📜 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #62 أَنْتَ حُرٌّ مِمَّا أَنْتَ عَنْهُ آيِسٌ، وَعَبْدٌ لِمَا أَنْتَ لَهُ طَامِعٌ. "You are free from that which you have given up hope of, and a slave to that which you covet." Desire binds the heart; it is a hidden form of worship, since to yearn for a thing is to hang your soul upon it. To despair of a thing — to cut off hope in it — empties the heart of it, and the empty heart is the free heart. True freedom, then, is not in possessing what you want, but in wanting nothing but Allah. Every attachment less than Him is a chain, and every letting-go for His sake is a release. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📜 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #61 مَا قَادَكَ شَيْءٌ مِثْلُ الْوَهْمِ "Nothing drives you like illusion." Illusion is a non-existent thing set against real existence, yet the lower self is drawn to it more than to firm realities — because falsehood suits its nature. Chief among these illusions is placing hope in creatures, a hope with no hope of being fulfilled. The realized ones cut all such attachments: their ambition, dependence, and fear rest with Allah alone, and so their hearts are freed from avarice and settled in contentment. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📜 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #60 مَا بَسَقَتْ أَغْصَانُ ذُلٍّ إِلَّا عَلَى بَذْرِ طَمَعٍ "Branches of humiliation only grow high from seeds of avarice." Avarice — wanting what is in the hands of others — is among the gravest calamities of the lower self, for it chains the heart to created things and makes the servant a slave to those he covets. True dignity comes only when the believer raises his ambition above people and rests his heart in reliance on Allah alone. As Abū Bakr al-Warrāq said, if avarice were asked its profession, it would answer: "causing humiliation." Cleanse the self of it, and you take your needs directly from your Lord. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📜 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #59 قَطَعَ السَّائِرِينَ لَهُ وَالْوَاصِلِينَ إِلَيْهِ عَنْ رُؤْيَةِ أَعْمَالِهِمْ وَشُهُودِ أَحْوَالِهِمْ، أَمَّا السَّائِرُونَ فَلِأَنَّهُمْ لَمْ يَتَحَقَّقُوا بِالصِّدْقِ مَعَ اللَّهِ فِيهَا، وَأَمَّا الْوَاصِلُونَ فَلِأَنَّهُ غَيَّبَهُمْ بِشُهُودِهِ عَنْهَا. "He has cut off those traveling to Him and those who have reached Him from seeing their good actions and spiritual states. As for the travelers, it is because they have not realized sincerity with Allah in them. As for those that have reached Him, it is because He has made them absent from them by their gazing towards Him." Two paths, one mercy: the traveler is spared self-admiration by seeing the flaws in his own sincerity, while the one who has arrived is spared it by seeing only God. Both are cut off from their works — one through humility, the other through witnessing. Whoever truly sees Him cannot see anything alongside Him. Self-regard is the veil; being absent from the self is the gift. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #58 لَا يُفْرِحْكَ الطَّاعَةُ لِأَنَّهَا بَرَزَتْ مِنْكَ، وَافْرَحْ بِهَا لِأَنَّهَا بَرَزَتْ مِنَ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكَ. ﴿قُلْ بِفَضْلِ اللَّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِ فَبِذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا هُوَ خَيْرٌ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ﴾ "Let not an act of obedience make you glad because it came from you. Rather, be glad for it because it came from Allah to you. Say: With the bounty of Allah and His mercy, let them be happy. It is better than what they amass." (Qurʾān 10:58) Joy in obedience takes two forms. To rejoice because the act came from Allah — seeing it as His favor and blessing — is itself a form of gratitude and is praised. But to rejoice because the act came from you, by your own strength and choice, is blameworthy: it slips into ʿujb (self-conceit), which nullifies works. As Ibn ʿAbbād notes, joy