Dhūl-Nūn Abū l-Fayḍ Thawbān b. Ibrāhīm al-Miṣrī , often referred to as Dhūl-Nūn al-Miṣrī or Zūl-Nūn al-Miṣrī for short, was an early Egyptian Muslim mystic and ascetic. His surname "al Misri" means "The Egyptian". He was born in Upper Egypt in 796, Dhul-Nun is said to have made some study of the scholastic disciplines of alchemy, medicine, and Greek philosophy in his early life, before coming under the mentorship of the mystic Saʿdūn of Cairo, who is described in traditional accounts of Dhul-Nun's life as both "his teacher and spiritual director." Celebrated for his legendary wisdom both in his own life and by later Islamic thinkers, Dhul-Nun has been venerated in traditional Shia Islam as one of the greatest saints of the early era of Sufism. Wikipedia
Quoted in Ellen Kei Hua, ed., Meditations of the Masters, cited in Andrea Wiebers and David Wiebers, Souls Like Ourselves (Rochester, MN: Sojourn Press, 2000), p. 42.
