In 1201, Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi arrived in Mecca. Among the many people who impressed him one drew his attention above all others: Niz?m, the daughter of a prominent religious teacher. As Beatrice did for Dante, Niz?m soon inspired a sequence of love poems that are Ibn 'Arabi's poetic masterpiece, Tarjum?n al-Asw?q (The Interpreter of Desire). Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi was known as Shaykh al-Akbar (the Greatest Shaykh), a title given him...