Ibn Quotes & Sayings

Be like the flower that gives its fragrance to even the hand that crushes it. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

People praise you for what they suppose is in you; but you must blame your soul for what you know is in it. — Ibn Ata Allah

If what you achieve today is equal to what you achieved yesterday, then you are at a loss. And if what you have achieved today is less than what you achieved yesterday, then you are deprived from the Almighty's blessings. Anyone who is not progressing, is in fact regressing, and if you are regressing, then you might as well be dead. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Ibn Ata' Allah said: God may open up for you the gates of obedience, but without opening up for you the gates of acceptance. On the other hand, He may Allow you to fall into disobedience which happens to lead you to the right path. DISOBEDIENCE that teaches you HUMILITY is better than PIETY that fills you with VANITY and ARROGANCE. — Yusuf Al-Qaradawi

Yearning for Allah and His meeting is like the gentle breeze blowing upon the heart, extinguishing the blaze of the Dunya. Whosoever caused his heart to settle with his Lord shall be in a state, calm and tranquility, and whosoever sent it amongst the people shall be disturbed and excessively perturbed. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Associate with people in such a manner that they weep for you when you die and long for you if you are alive — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

Doom comes about because of neglecting to evaluate one's self and because of just following one's whims. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

And in the dark of that room, notorious for the woven patterns of desire it had seen, Ammar ibn Khairan held the woman beloved of the man he'd killed, and offered what small comfort he could. He granted her the courtesy and space of his silence, as she finally permitted herself to weep, mourning the depth of her loss, the appalling disappearance, in an instant, of love in a bitter world. — Guy Gavriel Kay

Courtesy costs nothing, but buys everything. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

We should know that Allah has created us to live an eternal life with no death, a life of pride and ease with no humiliation, a life of security with no fear, a life of richness with no poverty, a life of joy with no pain, a life of perfection with no flaws. Allah is testing us in this world with a life that will end in death, a life of pride that is accompanied by humiliation and degradation, a life that is tainted by fear, where joy and ease are mixed with sorrow and pain. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Know you that Allah has made Islam the most sublime path for attainment of His supreme pleasure and the highest standards of his worship and obedience. He has favoured it with noble precepts, exalted principles, undoubtable arguments, unchallengeable supremacy and undeniable wisdom. It is up to you to maintain the eminence and dignity granted to it by the Lord, to follow it sincerely, to do justice to its articles of faith and belief, to obey implicitly its tenets and orders and to give it the proper place in your lives. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

The nourishment of body is food, while the nourishment of the soul is feeding others. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

Beware of every hour and how it passes, and only spend it in the best possible way, do not neglect yourself, but render it accustomed to the noblest and best of actions, and send to your grave that which will please you when you arrive to it. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

One who rushes madly after inordinate desire, runs the risk of encountering destruction and death. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Nothing hurts a good soul and a kind heart more than to live amongst people who cannot understand it. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

The highest person is he who is of most use to humankind. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Understanding the knowledge and wisdom of the Qur'an is by far, higher than memorizing. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

There are so many highly esteemed ones who became miserable and humiliated just because of their bad temper and morals; and humble people who have attained eminence and the highest honors because of good temper and morals. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Beware the man who has two faces and two hearts. — Moses Ibn Ezra

If you knew the true value of yourself, you will never allow yourself to be humiliated by committing sins. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

If you do not know the blessings you have when you have them, then Allah will teach you about them by taking them away from you — Ibn Ata Allah

How strange! You lose a little from you and you cry. And your whole life is wasting and you're laughing — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

God Almighty (swt) says: My love is incumbent for those who love each other for Me; who sit together for Me; who visit each other for Me; and who spend on each other for Me. — Muadh Ibn Jabal

Determination is the fuel that propels one to higher virtues. — Aaidh Ibn Abdullah Al-Qarni

No one is moved to act, or resolves to speak a single word, who does not hope by means of this action or word to release anxiety from his spirit. — Ibn Hazm

Put aside your pride,
Set down your arrogance,
And remember your grave. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

The disease that knowledge brings is arrogance, and the disease that worship brings is showing off — Ibn Taymiyyah

Allah was when there was nothing else than Him, and His Throne was upon the water, and He wrote in the Reminder (al-dhikr) all things, and He created the heavens and the earth. — Ibn Ata Allah

Whoever treads a path seeking knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the path to Paradise.
(reported by Ibn Majah and others, fulfilling the conditions of Imam al Bukhari and Imam Muslim) — Anonymous

Time is merely a feature of our memories and expectations. — Avicenna

If you find that somebody is not grateful for all that you have done for him, then do not get disappointed because often you will find that someone else feels under your obligation though you have done nothing for him and thus your good deeds will be compensated, and Allah will reward you for your goodness. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Half of wisdom is love and friendship with people.(the other half is to guard yourself against the evils of people) — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

If the hearts are pure, they will never have enough from reciting Allah's words (the Qur'an). — Uthman Ibn Affan

