Abu al-Mawahib ibn Zaghdan

Abu al-Mawahib Ibn Zaghdan of Tunis, later of Cairo, a Maliki Sufi. He was born in Tunis in 820 AH. He learned Arabic from al-Ramli, jurisprudence from al-Barzali, and the principles of law from Ibrahim al-Akhdari. He then came to Egypt, where he took hadith from Ibn Hajar and Sufism from Yahya ibn Abi Wafa. He became a sign of understanding the words of the Sufis and had complete command of expression. He had a retreat on the roof of al-Azhar mosque, at the place of the minaret that al-Ghawri built, and an overpowering state of ecstasy would often come over him, so that he swayed in the courtyard of the mosque.

His works include "Mazatib al-Kamal" on Sufism, an unrivalled commentary on "al-Hikam," "Mawahib al-Maʿarif," and "Qawaʾid Hikam al-Ishraq." Al-Shaʿrani said, "No one has written on the path like him." He was a strong advocate of Ibn ʿArabi and a fierce defender of him, and he wrote a treatise on the permissibility of listening to the lute. He died in Cairo and was buried in the Shadhiliyya cemetery with the followers of Shaykh Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili in 882 AH ¹.