Ibn Arabi
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibnʿArabī al-Ḥātimī aṭ-Ṭāʾī (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن محمد بن عربي الحاتمي الطائي) (25 July 1165 – 8 November 1240) was an Andalusian Scholar of Islam, Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher. He is renowned by some practitioners of Sufism as "the greatest master" and also as a genuine saint.
Biography
'Abū 'Abdullāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn `Arabī (أبو عبد الله محمد ابن علي ابن محمد ابن عربي ) was born in Murcia, Taifa of Murcia on Sunday, 17th of Ramaḍān 560 AH (25 July 1165 AD) at night. He went by the names al-Shaykh al-Akbar, Muḥyiddin ibn Arabi, and was also later nicknamed the Great Shaykh. He was also known as Shaikh-e-Akbar Mohi-ud-Din Ibn-e-Arabi in the Subcontinent.
Youth
His father, ‘Ali ibn Muḥammad, served in the Army of Ibn Mardanish. When ibn Mardanīsh died in 1172 AD, ‘Ali ibn Muḥammad swiftly shifted his allegiance to the Almohad Sultan, Abū Ya’qūb Yūsuf I, and became one of his military advisers. His family then relocated from Murcia to Seville. His father's family claimed descent from the legendary Arabian poet Hatim al-Tai.