Sayings of Ibn 'Ajiba: Sufi quotations
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Ibn ’Ajiba (1747-1809), a scholar of Tetouan who became a Darqawi master, is the author of the commentary on the Hikam and of a celebrated Qur’anic commentary, al-Bahr al-madid.
Ibn ’Ajiba: trust in God is when the heart has confidence
Trust in God is when the heart has such confidence in God that it leans upon Him alone. Or it is to be bound to God and to entrust everything to Him, knowing that He knows all things, and to count more upon what is in His hands than upon what is in ours.
Ibn ’Ajiba: the nearest to God
The nearest to God is he who, in secret, contemplates and, outwardly, draws from the sources of the Law. Such a one receives the inheritance in full; he is showered with the greatest riches, for he follows in the footsteps of the Beloved (al-Habib: one of the names of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh).
Ibn ’Ajiba: beware of forgetting the sublime Witness
Beware of forgetting to see the sublime Witness, ever near you in the innermost depths of your heart: Subtle, All-powerful, Loving, Forgiving, Merciful, Kind towards the devout.
Ibn ’Ajiba: a way of effort and toil
Know, may God have mercy on you, that the way of union with God is a way of effort and toil, not a way of idleness and neglect. It is the way of death to oneself (mawt al-nufus), of humility, of material divestment, a way of zeal, of concentrated attention, of total effacement. You will find the one who follows it only invoking, or meditating, or reading the Qur’an, or praying, or exhorting his neighbour to remember God, or lending an ear to the teaching of the masters.
Ibn ’Ajiba
Sayyidina ’Isa (peace be upon him) one day asked his companions: “Where does the grain grow?” They answered: “In the earth.” He said: “It is the same with wisdom. It grows only in a heart that is like the earth.”