Bediüzzaman Ahmad al-Hamadhânî was a Sufi who came from Hamadan in western Iran and settled in Urfa during the Ayyubid period, said to have played a role in spreading Sufism in the city. According to the Arabic inscription at the foot of his sarcophagus he died in AH 606 (AD 1209-1210). His tomb stands at the centre of the Bediüzzaman Cemetery named after him in central Şanlıurfa — a cut-stone rectangular structure with a prayer niche to the east and a domed burial chamber to the west — and is visited especially on Thursdays and Fridays. (Note: he is a distinct person from the litterateur Abu'l-Fadl Badî' al-Zamân al-Hamadhânî [d. 398/1008, Herat], pioneer of the maqāma genre; the two must not be confused.)