Dhu'l-Nun al-Misri

Abu'l-Fayd Thawban ibn Ibrahim, known as Dhu'l-Nun al-Misri ("the Egyptian"), was an early ascetic and mystic of Upper Egypt. Reliable sources place his birth in Akhmim (the ancient Panopolis); his exact birth year was not recorded, and the figures given by later writers (around 796 CE) are estimates. Early biographers report that he was of Nubian descent, his father said to have been a freedman attached to the tribe of Quraysh — a detail handed down by tradition rather than independently attested. He died about 245 AH / 859 CE (some sources give 248/861), and is traditionally said to have died near Giza and been buried in the Qarafa, the great cemetery of Fustat (Old Cairo).

In the developed Sufi tradition — the inward, mystical current of Islam — Dhu'l-Nun is celebrated as the first to have spoken systematically of ma'rifa (direct, experiential "knowing" of God, as distinct from book-learning) and of the spiritual "stations" (maqamat) and "states" (ahwal) the seeker passes through. Modern scholars caution that little of his actual teaching can be securely reconstructed, since much was attributed to him by later authors.

Tradition also surrounds him with legend: that he knew alchemy and could read Egyptian hieroglyphs, and that, denounced as a heretic, he was summoned before the caliph in Iraq, admonished him, and was sent home with honour. Sources differ on the details and dating of this episode. These accounts belong to hagiography (manaqib), not documented history.