Love Without Expectation of Return

Rabia al-Adawiyya famously rejected both fear-based and reward-based spirituality, seeking love for its own sake. In attachment parenting, this translates to responding to your child's needs without keeping an emotional ledger of gratitude or compliance. You comfort the crying infant not because you expect future obedience, but because presence itself is the practice. This dissolves the hidden resentment that builds when parents unconsciously expect their sacrifices to be repaid through perfect behavior. Rabia's radical love teaches that attachment deepens precisely when we release the fantasy of control, meeting each moment with fresh compassion rather than accumulated expectation.