Whoever knows himself knows his Lord.
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, al-Qawl al-Ashbah fi Hadith Man Arafa Nafsahu Faqad Arafa Rabbahu (a treatise examining the subject).
It is transmitted in the Sufi tradition; it does not appear in the Six Books and should not be presented as a hadith. Its place in the Maqalat was not verified.
Knowing oneself and knowing the Lord
do not stand here as two separate tasks.
Without looking at himself
a person cannot know what else he is looking at.
The more he lives on the surface,
the farther he drifts from himself.
Whoever drifts from himself
drifts from everything.
These words give no assignment.
They only point the way:
The first stop is you.