Ibn Ata' Illah: How utterly amazing is someone who flees from something he cannot escape

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Search the Poetry Chaikhana site:

<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Ibn Ata' Illah | Next Poem >>

How utterly amazing is someone who flees from something he cannot escape

by Ibn Ata' Illah
(1250 - 1309) Timeline

English version by
Victor Danner

Original Language
Arabic

Muslim / Sufi

13th Century

How utterly amazing is someone who flees from something he cannot escape
     to seek something that will not last!

"It is not the eyes that are blind,
     but the hearts in the breasts are blind."

Do not travel from phenomenal being to phenomenal being.
You will be like the donkey going around at the mill.
     It travels to what it set out from.

Travel from phenomenal beings
          to the Maker of Being.

"And the final end is to your Lord."

-- from Ibn 'Ata' Illah the Book of Wisdom/Kwaja Abdullah Ansari Intimate Conversations, Translated by Victor Danner / Translated by Wheeler M. Thackston

Amazon.com

Themes

Heart

Recommended Books

	Ibn 'Ata' Illah the Book of Wisdom/Kwaja Abdullah Ansari Intimate Conversations, Translated by Victor Danner / Translated by Wheeler M. Thackston

<<Previous Poem | More Poems by Ibn Ata' Illah | Next Poem >>

Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you!

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World