Ibn ʿAta'-Allāh

Mystic

A mystic originally from Alexandria Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ibn ʿAṭāʾ-Allāh passed most of his life in Cairo. He composed over twenty works, chiefly dealing with mysticism and asceticism, however, he was far from the soft-spoken type that practioners of such spiritual pratices are often generalized to be. When the famous jurisconsult Ibn Taymiyya was arrested, Ibn ʿAṭāʾ-Allāh made accusations against him, no doubt in response to Ibn Taymiyya’s condemnation of certain doctrines held by mystics. Ibn ʿAṭāʾ-Allāh’s most famous work is a collection of maxims entitled al-Ḥikām al-ʿAṭāʾiyya. He died in Cairo in 709/1309.