The Ethics of Care as Spiritual Practice

Rabia engaged in profound spiritual teaching and ecstatic devotion while also managing the practical work of survival and care. Her life refused to separate spiritual practice from material care. For found family in diaspora, this integration becomes essential: members often must engage in intensive practical caregiving—nursing sick community members, providing shelter, preparing food, navigating immigration systems, translating medical information. These activities can feel like distractions from spiritual life or sources of burnout. Rabia's model reframes caregiving as spiritual work equal in dignity and importance to formal devotion. This prevents the hierarchy where some members feel they're always giving practical care while others engage in more valued spiritual practices. In found family contexts, honoring care work as spiritual practice means recognizing the person who makes meals for sick members, the person who helps with housing navigation, the person who provides emotional support as doing sacred work. This framework also prevents caregiver burnout by connecting practical labor to deeper meaning. When care is understood as devotion to the community, it becomes sustainable spiritual practice rather than depleting obligation.