Ibn Ata Allah Quotes

What has he found who has lost God? And what has he lost who has found God?

Ibn Ata' Allah said: "God may open up for you the gates of obedience, but without opening up for you the gates of acceptance. On the other hand, He may Allow you to fall into disobedience which happens to lead you to the right path. DISOBEDIENCE that teaches you HUMILITY is better than PIETY that fills you with VANITY and ARROGANCE.

When the invocation descends into the heart, if there is darkness within, it illuminates it; and if there is already light, the invocation increases the light and intensifies it.

Ein Kennzeichen davon, daß man noch auf eigene Werke vertraut, ist, daß sich bei einem ‎Fehltritt die Hoffnung vermindert.‎ Worte der Weisheit HIKAM ‎ von Ibn Ata'Allah al-Iskandari

Die Werke sind starre Formen; beseelt werden sie, wenn sich das Geheimnis der ‎aufrichtigen Hingabe in ihnen findet.‎ Worte der Weisheit HIKAM ‎ von Ibn Ata'Allah al-Iskandari

The signs of the soundness of the servant's love for his Lord are three absence of self-willing pleasure in every event which takes place through divine decree and seeing the perfection of the Beloved in everything and being content with Him in everything through submission to Him in all things.

Dass du dir einen Unwissenden, der mit sich selbst unzufrieden ist, zum Freund nimmst, ist besser für dich, als einen Gelehrten anzufreunden, der mit sich selbst zufrieden ist. Also, welches Unwissen besitzt ein Unwissender, der mit sich selbst unzufrieden ist und welches Wissen besitzt ein Gelehrter, der mit sich selbst zufrieden ist.

Antecedent intentions cannot pierce the walls of predestined Decrees

It is reported by Shaykh Taj al-Din ibn 'Ata Allah al-Askandari in his book Lata'if al-Minan that Shaykh Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi said, "I once read {By the fig and the olive} until I reached, {Verily, We created man with the best stature. Then we reduced him to the lowest of the low}, so I thought and pondered upon the meaning of this ayah, and then Allah gave me the understanding of it: We have created humans in the best of forms, in their intellect and the soul they have been given, and then We return them to the lowest of the low, through their desires and whims.

As the thirteenth-century mystic Ibn Ata’ Allah Al- Iskandari says, “Don’t think you are veiled from Allah by something that is not Allah. There is nothing besides Allah. You are veiled from Him by the illusion that there is something other than Allah.