Encompass with your mercy and compassion all animals and creatures. Do not say, "this is inanimate and has no awareness." Indeed, it does; it is you yourself who have no awareness! So let existence be as it is, and be merciful towards it with the mercifulness of the Creator in the midst of His creation.
Ibn Ata AllahInvoking brings the heart closer to the hereafter and keeps the world away from the heart, even though the world is around it. Invoking warns the heedless heart to abandon its pleasures and deceptions.
Ibn Ata AllahYour Saying "God is Most Great" does not mean that He is greater than something else, since there is nothing else alongside of Him, so that it could be said that He is greater than it. Rather, the meaning of Allahu Akbar is that He is much too great to be perceived by the senses or for the depths of His Majesty to be reached by reason and logic, and indeed, that He is much too great to be known by an other-than-Him for truly, no one knows God but God.
Ibn Ata AllahIt is impossible that this gnosis resulting in the heart should be achieved by man for any other purpose than to obey God, love Him, and worship Him. This gnosis should be sought for the sake of God, not for any other reason whatsoever, unlike the remaining external acts of devotion, which can be performed for other worldly interests, such as hypocrisy, praise, and commendation.
Ibn Ata Allah