Sitt al-'Ajam
Sitt al-Ajam was a 13th century Sufi mystic from Baghdad. Her main merit was writing a commentary on ibn Arabi's Mashahid. Her full name is Sitt al-Ajam bint al-Nafis b. Abu l-Qasim.
Coincidence with name
In the history of female Muslim scholars two women are to be found bearing the same name. Fatima Mernissi argues that the Arabic term sitt literally means 'lady' and has been often attributed to women of power. However, with some exceptions, she listed three names beginning with sitt: one is Sitt al-Ajam not connected with the issue of politics at all. According to her, Sitt al-'Ajam is a fiqh scholar who lived in the 14th-century in Damascus.The name can be confused with Sitt al-'Ajam bint al-Nafis, a 13th-century Sufi woman whose thoughts on ibn Al-Arabi were transmitted by her husband. Sitt al-'Ajam confessed in her book that she had a vision of ibn Al-Arabi who came to her and asked her to write a commentary on his book Mashāhid al-asrār al-qudsiyya wa matāli' al-anwār al-ilāhiyya. She explained in her words: "I closely examined his name and his biography, for a way to draw from him the definition, but I found that the similarity between us is in receiving the very same "hātimī gifts", that leads to attraction. This, despite not having the same state of distinction, nor following the same path, nor having the same life; similarity is that of character and of bestowal, which is the privilege of the saints. Thus, his luminous form could not but be witness to the knowledge of union that exists between us."