Biographical Note on Ibn 'Ata' Illah

x156 Ibn 'Ata' Illah (t2.1) is Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Karim, Abu al-Fadl Taj al-Din Ibn 'Ata' Illah al-Iskandari, Sufi Imam and author of al-Hikam al-'Ata'iyya [The aphorisms of 'Ata'], one of the greatest works of the Shadhili tariqa, in which he was the second successor to Imam Abul Hasan al-Shadhili himself. Originally from Alexandria, he moved to Cairo, where he attracted a large following and gave public lectures that were well attended. He was a scholar in Arabic grammar, hadith, Koranic exegesis, fundamentals of law and faith, and jurisprudence; and Dhahabi notes that when he spoke at al-Azhar Mosque, he would combine the words of the Sufis with hadiths, stories of the early Muslims, and scholarly topics. Among the words he conveyed from the founder of his order were, "This path is not monasticism, eating barley and bran, or the garrulousness of affectation, but rather perseverance in the divine commands and certainty in the divine guidance." He was also the sheikh of the Shafi'i Imam Taqi al-Din Subki, whose son Taj al-Din feels that Ibn 'Ata' Illah was more probably a Shafi'i than a Maliki, as others have held. But his true legacy lies in the path he served and the disciplines he left to further it, their hearts opened to the knowledge of Allah Most High through his instruction in the mystic way, which his Hikam and other works amply attest to his profound mastery of. He died in Cairo in 709/1309 (al-A'lam (y136), 1.221-22; al-Durar al-kamina (y13), 1.273-74; Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-kubra (y128), 9.23; and n).

-Reliance of the Traveler by Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller, pg. 1053.