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Life and teaching of Ibn' Ata' Allah

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Ibn' Ata' Allah : Biography

Shaykh Taj-ud-Din Ahmad Ibn Ata'illah was born in about 1250 into a distinguished family of religious scholars who followed the school of Imam Malik in Alexandria. His father was a close follower of Shaykh Abu'l Hasn ash-Shadhili. Ahmad ibn Ata'illah became the close follower of Shaykh Abu'l-Abbas al-Mursi after he had completed his study of Islamic Law as transmitted by the school of Imam Malik. Shaykh Abu'l-Abbas al-Mursi predicted that Ahmad ibn Ata'illah would become an authority on both the Sufi path and Islamic Law, and it was in Cairo that this prediction of future greatness came true, for there he led two lives. One was his professional life as a teacher of Islamic Law in accordance with what had been transmitted through Imam Malik in various public institutions and mosques in Cairo, such as Al-Azhar and the newly built Al-Mansuriyyah, together with his public preaching which attracted large audiences; his other life was devoted to his duties as a spiritual master of the Shadhili Order, in which he transmitted the transformative teaching of the Muhammadi code to sincere seekers of wisdom and gnosis. Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Ata'illah was also influential in the Mamluk court, and used to counsel Sultan al-Mansur (d. 1298) on religious matters.



Source : Nuradeen.com

Ibn' Ata' Allah : Bibliography

- Ibn `Ata'Illah. The Book of Wisdom. Translated by Victor Danner. Ramsey, NJ: Paulist Press, 1978: A collection of spiritual aphorisms by the important shaikh of the Shadhili Order, Ibn `Ata'Illah (d. 1309), which is one of the most widely read Sufi works, down to this day. Spiritual teachings are expressed in terse, poetic formulations, whose meanings deepen with reflection.

- Ibn `Ata'Illah. The Key of Salvation and the Lamp of Souls. Translated by Mary Ann K. Danner. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, forthcoming: A concise and comprehensive exposition of the Sufi method of recollection (dhikr). The first work wholly on this subject, it incorporates many citations from the Qur'an, hadiths (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad), and the early Sufis.

Ibn' Ata' Allah : Links

Islam, Abd el-Kader, Abu Bakr al Sabbak, Abu Sa'id, Adda Bentounčs, Ahmad Al-Alawi, Al Nuri, Al-Junayd, Araqi, Attar, Baba Kuhi of Shiraz, Bistami, Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Sy, Cheikh Bamba Dieye, Dhu-l-Nun, Frithjof Schuon, Ghazzali, Hallaj, Hujwiri, Ibn 'Arabi, Ibn' Ata' Allah, Iraqi, Jami, Kalabadhi, Khaled Bentounčs, Nazir, Others Sufis Teaching, Rabia al-Adawiyya, Rumi, Shabistari, Sheikh Badruddin, Sheikh Muzaffer, Sidi Hamza al Qâdiri al Boutchichi, Umar Ibn Al-Farid, etc.

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