of that second kind "is like becoming happy with nothing." — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #57 النُّورُ لَهُ الكَشْفُ، وَالبَصِيرَةُ لَهَا الحُكْمُ، وَالقَلْبُ لَهُ الإِقْبَالُ وَالإِدْبَارُ "Light reveals, insight judges, and the heart approaches or turns away." Three faculties, three distinct functions. Light (al-nūr) lifts the veil from unseen realities so they become clear to the seeker. Insight (al-baṣīra) — the sight of the heart — then judges the truth of what has been unveiled. Finally the heart chooses: either it draws near by acting on what insight has seen, or it turns away by refusing to act. Perception without response is a light wasted. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #56 النُّورُ جُنْدُ الْقَلْبِ، كَمَا أَنَّ الظُّلْمَةَ جُنْدُ النَّفْسِ، فَإِذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَنْصُرَ عَبْدَهُ أَمَدَّهُ بِجُنُودِ الْأَنْوَارِ، وَقَطَعَ عَنْهُ مَدَدَ الظُّلَمِ وَالْأَغْيَارِ. "Light is the army of the heart, as darkness is the army of the lower self. When Allah wants to give victory to His servant, He aids him with the armies of light and cuts off from him the support of darkness and others." Light here is tawḥīd and certainty; darkness is doubt and shirk. The heart and the nafs are two armies locked in a contest — every choice between painful obedience and pleasurable heedlessness is that battle joined. When Allah wills a servant's bliss, He floods the heart with light so this world looks small; when the servant is abandoned, darkness blinds him to the ākhira. The only refuge when the fighting grows fierce is much dhikr, true reliance, and seeking protection in Him. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #55 الأَنْوَارُ مَطَايَا القُلُوبِ وَالأَسْرَارِ "Spiritual illuminations are the riding platforms of hearts and innermost beings." The lights of faith (īmān) and certainty (yaqīn) are the mounts that carry the heart (qalb) and the innermost being (sirr) toward the Presence of the Knower of the Unseen. Just as a rider cannot cross vast terrain without a mount, the soul cannot traverse the distance to God without these illuminations. They are the very same spiritual influxes (wāridāt) mentioned in the preceding aphorisms — the means by which Allah draws His servant out of the prison of self and into the expanse of His nearness. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #54 أَوْرَدَ عَلَيْكَ الْوَارِدَ لِيُخْرِجَكَ مِنْ سِجْنِ وُجُودِكَ إِلَى فَضَاءِ شُهُودِكَ "He sent the inrush (al-wārid) upon you to bring you out of the prison of your existence into the open expanse of your contemplation of Him." The "prison" is your preoccupation with yourself — watching your own portion, your own state, your own gain. The wārid — a spiritual influx dropped into the heart — is Allah's mercy shattering that cell. When you are absent from yourself through witnessing His Majesty and His sustaining of every atom, the walls dissolve and you find yourself in a limitless field. As Abū al-Qāsim al-Naṣrābādhī said: "Your prison is your own self; when you leave it, you fall into endless ease." — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #53 أَوْرَدَ عَلَيْكَ الوَارِدَ لِيُخْرِجَكَ مِنْ يَدِ الأَغْيَارِ، وَيُحَرِّرَكَ مِنْ رِقِّ الآثَارِ "He makes spiritual experiences come to you so that He may save you from the hand of others and free you from slavery to created things." Created things try to snatch you away from Him — through your love for them, your rest in them, your dependence on them. So He sends you a spiritual influx (wārid) to break their grip and dissolve the shackles. The Qur'anic image is striking: a slave with many quarreling masters versus a slave who belongs to one (39:29). Whoever is freed from the hand of others belongs wholly to Allah alone. