The Hikam of Ibn ‘Ata’illah / Chapter 3

And he said (may Allah be pleased with him!):

32. Your being on the lookout for the vices [al-‘uyub] hidden within you is better than your being on the lookout for the invisible realities [al-ghayub] veiled from you.

33. The Real [al-Haqq] is not veiled from you. Rather, it is you who are veiled from seeing It, for, were anything to veil It, than that which veils It would cover It. But if there were a covering to It, than that would be a limitation of Its Being: every limitation of anything has power over it. “And He is the Omnipotent, above His servants.”

34. Amongst the attributes of your human nature, draw away from every one that is incompatible with your servanthood, so that you may be responsive to the call of Allah and near His Presence.

35. The source of every disobedience, indifference, and passion is self-satisfaction. The source of every obedience, vigilance, and virtue is dissatisfaction with one’s self. It is better for you to keep company with an ignorant man dissatisfied with himself than to keep company with a learned man satisfied with himself. For what knowledge is there in a self-satisfied scholar? And what ignorance is there in an unlearned man dissatisfied with himself?

36. The ray of light of inner sight [shu‘a’u’l-basira] makes you witness His nearness to you. The eye of inner sight [‘ayn al-basira] makes you witness your nonbeing [‘adam] as due to His Being. The Truth of inner sight [Haqq al-basira] makes you witness His Being, not your nonbeing nor your being.

37. “Allah was, and there was nothing with Him, and He is now as He was.”