I saw Divinity with the Eye of the Heart. I said, "Who are you. It said, "You. — Ibn Arabi

How foolish is man! He ruins the present while worrying about the future, but weeps in the future by recalling his past! — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

If asked whether you love God, say nothing. This is because if you say, 'I do not love God,'you are an unbeliever. If, on the other hand, you say, 'I do love God,' your actions contradict you. — Al Fudayl Ibn Iyad

Every breath you take is a step forward toward death.
(Hazrat Ali-As) — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

When you get ill do not get nervous about it and try as much as possible to be hopeful. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

When there is money in your hand and not in your heart, it will not harm you even if it is a lot; and when it is in your heart, it will harm you even if there is none in your hands. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Do not force your children to behave like you, for surely they have been created for a time which is different to your time — Ali Ibn-e-Abu Talib

The idea that the West was economically successful because of slavery, it's just nonsense. — Ibn Warraq

Why take the time to convince me? If I disagree you could simply kill me, take Fadwa, and do whatever you like." Ibn Malik raised an eyebrow. "True. But I prefer reason and agreement. Allies are much more useful than bodies. — Helene Wecker

I am better able to retract what I did not say than what I did. — Solomon Ibn Gabirol

The sincere hearts and the pious supplications are soldiers which can never be defeated — Ibn Taymiyyah

Hate no one, no matter how much they've wronged you. Live humbly, no matter how wealthy you become. Think positively, no matter how hard life is. Give much, even if you've been given little. Keep in touch with the ones who have forgotten you, and forgive who has wronged you, and do not stop praying for the best for those you love. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Ibn al-Khatib says: Ibn Battutah has a modest share of the sciences. He journeyed to the East in the month of Rajab 725 [1325], travelled through its lands, penetrated into Iraq al-Ajam, then entered India, Sind and China, and returned through Yemen. In India, the king appointed him to the office of qadi. He came away later and returned to the Maghrib [ ... ]. Our Shaykh Abu l-Barakat Ibn al-Balfiqi told us of many strange things which Ibn Battutah had seen. Among them was that he claimed to have entered Constantinople and to have seen in its church twelve thousands bishops. He subsequently crossed the Strait to the Spanish coast [ ... ]. Thereafter the ruler of Fez summoned him and commanded him to commit his travels to writing. — Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Know that the science of unveiling has no end to it, for it consists in the journey of the intellect in the stations of Majesty, Beauty, Sublimeness, Grandeur, and Holiness ... He to whom the mysteries of La ilaha illa'llah are revealed draws near to God, and his worship of God becomes sincere. He does not turn to anyone but to Him, nor does he have hope in or fear other than Him, nor does he see harm or benefit except as coming from Him. He abandons whosoever is not He and rids himself of inward and outward associationism (shirk). — Ibn Ata Allah

Beware of the flight of Blessings,
For nothing that runs away is returned. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Abolitionism did not find positive response in Africa as it did in Western societies and cultures. — Ibn Warraq

My god
how gentle you are with me
in spite of my great ignorance
and how merciful You are with me
in spite of my ugly deeds — Ibn Ata Allah

O you, who spends his lifetime disobeying his Lord, no one amongst your enemies is wicked to you more than you are to yourself — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

I have always felt that many Christians, deeply sincere Christians, support the idea of separation of State and Church and the secularist in that sense as well. They believe that religion should be very much a private affair and should not be given special treatment. The State should not fund churches for example. — Ibn Warraq

There is no joy for someone who has no sorrow.
There is no pleasure for the one who has no patience
No bliss for someone with no misery
and no rest for the one with no fatigue.
When someone is a little tired,
he has long rest.
When he endures the difficulty of steadfastness for a time,
that leads him to eternal life.
All that the people of eternal bliss
are in is steadfastness for a time. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Truthfulness is composed of justice and courage. — Ibn Hazm

The twelfth-century poet Abraham ibn Ezra, whom you encountered in high school as Browning's Rabbi ben Ezra (may his tribe increase), limpidly described the shlimazl's lot when he wrote: If I sold lamps, The sun, In spite, Would shine at night. — Leo Rosten

The parallels to modern physics [with mysticism] appear not only in the Vedas of Hinduism, in the I Ching, or in the Buddhist sutras, but also in the fragments of Heraclitus, in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, or in the teachings of the Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan. — Fritjof Capra

Wait a while; there will come to you mounts, carrying lions in shining armor, battalions followed by battalions. — Khalid Ibn Al-Walid

People are of two types, they are either your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

But she had loved her philosopher so strongly that she had made him believe that her body was aroused and ecstatic. Ibn Rushd had been fooled. Men were easily deceived in such matters because they wanted to believe they had the power to arouse. She wanted to make him believe he pleased her. But the truth was that she could give physical pleasure to a man but not receive it, she could only imagine what such pleasure might be like, she could watch and learn, and offer up to her lover the outward signs of it, while trying to fool herself, as well as him, that yes, she was being pleasured too, which made her an actress, a phony, and a self-deceiving fool. — Salman Rushdie