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #52 إِنَّمَا أَوْرَدَ عَلَيْكَ الوَارِدَ لِتَكُونَ بِهِ عَلَيْهِ وَارِدًا "He only made spiritual experiences come over you so that with them you may come to Him." The wārid — the spiritual influx that descends upon the heart — is not an end in itself but a means. Its function is to purify the heart of turbidity and cleanse it of attachment to created things, since the Divine Presence cannot be reached by a heart stained with "others." What is given to you is given so that, through it, you may return to the Giver. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #51 مَا مِنْ عَمَلٍ أَرْجَى لِلْقَبُولِ مِنْ عَمَلٍ يَغِيبُ عَنْكَ شُهُودُهُ، وَيُحْتَقَرُ عِنْدَكَ وُجُودُهُ "No action is more likely to be accepted than that which you become absent from and whose presence you deem insignificant." The surest sign that an act of worship has been accepted is that you forget it — you neither dwell on it nor magnify it in your own eyes. When the servant sees his action as great, ʿujb (self-conceit) creeps in and the deed is undone, for "Allah only accepts from the god-fearing" (5:27). Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī said: "Every time I find an action of mine pleasing, I search it out for faults." Let the heart rest with the Lord, not with the deed. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #50 لَا صَغِيرَةَ إِذَا قَابَلَكَ عَدْلُهُ، وَلَا كَبِيرَةَ إِذَا وَاجَهَكَ فَضْلُهُ "No sin is small if He shows you His justice, and no sin is big if He shows you His benevolence." The weight of a deed is not measured by the deed itself, but by which divine attribute Allah turns toward the servant. When His Justice (ʿadl) faces someone, even small sins swell into mountains and good works dissolve. When His Grace (faḍl) faces someone, even great sins shrink into nothing. As Yaḥyā ibn Muʿādh said: if He measured us by His justice, no good deeds would remain; if His grace reached us, no bad deeds would remain. The servant's hope, then, is not in his own record but in the face Allah turns toward him. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #49 لَا يَعْظُمِ الذَّنْبُ عِنْدَكَ عَظَمَةً تَصُدُّكَ عَنْ حُسْنِ الظَّنِّ بِاللهِ تَعَالَى، فَإِنَّ مَنْ عَرَفَ رَبَّهُ اسْتَصْغَرَ فِي جَنْبِ كَرَمِهِ ذَنْبَهُ. "Don't let a sin become so great in your eyes that it prevents you from expecting the best from Allah Most High. Whoever knows his Lord considers his sin small in relation to His generosity." Reflection: There are two ways of regarding a sin as "great." The first is praiseworthy — seeing it as serious enough to move you to sincere repentance. The second is ruinous — letting it drive you to despair and think ill of Allah, a state worse than the sin itself, born of ignorance of His boundless generosity. The knower of God sees his sin as small only next to the vastness of Allah's karam, never small in itself. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #48 مِنْ عَلَامَاتِ مَوْتِ الْقَلْبِ عَدَمُ الْحُزْنِ عَلَى مَا فَاتَكَ مِنَ الْمُوَافَقَاتِ، وَتَرْكُ النَّدَمِ عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتَهُ مِنْ وُجُودِ الزَّلَّاتِ "Among the signs of the heart's death is the absence of sadness over acts of obedience you have missed, and the absence of regret over the slips you have committed." A living heart grieves at missed obedience and repents its lapses — these movements are its pulse. Their absence is not tranquility but death, for the believer reads his own actions as signs: joy at good, sorrow at evil. As the Prophet ﷺ told Zayd al-Khayr, loving the good and its people, yearning for it, is itself the sign that Allah wants good for you. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #47 لَا تَتْرُكِ الذِّكْرَ لِعَدَمِ حُضُورِكَ مَعَ اللهِ فِيهِ، لِأَنَّ غَفْلَتَكَ عَنْ وُجُودِ ذِكْرِهِ أَشَدُّ مِنْ غَفْلَتِكَ فِي وُجُودِ ذِكْرِهِ، فَعَسَى أَنْ يَرْفَعَكَ مِنْ ذِكْرٍ مَعَ وُجُودِ غَفْلَةٍ إِلَى ذِكْرٍ مَعَ وُجُودِ يَقَظَةٍ، وَمِنْ ذِكْرٍ مَعَ وُجُودِ يَقَظَةٍ إِلَى ذِكْرٍ مَعَ وُجُودِ حُضُورٍ، وَمِنْ ذِكْرٍ مَعَ وُجُودِ حُضُورٍ إِلَى ذِكْرٍ مَعَ وُجُودِ غَيْبَةٍ عَمَّا سِوَى الْمَذْكُورِ، ﴿وَمَا ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ﴾. "Do not abandon the remembrance of Allah because of your lack of presence with Him in it. For your heedlessness of His remembrance is worse than your heedlessness within His remembrance. It may be that He raises you from remembrance with heedlessness to remembrance with wakefulness, and from remembrance with wakefulness to remembrance with presence, and from remembrance with presence to remembrance in absence from all besides the Remembered. 