Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Religious Figures & Theologians

Baha al-Din Zuhayr

بهاء الدين زهير

Saudi Arabia

1186 – 23 November 1258 (72 years old)

Celebrated 13th-century Ayyubid court poet and chancellor known for his effortless, delicate lyricism and witty epigrams.

Cairo, Egypt

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Ali ibn Abd Allah al-Shadhili

أبو الحسن الشاذلي

Morocco

c. 1196 – c. 1258 (62 years old)

Moroccan-born Sufi master and founder of the Shadhiliyya order, whose practical path of gratitude, inward detachment without outward poverty, and 'Hizb al-Bahr' shaped North Africa.

Humaithara (Red Sea), Egypt

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Religious Figures & Theologians

Shajar al-Durr

شجر الدر

Mongolia

c. 1215 CE – April 28, 1257 CE (~42 years old)

Formidable Sultana of Egypt who held the realm together following the death of Sultan As-Salih Ayyub, orchestrating the crushing defeat of King Louis IX's Seventh Crusade at the Battle of Fariskur, and serving as the first monarch of the Mamluk era.

Cairo, Egypt

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Eihei Dogen (Founder of Soto Zen in Japan)

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Eihei Dogen (Founder of Soto Zen in Japan)

道元禅師 (Dōgen Zenji)

Japan

26 January 1200 CE – 29 September 1253 CE (53 years old)

Thirteenth-century Japanese philosopher and monk who brought Soto Zen from China, founded Eihei-ji Temple, and authored the Shobogenzo (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye). Revolutionized philosophy with his concept of Being-Time (Uji).

Kyoto, Japan

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Religion

Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Hattab

سيدي علي الحطاب

Tunisia

c. 1180 AD – 1250 AD (~70 years old)

Revered 13th-century Sufi saint and contemporary of Abu Said al-Baji and Lalla Manoubia, who earned his living as a humble woodcutter (al-Hattab) in the hills west of Tunis.

El Batan (Manouba), Tunisia

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Abu Zakariya Yahya I

أبو زكرياء يحيى الأول الحفصي

Morocco

1203 – 1249 (46 years old)

Founder of the independent Hafsid dynasty in 1229, who declared independence from the Almohads, established Tunis as an imperial capital, and built the Kasbah Mosque.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Abu Zakariya Yahya

أبو زكرياء يحيى الحفصي

Tunisia

1203 – 1249 (46 years old)

Almohad governor who declared independence in Tunis in 1229, founding the Hafsid Dynasty that ruled Tunisia and eastern Algeria for three and a half centuries.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Politics

Abu al-Hasan al-Said al-Mutadid

أبو الحسن السعيد المعتضد

Morocco

c. 1214 – 1248 (~34 years old)

Vigorous Almohad Caliph (1242–1248) who launched energetic counter-offensives to reunite Morocco and western Algeria, killed in an ambush by Yaghmurasen near Oujda.

Tinmel, Morocco

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Religion

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Military Leaders & Strategists

Shams Tabrizi

شمس تبریزی

Iran

1185 – 1248 (63 years old)

Legendary wandering Persian mystic whose transformative spiritual friendship with Jalal al-Din Rumi ignited the Mathnawi and modern Sufism.

Khoy, Iran

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Subutai

Сүбээдэй (Subutai Baghatur)

Mongolia

c. 1175 CE – c. 1248 CE (73 years old)

Primary military strategist of Genghis Khan and Ogedei Khan who conquered more territory than any general in human history, orchestrating campaigns across China, Persia, Russia, and Central Europe.

Central Tuv Province, Mongolia

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Mai Dunama Dibbalemi

Dunama Dibbalemi

🌐 Chad

c. 1210 CE – c. 1248 CE (38 years old)

Thirteenth-century Mai of the Kanem Empire who expanded Kanem to its greatest extent from Fezzan in Libya to the Niger River, fielding an army of 40,000 armored horsemen.

Kanem Region, Chad

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Sciences & Discovery

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Ibn al-Baytar (Diya al-Din al-Malaqi)

ضياء الدين عبد الله بن أحمد المالقي (ابن البيطار)

Spain

c. 1197 CE – 1248 CE (~51 years old)

Greatest botanist and pharmacologist of the Middle Ages who cataloged 1,400 medicinal plants, foods, and drugs in his encyclopedic Compendium on Simple Medicaments and Foods.

Damascus, Syria

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Military

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Muhammad I ibn Abd al-Haqq

محمد بن عبد الحق المريني

Morocco

1202 – 1244 (42 years old)

Third leader of the Marinids who pushed his armies to the gates of Fez and Meknes, falling in a major clash against Almohad forces.

Fez, Morocco

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Politics

Abu Muhammad Abd al-Wahid II al-Rashid

أبو محمد عبد الواحد الرشيد

Morocco

c. 1207 – 1242 (~35 years old)

Almohad Caliph (1232–1242) who strove to restore imperial discipline in Morocco amidst the rise of the Hafsids in Tunis and the Marinid nomads in northern Morocco.

Tinmel, Morocco

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Literature & Poetry

Religious Figures & Theologians

Snorri Sturluson

Iceland

1179-10-15 – 1241-09-23 (61 years old)

Colossal medieval Icelandic historian, lawspeaker, and skald whose Prose Edda preserved Norse mythology and Heimskringla chronicled the epic history of Norwegian kings.

Reykholt, Iceland

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Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (Al-Shaykh al-Akbar)

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Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (Al-Shaykh al-Akbar)

محيي الدين بن عربي

Spain

28 July 1165 CE – 16 November 1240 CE (75 years old)

Visionary Andalusian philosopher and mystic revered as "Al-Shaykh al-Akbar" (The Greatest Master). Formulated the profound metaphysics of Wahdat al-Wujud (The Unity of Being) in Fusus al-Hikam and Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya.

Damascus, Syria

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

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