The gnosis of God is intermediate between immoderation, which is ascribing human characteristics to God, and negligence, which is denying any attributes to God ... The Truth lies in the balance between the two extremes. — Ibn Ata Allah

He who keeps his heart near God will find peace and tranquility, whilst he who gives his heart to the people will find restlessness and apprehension. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Truly in the heart there is a void that can not be removed except with the company of Allah. And in it there is a sadness that can not be removed except with the happiness of knowing Allah and being true to Him. And in it there is an emptiness that can not be filled except with love for Him and by turning to Him and always remembering Him. And if a person were given all of the world and what is in it, it would not fill this emptiness. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

And to have spent the night sleeping and awoken regretful, is better than to have spent the night standing (in prayer) and awaken impressed with oneself! — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Everyone who is taken by death asks for more time, while everyone who still has time makes excuses for procrastination. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

The wiser a man is, the less talkative will he be. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

The keys to the life of the heart lie in reflecting upon the Quran, being humble before Allah in secret, and leaving sins. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

The desires of this world are like sea water. The more you drink of them, the more you thirst. — Ibn Arabi

A friend cannot be considered a friend until he is tested in three occasions: in timeof need, behind your back, and after your death. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Justice is putting everything in its proper place — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

The one who has no control over his desires has no control over his mind. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Had there not been five bad qualities, all the people would have been righteous. Contentment with ignorance; love for worldly life; miserliness inspite of much wealth; ostentation in (good) deeds; and pride in their own intelligence. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Misfortune may become fortune through patience. — Solomon Ibn Gabirol

Ibn al-Arabi gave this advice:
Do not attach yourself to any particular creed exclusively, so that you may disbelieve all the rest; otherwise you will lose much good, nay, you will fail to recognize the real truth of the matter. God, the omnipresent and omnipotent, is not limited by any one creed, for he says, 'Wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah' (Koran 2:109). Everyone praises what he believes; his god is his own creature, and in praising it he praises himself. Consequently, he blames the disbelief of others, which he would not do if he were just, but his dislike is based on ignorance. — Karen Armstrong

Wealth converts a strange land into homeland and poverty turns a native place into a
strange land. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

When He gives, He shows you His Kindness; when He deprives, He shows you His power. And in all that, He is making Himself known to you and coming to you with His gentleness. — Ibn Ata Allah

We cannot hope to win the ideological battle against Islam without criticism of Islam, it is essential that we continue to criticize Islam. — Ibn Warraq

My heart has become capable of every form: It is a pasture for gazelles And a monastery for Christian monks, And the pilgrim's Ka'ba, And the tablets of the Torah, And the book of the Koran. I follow the religion of Love: Whatever way love's camel takes, That is my religion, my faith. — Ibn Arabi

You are as much able as you know — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

The most helpless person is the one who is helpless in reforming himself. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Bear sorrows and calamities patiently, otherwise you will never be happy. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

I know I'm not perfect & will never become. Yet, I'm proud of being Me, with all humility & imperfections.
Cause this is the only life I have ... — Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb

When the inward is good the outward is also inevitably so, for the outward always follows the inward, whether good or evil. — Abdullah Ibn Alawi Al-Haddad

And when I was born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature; and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do. — Solomon Ibn Gabirol

The one who is [truly] imprisoned is the one whose heart is imprisoned from Allah and the captivated one is the one whose desires have enslaved him. — Ibn Taymiyyah

Many a spoken word is more piercing than an attack. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a wise man's tongue is under the control of
his mind. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

He who called her so called her by her true name, for she is the full moon of full moons, afore God! — Umar Ibn Muhammed Al-Nefzawi

Work for a Better Life as if you live forever,
And work for Better End as if you die tomorrow — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

The emaan of a person cannot be true until he has more trust in that which is in Allah's Hands than that which is in his own hands. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

A real man is one who fears the death of his heart, not of his body. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

There was a time, when I blamed my companion if his religion did not resemble mine. Now, however, my heart accepts every form ... Love alone is my religion. — Ibn Arabi

A girl is a good deed and a boy is a bounty. Good deeds are rewarded while people are held accountable for bounties. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Women are one half of society which gives birth to the other half so it is as if they are the entire society. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Work for this world as if you will live forever and work for the here-after as if you will die tomorrow. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Each person is oriented toward a quest for his personal invisible guide, or ... he entrusts himself to the collective, magisterial authority as the intermediary between himself and Revelation. — Ibn Arabi

To make one good action succeed another, is the perfection of goodness. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

When Allah inspires your tongue to ask, know that He wants to give — Ibn Ata Allah

Every love that leads away from His love is in fact a punishment; only a love that leads to His love is a heartfelt and pure love. — Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Not to have a thing is less humiliating than to beg it. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

traveling - it gives you home in thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land. — Ibn Battuta