Tāj al-Dīn Abū'l-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Isa ibn Hussein ibn ʿAṭā Allāh al-Judhami al-Iskandarī al-Shādhilī was an Egyptian

Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...

te jurist,

muhaddith Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism) consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...

and the third

murshid ''Murshid'' ( ar, مرشد) is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher", derived from the root ''r-sh-d'', with the basic meaning of having integrity, being sensible, mature. Particularly in Sufism it refers to a spiritual guide. The term is frequently use ...

(spiritual "guide" or "master") of the

Shadhili The Shadhili Order ( ar, الطريقة الشاذلية) is a tariqah or Sufi order of Sunni Islam founded by al-Shadhili in the 13th century and is followed by millions of people around the world. Many followers (Arabic ''murids'', "seekers") ...

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

order.

Life and work

He was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

and taught at both the al-Azhar Mosque and the Mansuriyyah

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. He was responsible for systematizing Shādhilī doctrines and recording the biographies of the order's founder,

Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili ( ar, أبو الحسن الشاذلي) (full name: Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Ḥasanī wal-Ḥusaynī al-Shādhilī) also known as Sheikh al-Shadhili (593–656 AH) (1196–1258 AD ...

, and his successor,

Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Al-Mursi Abu'l-'Abbas (1219 in Murcia – 1287 CE) ( ar, المرسي أبو العباس) was a Sufi saint from Al-Andalus during the Nasrid period and who later in his life moved to Alexandria in Egypt. His complete name is Shahab al-Din Abu ...

. He is credited with having authored the first systematic treatise on

dhikr ''Dhikr'' ( ar, ذِكْر}, , also spelled ''Zikr'', ''Thikr'', ''Zekr'', or ''Zikar'', literally meaning "remembrance, reminder" or "mention") is a form of Islamic meditation in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly chanted in order to reme ...

, ''The Key to Salvation'' (''Miftāḥ al-Falāḥ''), but is mostly known for his compilation of

aphorisms An aphorism (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often hand ...

, the '' Ḥikam al-ʿAtā‘iyya''. Ibn ʿAṭā Allāh was one of those who confronted the controversial theologian

Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم � ...

, who was jailed several times for his views on religious issues and for his perceived excesses in attacking the Sufis. His confrontations with Ibn Taymiyya saw Ibn ʿAṭā Allāh leading a procession of some 200 Sufis against Ibn Taymiyya as well as confronting him on issues.

Death and legacy

He died in 1309 while in

. The wide circulation of Ibn ʿAṭā Allāh's written works led to the spread of the Shādhilī order in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, where the order's founder had been rejected in earlier attempts. The Wafai Sufi order was also derived from his works. Over the past 700 years the teachings of Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah have been repeatedly studied, commented on, reiterated, and have spread to the point where they are available across the globe, having been translated into almost every major language. Commentaries on the ''Ḥikam'' have been made by some of the most famous masters of the

order such as

Ibn Abbad al-Rundi Ibn Abbad al-Rundi () (in full, Abu 'abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Abi Ishaq Ibrahim An-nafzi Al-himyari Ar-rundi) (1333–1390) was one of the leading Sufi theologians of his time who was born in Ronda. Attracted to Morocco by the famous madrasahs, Ibn ...

Ahmad Zarruq Ahmad Zarruq () also known as Imam az-Zarrūq ash Shadhili (Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Īsa) (1442–1493 CE) was a 15th-century Moroccan Shadhili Sufi, jurist and saint from Fes. He is considered one of the most prominent and acco ...

and

Ahmad ibn Ajiba Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAjība al-Ḥasanī (; 1747–1809) was an influential 18th-century Moroccan scholar and poet in the Darqawa Sufi Sunni Islamic lineage. Biography He was born of a sharif family in the Anjra tribe that ranges from Ta ...

as well as non-Shadhilis like the Indian

Chishti The Chishtī Order ( fa, ''chishtī'') is a tariqa, an order or school within the mystic Sufism, Sufi tradition of Sunni Islam. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. It began with Abu Ishaq Shami in Ch ...

Sufi ʿAbd Allah Gangohi and the Syrian Islamic law Professor Sa'id Ramadan al-Bouti. A modern English translation of ''Ḥikam'' by Muhammed Nafih Wafy was published under the title "The Book of Aphorism" by Islamic Book Trust in Malaysia in 2010.The Book of Aphorisms – Islamic Book Trust Online Bookstore https://ibtbooks.com/shop/the-book-of-aphorisms/

References

External links

*''Hikam'' (maxims or aphorisms), partiall
translated here
by Ayesha Bewley. * https://www.amazon.com/Book-Aphorism-Ibn-Ataillah/dp/B007PYD088
Commentary by Ibn Abbad
in English.
Hikam in English and Arabic PDFs, and links to audio recordings.
*''The Key to Salvation: A Sufi Manual of Invocation (Miftah al-Falah)'
chosen excerpt here
Translated by Mary Ann Koury Danner *''The Key to Salvation'

by Ayesha Bewley.
Ibn 'Ata' Allah, Muslim Sufi Saint and Gift of Heaven
by Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibn Ata Allah 1309 deaths 13th-century Arabs 14th-century Arabs Asharis Mujaddid Egyptian Maliki scholars Egyptian Sufis Ancient Alexandrians Shadhili order Sufi mystics Sunni fiqh scholars Sunni Muslim scholars Egyptian writers 13th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 13th-century jurists 14th-century jurists