Quote by Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari: “How can heart be illumined while images of creation are engraved in its mirror?”

This rhetorical question implies that true spiritual illumination is hindered by excessive attachment to worldly concerns and sensory perceptions. It advocates for purifying the heart of material distractions to allow divine light to enter and truly shine.

A profound aphorism from *Kitab al-Hikam*, addressing the Sufi concept of cleaning the heart (qalb) from worldly attachments to allow divine light (nur) to enter, a central theme in Sufi practice.

Egyptian Sufi scholar and author born around 1250 in Alexandria, whose Hikam (Book of Aphorisms) is one of the most treasured works in Sufi literature, read and memorised across the Islamic world to this day. He was a leading figure of the Shadhili Sufi order.