Monday, July 15, 2013

Rabi`ah Al-`Adawiyyah

Regarding the square that is named after her in Cairo: There are many good scholarly and historic sources on this famous Muslim mystic (Margret Smith wrote a book about her for Cambridge back in 1920s).  But Arab public perceptions of her have been distorted by a lousy old Egyptian film about her life which rendered her a melange of Najwa Fu'ad (the belly dancer) and of the obnoxious Mother Teresa.