Quote by Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari: “Sometimes He deprives you of things to remind you that nothing belongs to you.”

Loss is not always punishment — it can be a reminder that we never truly owned what we thought we had. Accepting impermanence, rather than clinging to what we cannot keep, is a central Sufi teaching about how to live without constant suffering.

The Hikam of Ibn Ata Allah were composed and circulated in Cairo at a time of recurring plague outbreaks and military invasions. His aphorisms on acceptance, patience, and trust in God resonated with communities experiencing loss on a massive scale.

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.