Ibrahim al-'Ajami of the takiyya

Ibrahim al-Ajami, a scholar on the Sufi path who lived in Egypt. He had been a disciple of Shaykh Damirdash and Shaykh Shahin on the path of Sidi Umar Rushani in Tabriz. He then entered Egypt in the Ottoman period and stayed at a madrasa near Bab Zuwayla. He was received with full acceptance, and many people from Persia and Anatolia took knowledge from him. He interpreted the Qur'an and for a long time taught the treatises of the Sufis ¹.

He was denounced to the sultan because of the number of his disciples and followers. He was told that it was feared he might take control of Egypt. The sultan summoned him to Anatolia for this reason. He later returned to Egypt and, in obedience to the sultan's order, sent away the disciples and followers who were with him. He then built a Sufi lodge for him opposite the Mu'ayyadiyya, with a burial place for himself inside it, and built retreat cells around it for the poor. He had a strong grasp of rational and theological sciences. He composed a long rhyming poem (the Ta'iyya) that gathers the landmarks of the path, and he forbade his followers to perform the pilgrimage until each of them had known God with the special knowledge that the Sufis recognise. He died in Egypt in the year 940 ¹.