Al-Hikam (Aphorisms)

Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari

Click here to view the English PDF

Or click here for a PDF of the original Arabic text.

When the forgetful man gets up in the morning,
he reflects on what he is going to do,
whereas the intelligent man sees what God is doing with him.

The Book of Wisdom (Kitab al-hikam) is a masterpiece of Islamic spiritual literature by the renowned Sufi saint and sage of the 13th century AD, Ahmed Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari (d. 1309), third master of the tariqa Shadhiliyya. Victor Danner, one of its foremost translators into English, observed: “the internal structure of the Hikam is such that it can be likened to a necklace of precious jewels.” It is partly his translation that we publish here, without the notes of the original Brill edition.

Click on the links below to listen to the original Arabic text:

 1–45 46–113
 114–177 178–240
 242–264

 

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