'And that is not difficult for Allah.' [Qur'an 14:20]" Reflection: Dhikr is the shortest path to Allah — never abandon it for lack of concentration. To skip remembrance entirely is a graver heedlessness than to remember while distracted. The tongue's remembrance is a ladder: Allah may lift the sincere seeker from mere words, to wakeful attention, to heartful presence, and finally to being absent from all but Him. Begin with what you can; He handles the rest. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #46 حُسْنُ الأَعْمَالِ نَتَائِجُ حُسْنِ الأَحْوَالِ، وَحُسْنُ الأَحْوَالِ مِنَ التَّحَقُّقِ فِي مَقَامَاتِ الإِنْزَالِ. "Excellence in actions is a fruit of excellence in spiritual states. Further, excellence in spiritual states comes from becoming realized in the stations of the descending [Divine support]." Right action is not the root but the fruit — it flows from a sound inner state, and a sound state itself is nourished by what Allah sends down upon the heart of knowledge and divine cognition. Al-Ghazālī pointed to the same chain: knowledge yields a state, and a state yields good action. So do not chase deeds while neglecting the heart that produces them; tend to the ground, and the branches will bear. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #45 مَا قَلَّ عَمَلٌ بَرَزَ مِنْ قَلْبٍ زَاهِدٍ، وَلَا كَثُرَ عَمَلٌ بَرَزَ مِنْ قَلْبٍ رَاغِبٍ "No action from an abstinent heart is scarce, and no action from an avid heart is plenteous." The worth of a deed is measured by the state of the heart, not its outward quantity. A few sincere acts from a heart detached from the world outweigh mountains of works performed by a heart entangled in worldly desire. The abstinent are shielded from riyāʾ and hidden motives, so their small deeds are multiplied and accepted. The attached, though outwardly busy, find their works hollowed out from within — as ʿAlī said, "Be more concerned about the acceptance of an action than about the action itself." — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #44 رُبَّمَا كَانَتِ الْحَالَةُ الرَّدِيئَةُ الَّتِي أَنْتَ فِيهَا خَيْرًا لَكَ مِنَ الْحَالَةِ الَّتِي تَسْتَشْرِفُ إِلَيْهَا. "Perhaps your state is bad, yet appears good to you — because your companion is even worse than you." Ibn ʿAbbād warns that this is among the gravest afflictions of the heart: to keep company with one whose spiritual state is beneath yours, and thereby find your own condition pleasing by comparison. Such false satisfaction gives birth to self-approval (al-riḍā ʿan al-nafs), which the Shaykh has already identified as the root of every evil. The remedy is honest companionship with those whose state elevates you and whose speech points you toward Allāh. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality

📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #43 لا تَصْحَبْ مَنْ لا يُنْهِضُكَ حَالُهُ، وَلا يَدُلُّكَ عَلَى اللهِ مَقَالُهُ. "Do not accompany him whose state does not lift you, nor his words guide you to Allah." Companionship (ṣuḥba) is a foundational principle of the spiritual path — the true benefit of a companion is twofold: that his very state elevates your aspiration toward Allah, and that his words point you back to Him. It is not required that he be perfect in every virtue; it suffices that his aspiration surpasses yours and his speech is more sound. Beware, though, of company that draws you into ostentation or a false front, for the sins of the heart are graver than the sins of the limbs. As the sages have said: a person's nature is quietly drawn from the nature of those around him. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality