Shaykh Ibn Ata' Illah was a Sufi saint and master in 13th century Egypt. This was a time of flowering in the Islamic world, and in particular within the Sufi spiritual traditions. Several new and long-lasting Sufi lineages were forming to retain and channel the great spiritual outpouring of the time.

Ibn Ata' Illah was an early spiritual leader of the Shadhiliyyah Sufi order, which is a prominent and widespread Sufi order today.

His Kitab al-Hikam (The Book of Aphorisms) is his most widely read and memorized work, a rich, poetic collection of spiritual maxims composed in majestic Arabic.