Sufi Aphorisms  – Al-Ḥikam—by IBN ʿATA ALLAH AL-ISKANDARI

SUFI APHORISMS  – AL-ḤIKAM—BY IBN ʿATA ALLAH AL-ISKANDARI

1

One of the signs of relying on one’s own deeds

is the loss of hope when a downfall occurs.

2

Your desire for isolation,

even though God has put you in the world to gain a living,

is a hidden passion.

And your desire to gain a living in the world,

even though God has put you in isolation

is a comedown from lofty aspiration.

3

Antecedent intentions (sawābiq al-himam)

cannot pierce the walls of predestined Decrees.

4

Rest yourself from self-direction,

for what Someone Else has carried out on your behalf

you must not yourself undertake to do it.

5

Your striving for what has already been guaranteed to you,

and your remissness in what is demanded of you

are signs of the blurring of your intellect.

6

If in spite of intense supplication,

there is delay in the timing of the Gift,

let that not be the cause for your despairing.

For He has guaranteed you a response

in what He chooses for you,

not in what you choose for yourself,

and at the time He desires, not the time you desire.

7

If what was promised does not occur,

even though the time for its occurrence had been fixed,

then that must not make you doubt the promise.

Otherwise your intellect will be obscured

and the light of your innermost heart extinguished.

8 If He opens a

door for you, thereby making Himself known,

pay no need if your deeds do not measure up to this.

For, in truth, He has not opened it for you but out of

a desire to make Himself known to you.

Do you not know that He is the one who presented

the knowledge of Himself to you, whereas you are the one

who presented Him with deeds? #at a difference between

what He brings to you and what you present to Him!

9

Actions differ

because the inspirations of the states of being differ.

10

Actions are lifeless forms,

but the presence of an inner reality of sincerity (sirr al-ikhlāṣ) within them

is what endows them with life-giving Spirit.

11

Bury your existence in the earth of obscurity,

for whatever sprouts forth,

without having first been buried,

flowers imperfectly.

12

Nothing benefits the heart more than a spiritual retreat

wherein it enters the domain of meditation (maydān fikra).

13

How can the heart be illumined

while the forms of creatures are reflected in its mirror?
Or how can it journey to God
while shackled by its passions?
Or how can it desire to enter the Presence of God
while it has not yet purified itself
of the stain of forgetfulness?
Or how can it understand the subtle points of mysteries
while it has not yet repented of its offences?
14
&e Cosmos is all darkness.
It is illumined only by the manifestation of God in it.

oever sees the Cosmos and does not contemplate Him

in it or by it or before it or after it is in need of light
and is veiled from the sun of gnosis
by the clouds of created things.
15
&at which shows you the existence of His Omnipotence
Is that He veiled you from Himself
By what has no existence alongside of Him.
16
How can it be conceived that something veils Him,
since He is the One who manifests everything?
How can it be conceived that something veils Him
since He is the one who is manifest through everything?
How can it be conceived that something veils Him,
since He is the One who is manifest in everything?
How can it be conceived that something veils Him,
since He is the Manifest to everything?
How can it be conceived that something veils Him,
since He was the Manifest before the existence of anything?
How can it be conceived that something veils Him,
since He is more manifest than anything?
How can it be conceived that something veils Him,
since He is the One alongside of whom there is nothing?
How can it be conceived that something veils Him,
since He is nearer to you than anything else?
How can it be conceived that something veils Him,
since, were it not for Him,
the existence of everything would not have been manifest?

It is a marvel how Being has manifested in nonbeing,
and how the contingent has been established
alongside of Him who possesses the attribute of Eternity!
17
He who wishes that there appear, at a given moment,
other than what God has manifested in it,
has not left ignorance behind at all!
18
Your postponement of deeds till the time when you are free
is one of the frivolities of the ego.
19
Do not request Him to get you out of a state
so as to make use of you in a different one;
for, were He to desire so, He could make use of you
as you are, without taking you out!
20
Hardly does the intention of the initiate
want to stop at what has been revealed to him,
than the voices of Reality call out to him:
“&at which you are looking for is still ahead of you.”
And hardly to the exterior aspects of created beings
display their charms,
than their inner realities call out to him:
“We are only a trial, so disbelieve not.”
21
Your requesting Him is suspecting Him.
Your seeking Him is due to your absence from Him.
Your seeking someone else is because of your
immodesty toward Him. Your requesting someone else
is on account of your distance from Him.
22
Not a breath do you expire
but a Decree of Destiny makes it go forth.