Quotes by Ibn Ata'Allah

Your Saying "God is Most Great" does not mean that He is greater than something else, since there is nothing else alongside of Him, so that it could be said that He is greater than it. Rather, the meaning of Allahu Akbar is that He is much too great to be perceived by the senses or for the depths of His Majesty to be reached by reason and logic, and indeed, that He is much too great to be known by an other-than-Him for truly, no one knows God but God.

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.

He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward and He is the Knower of all things.

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.

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."

Whosoever perseveres in the invocation will find that lights come to him constantly and that the veils of invisible things are lifted from him.

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.

(Paraphrased: As long as an individual's heart is filled with the tendency towards what is other-than-God Most High, there is no Certitude about God.) When certitude about God Most High does occur in the heart . . . the heart becomes tranquil through the Majesty of God; then it abstains from what is other-than-God. So, it stands weak and is compelled to cry out to God for help. Then He who responds to the necessitous when they cry out to Him, responds to it. That radiant light settles into the heart and the darkness of preoccupation with what is other-than-God is extinguished therewith. Then the reality of the Realm (al-Malakut) becomes visible to it, and that is what Harithah meant when he said to the Messenger of God: "It is as if I see the Throne of my Lord distinctly." And the Messenger of God said, "The Light of God Most High is faith in one's heart."

Invoking removes darkness and brings forth radiant lights.

The remembrance of God in the heart is the sword of the novices with which they combat their enemies and repel the afflictions that befall them.