📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #29 شَتَّانَ بَيْنَ مَنْ يَسْتَدِلُّ بِهِ أَوْ يَسْتَدِلُّ عَلَيْهِ. اَلْمُسْتَدِلُّ بِهِ عَرَفَ الْحَقَّ لِأَهْلِهِ وَأَثْبَتَ الْأَمْرَ مِنْ وُجُودِ أَصْلِهِ، وَالْاِسْتِدْلَالُ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ عَدَمِ الْوُصُولِ إِلَيْهِ، وَإِلَّا فَمَتَى غَابَ حَتَّى يُسْتَدَلَّ عَلَيْهِ، وَمَتَى بَعُدَ حَتَّى تَكُونَ الْآثَارُ هِيَ الَّتِي تُوصِلُ إِلَيْهِ؟ "What a difference there is between him who uses Allah to prove [the existence of others] and him who uses [others] to prove Allah's existence. The former knows reality for Whom it is; so, he affirms the matter from its origin. The latter hasn't yet reached (knowledge of) Him. Otherwise, when was He absent that His existence needed to be proved and when was He far that others would be needed to reach Him?" Ibn ʿAbbād contrasts two paths: the traveler who ascends through creation to reach the Creator, and the one drawn (majdhūb) whom Allah unveils Himself to directly — who then knows creation only through Him. The first uses the unknown to prove the Known, the non-existent to prove the Existent. But Allah was never absent to require proof, nor distant to require intermediaries. As the verse goes: "I am amazed at him who wants a witness for You, when it is You who have made him witness everything." — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #28 مَا أُودِعَ فِي غَيْبِ السَّرَائِرِ ظَهَرَ فِي شَهَادَةِ الظَّوَاهِرِ. "What is deposited in the unseen of the innermost self appears in the visible witness of the outward." The outward is a mirror of the inward: what fills the heart—whether nearness to Allāh or attachment to other-than-Him—inevitably shows through the limbs, manners, and bearing. Abū Ḥafṣ said, "Beautiful outward manners are signs of beautiful inward manners," and the Prophet ﷺ said, "If the heart of this one were humble, his limbs would be humble too." So do not deceive yourself: whoever claims love and knowledge of Allāh while none of its fruits appear on him is a claimant without proof. Watch the exterior—it testifies to the state of the interior. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #27 مَنْ أَشْرَقَتْ بِدَايَتُهُ أَشْرَقَتْ نِهَايَتُهُ "Whoever's beginning shines, his ending also shines." A luminous beginning is marked by turning to Allah in one's affairs and depending upon Him in trials. When the seeker orients his heart toward the Divine from the outset — with sincerity, reliance, and return — that same light illuminates the end of his path: nearness to Allah and arrival in His presence. The end mirrors the beginning; how one starts shapes where one arrives. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #25 مَا تَوَقَّفَ مَطْلَبٌ أَنْتَ طَالِبُهُ بِرَبِّكَ، وَلَا تَيَسَّرَ مَطْلَبٌ أَنْتَ طَالِبُهُ بِنَفْسِكَ. "No aim is halted that you seek through your Lord, and no aim is made easy that you seek through yourself." When you bring your needs to Allah in true reliance, you grasp the strongest cause — distant goals are drawn near and difficult matters are made light. But whoever leans on his own strength, cleverness, or striving is handed over to himself and left to his own weakness. This holds for every pursuit, but most of all for the path to Allah: the traveler who clings to his Lord finds the road opened, while the one who trusts his own effort finds every gate shut. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #24 لَا تَسْتَغْرِبْ وُقُوعَ الْأَكْدَارِ مَا دُمْتَ فِي هَذِهِ الدَّارِ، فَإِنَّهَا مَا أَبْرَزَتْ إِلَّا مَا هُوَ مُسْتَحِقٌّ وَصْفَهَا، وَوَاجِبٌ نَعْتَهَا. "Do not find the occurrence of troubles strange as long as you are in this world, for it only manifests what is befitting of its description and essential to its nature." Reflection: Allah appointed this world as an abode of trial, not of rest — troubles are not intrusions upon it but expressions of what it is. Ibn ʿAbbād reminds us that seeking ease here is like seeking safety in a house of snakes; even Junayd said he was unsurprised by hardship because the world's very nature is anxiety and sorrow. The believer's response is not shock but patience (ṣabr), contentment (riḍā), and submission to the divine decree — for patience is a mount that never stumbles, and after every hardship comes relief. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #23 لَا تَتَرَقَّبْ فُرُوغَكَ مِمَّا سِوَاهُ، فَإِنَّ ذَلِكَ يَقْطَعُكَ عَنْ وُجُودِ الْمُرَاقَبَةِ لَهُ فِيمَا هُوَ مُقِيمُكَ فِيهِ. "Do not wait for freedom from your current condition, since that will prevent you from being mindful of Him where He has placed you." Wherever Allah has placed you — in hardship or ease, sickness or health — that state carries rights and obligations meant for you now. Longing to escape it robs you of the very presence and mindfulness demanded of you in this moment. The sincere disciple, as Sahl said, finds rest only when he sees no time but the one he is in. Patience in what you dislike, gratitude in what you love — both require you to be fully here. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #22 مَا مِنْ نَفَسٍ تُبْدِيهِ إِلَّا وَلَهُ قَدَرٌ فِيكَ يُمْضِيهِ "Not a breath you take, except He has a decree to pass over you." Every breath is a vessel carrying a divine decree — a moment already inscribed with what Allah wills to enact through you. Your successive breaths are not your own; they are an amāna (trust) belonging to al-Ḥaqq, each one carrying rights owed to Him. When the servant truly realizes this, there is no room left for tadbīr (self-planning) or the chasing of desires — only presence with the One who breathes life through him. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #21 طَلَبُكَ مِنْهُ اتِّهَامٌ لَهُ، وَطَلَبُكَ لَهُ غَيْبَةٌ مِنْكَ عَنْهُ، وَطَلَبُكَ لِغَيْرِهِ لِقِلَّةِ حَيَائِكَ مِنْهُ، وَطَلَبُكَ مِنْ غَيْرِهِ لِوُجُودِ بُعْدِكَ عَنْهُ. "Your asking Him is a charge against Him. Your asking for Him is [due to] your absence from Him. Your asking for other than Him is due to your lack of modesty in front of Him. Your asking from other than Him is due to being far from Him." Ibn ʿAbbād unpacks four subtle defects in how the seeker asks: to demand from Allah implies distrust of His care; to seek Him presumes distance from His presence; to want anything besides Him betrays a lack of ḥayāʾ before Him; and to lean on any other reveals estrangement from Him. Yet asking is not itself blameworthy — when done in worship, in obedience to His command to call upon Him (Qur'an 40:60), and as an expression of the servant's essential poverty, it carries no fault. The lesson is not to abandon duʿāʾ, but to purify the heart behind it. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #20 مَا تَوَقَّفَتْ مَطَالِبُ السَّائِرِ إِلَيْهِ إِلَّا نَادَتْهَا هَوَاتِفُ الْحَقَائِقِ: مَا تَطْلُبُهُ أَمَامَكَ، وَلَا تَبَرَّجَتْ لَهُ ظَوَاهِرُ الْأَكْوَانِ إِلَّا نَادَتْهُ حَقَائِقُهَا: إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌ فَلَا تَكْفُرْ "The spiritual drive of the traveler does not will to stop with what is revealed to it except that the voices of higher reality call out to him, 'What you seek is still ahead of you.' Neither do created things show their beauty except that their realities call out to you, 'We are but a temptation, so disbelieve not.'" On the path to Allah, unveilings and spiritual openings are gifts — not the destination. The moment aspiration tries to settle into any station, reality itself protests: keep going, what you seek lies further ahead. And when the outward beauty of the world dazzles the wayfarer, its inner truth whispers a warning from Sūrat al-Baqarah — we are only a trial, do not be deceived. True arrival begins where even the seeker's own will falls away. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #19 لَا تَطْلُبْ مِنْهُ أَنْ يُخْرِجَكَ مِنْ حَالَةٍ لِيَسْتَعْمِلَكَ فِيمَا سِوَاهَا، فَلَوْ أَرَادَكَ لَاسْتَعْمَلَكَ بِغَيْرِ إِخْرَاجٍ. "Do not ask Him to take you out of a condition so that He uses you in another. If He wanted you, He would have used you without taking you out." Reflection: Spiritual restlessness often masquerades as ambition — we imagine we'd serve God better in some other state, some other work, some other life. But if He willed to employ you there, He would do so without needing to relocate you. The present condition, as long as it does not violate the Sacred Law, is precisely where He has placed you; adab is to serve Him there rather than dictate the terms of your service. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #18 إِحَالَتُكَ الْأَعْمَالَ عَلَى وُجُودِ الْفَرَاغِ مِنْ رُعُونَاتِ النَّفْسِ. "Your postponement of deeds until a time of free leisure is one of the frivolities of the ego." To defer good works while awaiting a season of ease reveals three follies: preferring this world over the next, trusting a leisure that death may never grant, and quietly claiming self-sufficiency from Allah by leaning on one's own power. The soul must instead seize the present moment — whatever its condition — for aims never end but by other aims, and death often arrives before the awaited pause. True reliance is on Allah, not on tomorrow's imagined stillness. