One of the most influential Sufis in history, the great mystic and scholar known as 'al-Shaykh al-Akbar'. Born in al-Andalus (Murcia), he developed the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud through 'al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya' and 'Fusus al-Hikam'. He died in Damascus in 1240 and was buried in the Salihiyya district, where Sultan Selim I later built a complex. (Sources: TDV 'İbnü'l-Arabî'; Archnet.)