Sayyid Husayn Ahlati

Sayyid Husayn Ahlati or Akhlāṭī (died 1397) was a Persianate Kurdish Muslim occultist, lettrist and personal physician-alchemist to Sultan Barquq who played a pivotal role in the intellectual network which developed a renaissance of occultism in Islam in the late 14th century. Ahlati is also accredited as the author of the geomantic manual Risāla-yi Surḫāb.

Life Ahlati was an occulist from Ahlat or Tabriz who moved to Mamluk Cairo because of the growing Occultist studies there. Becoming an important figure in the growing studies, he became a worry for anti-occulists like Ibn Khaldun and Ibn al-Qayyim who sharpened their criticism on Ahlati but failed to convince Barquq.

Disciples and students of Ahlati include ibn Turk, Ḥasan Abarqūhī, al-Ḥāǧǧ Ḥasan, Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi, Shams al-Din al-Fanari and Šayḫ Badr al-Dīn al-Simāwī. He moreover influenced Jalal al-Din Davani and Mir Damad.