Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba (1747鈥�1809) was an 18th-century Moroccan saint in the Darqawa Sufi Sunni Islamic lineage.
He was born of a sharif family in the Berber Anjra tribe that ranges from Tangiers to Tetuan along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. As a child he developed a love of knowledge, memorizing the Qur'an and studying subjects ranging from Classical Arabic grammar, religious ethics, poetry, Qur'anic recitation and tafsir. When he reached the age of eighteen he left home and undertook the study of exoteric knowledge in Qasr al-Kabir under the supervision of Sidi Muhammad al-Susi al-Samlali. It was here that he was introduced to studies in the sciences, art, philosophy, law and Qur'anic exegesis in depth. He went to Fes to study with Ibn Souda, Bennani, and El-Warzazi, and joined the new Darqawiyya in 1208 AH (1793), of which he was the representative in the northern part of the Jbala region. He spent his entire life in and around Tetuan, and died of the plague in 1224 AH (1809). He is the author of a considerable number of works and a Fahrasa which provides interesting information concerning the intellectual center that Tetuan had become by the beginning of the 19th century.
An exquisite Sufi Tafsir of three surahs in the Al-Qur'an, translated into English. My Arabic is not up to par yet. :)
For those interested in finding the inner meaning of these Holy Verses.
Not everything is linear, neat and tidy. To judge something or someone as credible based on these qualities leaves one severely in the dark, so to speak.
This is an excerpt from Ibn Ajiba's six-volume tafsir of the Quran. This portion covers suras 55, 56, and 57 (al-Rahman, al-Waqi'a and al-Hadid). The beauty of Ibn Ajiba's tafsir is that it combines both a straight traditional explanation of the verses with an ishara section for nearly every verse. Ishara in this case means the sufic teachings that can be found in the meanings of the verses. So if someone ever wondered how the Quran relates to wanting to follow a path that leads to nearness to God, this tafsir provides a lot of keys.