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #16 كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ الَّذِي أَظْهَرَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ؟ كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ الَّذِي ظَهَرَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ؟ كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ الظَّاهِرُ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ؟ كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ الْوَاحِدُ الَّذِي لَيْسَ مَعَهُ شَيْءٌ؟ كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ؟ يَا عَجَبًا كَيْفَ يَظْهَرُ الْوُجُودُ فِي الْعَدَمِ؟ أَمْ كَيْفَ يَثْبُتُ الْحَادِثُ مَعَ مَنْ لَهُ وَصْفُ الْقِدَمِ؟ "How can it be conceived that anything could veil Him — when He is the One who manifested everything? How can anything veil Him when He appears through everything, and is more evident than everything? How can anything veil Him when He is the One alongside Whom is nothing else — and closer to you than everything? O wonder! How can existence appear in nothingness? Or how can the temporal stand alongside the One who is beyond time?" The illusion of a veil between us and Allah is itself the veil. He is not hidden behind creation — creation is what makes His signs known, and He is more manifest than what He manifests. Nothingness cannot stand against existence, nor the created against the Eternal. The veil, then, is only in the eye of the one who looks — never in the One who is seen. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #15 مِنْ بَراهينِ قَهْرِهِ سُبْحانَهُ أَنْ حَجَبَكَ عَنْهُ بِما لَيْسَ بِمَوْجودٍ مَعَهُ "Among what shows you His subjugation (glory be to Him) is that He veils you from Him with that which has no existence alongside Him." Everything other than Allah is, in reality, nonexistent — yet He veils us from Himself by these very phantoms: our desires, our expectations, even our pursuit of spiritual stations. This is a proof of His overmastering power (qahr), for the veil is woven from nothing. If it were lifted, the servant would be annihilated (fanāʾ) from himself and subsist only with his Lord — first in seeing no doer but Him, then no attribute but His, then no being but His. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #14 الأَكْوَانُ ظُلْمَةٌ، وَإِنَّمَا أَنَارَهَا ظُهُورُ الحَقِّ فِيهَا. فَمَنْ رَأَى الأَكْوَانَ وَلَمْ يَشْهَدْهُ فِيهَا أَوْ عِنْدَهَا أَوْ قَبْلَهَا أَوْ بَعْدَهَا فَقَدْ أَعْوَزَهُ وُجُودُ الأَنْوَارِ وَحُجِبَتْ عَنْهُ شُمُوسُ المَعَارِفِ بِسُحُبِ الآثَارِ. "Created things are in essence darkness, only illuminated by the manifestation of the Real in them. Whoever sees created things and does not witness Him in them, or with them, or before them, or after them, is in need of light — and the suns of divine knowledge are screened from him by the clouds of created effects." Ibn ʿAbbād explains that the universe, left to itself, is dark nonexistence — it only becomes illuminated by the light of al-Ḥaqq becoming manifest in it. People differ: some see only creation and are veiled from the Creator, while others are guided from effects to the Effector, or from the Effector to His effects. Yet he warns that these subtleties are where "many feet have slipped," and one must hold firmly to tanzīh: "There is nothing like Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing" (42:11). — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #13 كَيْفَ يُشْرِقُ قَلْبٌ صُوَرُ الأَكْوَانِ مُنْطَبِعَةٌ في مِرْآتِهِ؟ أَمْ كَيْفَ يَرْحَلُ إِلَى اللهِ وَهُوَ مُكَبَّلٌ بِشَهَوَاتِهِ؟ أَمْ كَيْفَ يَطْمَعُ أَنْ يَدْخُلَ حَضْرَةَ اللهِ وَهُوَ لَمْ يَتَطَهَّرْ مِنْ جَنَابَةِ غَفَلاَتِهِ؟ أَمْ كَيْفَ يَرْجُو أَنْ يَفْهَمَ دَقَائِقَ الأَسْرَارِ وَهُوَ لَمْ يَتُبْ مِنْ هَفَوَاتِهِ؟ "How shall divine light shine upon a heart whose mirror is stamped with the impressions of created things? Or how shall it travel to Allah while chained in its lusts? Or how shall it wish to enter the presence of Allah while uncleansed from the impurity of forgetfulness of Him? Or how shall it hope to understand subtle secrets while having not repented from its mistakes?" Ibn ʿAbbād explains that these are four pairs of mutually exclusive opposites — light cannot coexist with the darkness of worldly attachment, nor can the journey to Allah proceed while the nafs runs free in its desires. The heart is likened to a mirror: when it is stamped with images of created things, it cannot reflect divine illumination. Purity from heedlessness and repentance from error are the preconditions for entering the Divine Presence and grasping its subtle secrets. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #12 مَا نَفَعَ القَلبَ شَيءٌ مِثلُ عُزْلَةٍ يَدْخُلُ بِهَا مَيْدَانَ فِكْرَةٍ. "Nothing benefits the heart like a solitude through which it enters the field of contemplation." Ibn ʿAbbād explains that mixing with people exposes the heart to backbiting, pretension, and hardness — diseases that erode certainty. True solitude is not mere isolation but a turning inward: guarding the tongue, the ears, and the gaze from what distracts. Yet withdrawal alone is incomplete — its fruit is only realized when the heart is occupied with tafakkur (contemplation), which the Prophet ﷺ praised as greater than years of worship. As Hasan al-Baṣrī said: "Contemplation is a mirror that shows you your good qualities from your bad ones." — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #11 اِدْفِنْ وُجُودَكَ فِي أَرْضِ الْخُمُولِ، فَمَا نَبَتَ مِمَّا لَمْ يُدْفَنْ لَا يَتِمُّ نِتَاجُهُ "Bury yourself in the earth of being hidden, for what grows without being buried doesn't come to fruit." Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī explains that nothing is more harmful to the spiritual seeker than popularity and the spread of his reputation. Love of prestige contradicts true servitude to Allah. Just as a seed must be buried in the earth to germinate and bear fruit, the disciple must embrace obscurity and hiddenness for his inner state to mature — the early masters, like Ibrāhīm ibn Adham and Fuḍayl, all insisted that sincerity demands indifference to people's notice. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #10 الأَعْمَالُ صُوَرٌ قَائِمَةٌ، وَأَرْوَاحُهَا وُجُودُ سِرِّ الإِخْلاَصِ فِيهَا "Actions are but standing forms; their spirits are the presence of the secret of sincerity within them." The commentary distinguishes two ranks of sincerity. For the righteous, sincerity means purifying one's deeds from showing off and self-interest — acting purely for Allah's promised reward. But the muqarrabūn (those drawn near) surpass even this: they no longer see themselves as the agents of their actions at all, witnessing only Allah as the mover of their stillness and motion. As one of the shaykhs said: "Correct your actions with sincerity, and correct your sincerity by giving up any claims to having any force or strength." — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #9 تَنَوَّعَتْ أَجْنَاسُ الأَعْمَالِ لِتَنَوُّعِ وَارِدَاتِ الأَحْوَالِ "Actions vary in kind because sent spiritual inspirations vary in kind." The commentary explains that wāridāt — divine inspirations that pass over the heart — produce different inward states: awe, affection, contraction (qabḍ), expansion (basṭ), and more. Since these inner receptions are varied, the outward actions they give rise to are naturally varied as well. The principle is clear: external deeds always follow from the internal states of the heart. Excellence in action is a fruit of excellence in spiritual reception. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #8 إِذَا فَتَحَ لَكَ وِجْهَةً مِنَ التَّعَرُّفِ فَلَا تُبَالِ مَعَهَا إِنْ قَلَّ عَمَلُكَ، فَإِنَّهُ مَا فَتَحَهَا لَكَ إِلَّا وَهُوَ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتَعَرَّفَ إِلَيْكَ. أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ التَّعَرُّفَ هُوَ مُورِدُهُ عَلَيْكَ، وَالْأَعْمَالَ أَنْتَ مُهْدِيهَا إِلَيْهِ، وَأَيْنَ مَا تُهْدِيهِ إِلَيْهِ مِمَّا هُوَ مُورِدُهُ عَلَيْكَ؟ "When He opens for you a way of getting to know Him, do not mind if the quantity of your actions lessen in its presence. He only opened this way for you so that He may make Himself known to you. Do you not see that His making Himself known to you is something that issues from Him to you, while actions come from you to Him? And where is what you are sending to Him in relation to what He is sending to you?" Ibn ʿAbbād explains that knowledge of Allah is the ultimate goal — the culmination of all hopes. When trials or circumstances reduce a servant's outward worship, this may be Allah's way of drawing him closer through a higher gift: direct experiential knowledge (maʿrifa). Our deeds, however plentiful, are fragile offerings that may be tainted by hidden flaws — but what He sends to us is pure bestowal. The servant who grasps this stops mourning lost actions and receives affliction as a vehicle of divine intimacy. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality