Funny, but I never really saw Allah as all that loving of a diety...

The point goes well beyond Allah, of course. How many religious people of all faiths treat prayer, devotion, etc. as a means to an end? Neither fear nor greed are proper paths to Paradise, says Rabi'a.

So, if not these paths, then what is the way?

To use earthly marriage as a metaphor (not that religions ever do that), what Rabia is decrying is the spouse who "loves" her partner because she dare not do otherwise (due to societal pressures, an abusive environment, economic dependency, etc.), and the spouse who "loves" his partner because of the personal benefits he derives (power, wealth, one-sided sexual gratification, etc.).

Going through the motions of "love" for fear of consequences or hope of gain reduces love to just that: going through the motions. The real purposes and (yes) benefits of the relationship -- a richer spiritual existence, the joy of simple companionship, etc. -- are forgotten.

Of course, the metaphor breaks down here when you ask whether a supreme being, as typically conceived is "unequally yoked" in such a relationship. A better metaphor may be parent-child, with the child learning to act in certain specific ways so as to avoid the wrath and petulance of the parent, or else endlessly brown-nosing and flattering the parent and doing what he perceives as the parent's bidding simply to secure a lucrative inheritance when the time comes.

The fearful child fears the parent's wrath and works to avoid it without ever looking deeper to see if there is actually some reason for why the parent does what he does -- better to placate the monster than dare to examine whether it is a monster at all. The avaricious child does not care about the parent any further than the promise of future goodies the parent represents, and does and says whatever he believes will please the parent with no concern for what will really do so -- nor, indeed, how they might themselves learn the path by which the parent came to those riches.

And that last part is, I think, the essence of her saying -- that those who focus too much on the empty rituals and trappings of a religion (its form), hoping either to avoid eternal wrath or purchase eternal salvation, risk being shunted off of the path which leads to an understanding of and a relationship with the god they claim to worship (its essence).

"Be not as servants who serve in hopes of a reward, but rather as servants who serve without expectation of reward, out of the awe of Heaven" (Pirkei Avot 1:3).

The tanna Antigonos of Socho anticipated Rabi'a by nearly a thousand years, although I doubt that her words were derivative of his.

Love is a path to the heart that knows its own way.

True love can be like a desert flower. Surviving under the toughest conditions.

It has always been the nature of people to pray to god when they want something, or when they fear something. We see god as a provider and protector. Rabia's proposal is to love god for his glory - for his choice to provide for and protect us. When this is realized, love for god will germinate from us by itself.

True love neither expects, nor cares, for a return of the same or anything else. Its an inherent quality.

Jesus too was a big (very big, actually) supporter of love. His whole message was love.