in Islam was Rabiaʾ, 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 object 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.