Pure Devotion as Practice

Rabia's life was organized around remembrance (dhikr) and prayer—practices that trained her consciousness toward constant awareness of Divine presence. A comparable practice addresses favoritism: deliberate, equal attention to those we naturally prefer and those we overlook. This might mean noticing when we give unequal time to family members and consciously redistributing presence; listening as fully to the quiet colleague as the charismatic one; checking whether our affection flows freely or is rationed. This concept is not about forced equality of feeling but about disciplining the habitual patterns that generate favoritism. In Rabia's tradition, devotional practice rewires the heart's attachments. Applied here, it means repeatedly choosing to see sacred worth equally distributed, until this vision becomes natural rather than forced. The practice acknowledges that favoritism is not merely a moral failure but a habit of perception requiring patient re-training. The cost of neglecting this practice is that favoritism perpetuates itself invisibly, shaping every relationship and decision, while the opportunity to cultivate genuine belonging slips away.