Top 42 Ibn Ata'illah Quotes
#1. My god
how gentle you are with me
in spite of my great ignorance
and how merciful You are with me
in spite of my ugly deeds
Ibn Ata Allah
#2. Do not despair when in spite of intense supplication,
there is a delay in receiving the expected gift.
He has guaranteed that he will respond
in what He chooses for you,
and not what you choose for yourself,
and at the time He chooses
not the time you desire.
Ibn Ata Allah
#3. People praise you for what they suppose is in you; but you must blame your soul for what you know is in it.
Ibn Ata Allah
#4. God Most High has said, "Is the reward of virtue aught save virtue?" ... Know, O man, that the covenant of servanthood is incumbent upon you, and that the covenant of Lordship is incumbent upon His magnanimity, as He Most High has said, " ... and fulfill your covenant, I shall fulfill My covenant."
Ibn Ata Allah
#5. When the heart becomes empty, the mimbar of the Divine Oneness is placed therein and the sultan of gnosis sits upon it.
Ibn Ata Allah
#6. The lights of some people precede their dhikr, while the dhikr of some people precede their lights. There is the one who does (loud) dhikr so that his heart be illumined; and there is the one whose heart has been illumined and he does (silent) dhikr.
Ibn Ata Allah
#7. Persist in that invocation until the unity of the world is subsumed for you in a single sphere, so that with the eye of your heart you will see naught in the two worlds save the One.
Ibn Ata Allah
#8. Invoking brings the heart closer to the hereafter and keeps the world away from the heart, even though the world is around it. Invoking warns the heedless heart to abandon its pleasures and deceptions.
Ibn Ata Allah
#9. The most excellent of those who perform good deeds are those who most often remember God in all situations.
Ibn Ata Allah
#10. A sign of the death of the heart: lack of sadness about beneficial actions you have missed, and lack of regret about your mistakes.
Ibn Ata Allah
#11. Invoking removes darkness and brings forth radiant lights.
Ibn Ata Allah
#12. Nothing is difficult, if you seek it through your Lord; nothing is easy, if you seek it through your self.
Ibn Ata Allah
#13. The ambition of the spiritual traveller never wants to stop with what it has been shown save that the voices of reality call to him, what you seek is ahead of you.
Ibn Ata Allah
#14. He whose wealth or children distract him from remembering God is lost; but the one who remembers God experiences delights sweeter than the pleasure of food and drink.
Ibn Ata Allah
#15. The realization of 'La ilaha illa Allah' is one of the states of the heart that can be neither expressed by the tongue nor thought out by the mind.
Ibn Ata Allah
#16. The most beloved manifestation of obedience to God is trust in Him
Ibn Ata Allah
#17. Whenever there remains any support for the ego within, even if it be only an atom's weight, then you are pretentious and have a devil who leads you astray.
Ibn Ata Allah
#18. One of the signs of relying on deeds is loss of hope when a misstep occurs.
Ibn Ata Allah
#19. If you are aware of your humility, then you are arrogant.
Ibn Ata Allah
#20. The reality of the invocation is when the Invoked takes possession of the heart, and He is One. Separation and multiplicity exist before that for as long as the invoker is in the station of invoking with the tongue or with the heart.
Ibn Ata Allah
#21. If you do not know the blessings you have when you have them, then Allah will teach you about them by taking them away from you
Ibn Ata Allah
#22. When Allah inspires your tongue to ask, know that He wants to give
Ibn Ata Allah
#23. If you want a glory that does not vanish, then do not glory in a glory that vanishes
Ibn Ata Allah
#24. Extinction is the beginning of the path: it is traveling to God Most High. Guidance comes afterwards. What I mean by guidance is the guidance of God, as described by the Friend of God, Abraham: "Lo! I am going unto my Lord Who will guide me."
Ibn Ata Allah
#26. So long as you are in this world, be not surprised at the existence of sorrows.
Ibn Ata Allah
#27. I know of nothing more useful to you than four matters: surrender to Allah, to humbly entreat Him, to think the best of Him, and to perpetually renew your repentance to Him, even if you should repeat as in seventy times in a day.
Ibn Ata Allah
#28. If you do not think well of Him because His qualities are beautiful then think well of Him because of the way He treats you.
Ibn Ata Allah
#29. I seek refuge in Thee from every hope which would distract me.
Ibn Ata Allah
#30. Actions are but lifeless forms whose soul is the secret of sincerity in them
Ibn Ata Allah
#31. 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.
Ibn Ata Allah
#32. 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.
Ibn Ata Allah
#33. It may well be that you are in a bad state, but to keep company with someone worse than you would allow to see good in yourself.
Ibn Ata Allah
#34. Whosoever is determined to seek guidance and follow a path of right conduct must search for a shaykh from amongst those who have realization, one who follows a path methodically, who has abandoned his passions, and who has firmly established his feet in the service of his Lord.
Ibn Ata Allah
#35. The gnosis of God is intermediate between immoderation, which is ascribing human characteristics to God, and negligence, which is denying any attributes to God ... The Truth lies in the balance between the two extremes.
Ibn Ata Allah
#36. If you make demands on Him, you doubt Him.
If you seek Him, you are absent from Him.
If you seek other-than-Him, you are shameless before Him.
If you make demands on other-than-Him, you are distant from Him.
Ibn Ata Allah
#37. The covenant of your servanthood is that you be a servant to God, not to someone else, and that you know that everything except God is a servant to God, as He Most High has said, "There is none in the heaven and the earth but cometh unto the Compassionate as a servant."
Ibn Ata Allah
#38. Paraphrased: The way of al-Junayd includes among other things abstaining constantly from resisting God Most High in whatever happens to one, whether good or bad ...
Ibn Ata Allah
#39. If you make intense supplication and the timing of the answer is delayed, do not despair of it. His reply to you is guaranteed; but in the way He chooses, not the way you choose, and at the moment He desires, not the moment you desire.
Ibn Ata Allah
#40. Allah was when there was nothing else than Him, and His Throne was upon the water, and He wrote in the Reminder (al-dhikr) all things, and He created the heavens and the earth.
Ibn Ata Allah
#41. When He gives, He shows you His Kindness; when He deprives, He shows you His power. And in all that, He is making Himself known to you and coming to you with His gentleness.
Ibn Ata Allah
#42. Invoking the letters of God's Name without presence of mind is invocation of the tongue; invoking with presence of mind is invocation of the heart; and invoking with an absence of self-awareness because of absorption in the Invoked is the invocation of the Self - this is the hidden invocation!
Ibn Ata Allah
