Najm ad-Dīn Kubrà () was a 13th-century Khwarezmian Sufi from Khwarezm and the founder of the Kubrawiya, influential in the Ilkhanate and Timurid dynasty. His method, exemplary of a "golden age" of Sufi metaphysics, was related to the Illuminationism of Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi as well as to Rumi's Shams Tabrizi. Kubra was born in 540/1145 and died in 618/1221. Biography Born in 540/1145 in Konye-Urgench, Najmuddin Kubra began his career as a scholar of hadith and kalam. His interest in Sufism began in Egypt where he became a murid of Ruzbihan Baqli, who was an initiate of the Uwaisi. After years of study, he abandoned his exploration of the religious sciences and devoted himself entirely to the Sufi way of life. Sufi sheikh Zia al-Din-'Ammar Bitlisi was Kubra's teacher, who tried to present Sufi thought in a new way to provide contemplation and influence for the reader. After receiving his khirka, Kubra gained a large following of gnostics and writers on Sufism. Because his followers were predominantly Sufi writers and gnostics, Kubra was given the title "manufacturer of saints" (in Persian: vali tarash) and his order was named the Kubrawiya. Kubra's main body of works concerns the analysis of the visionary experience. He wrote numerous important works discussing the visionary experience, including a Sufi commentary on the Quran that he was unable to complete due to his death in 618/1221. Kubra died during the Mongol invasion and massacre after refusing to leave his city, where he fought in hand-to-hand combat against the Mongols. Overall, Kubra is remembered as a pioneer of the Sufi tradition and explanation of spiritual visionary experiences. Kubra's work spread throughout the Middle East and Central Asia where it flourished for many years, until it gradually was taken over by other similar more popular ideologies and Sufi leaders. His Work In addition to his work centering on the Sufi commentary of the Qu'ran, Kubra wrote other important treatises including: Fawa'ih al-djamal wa-fawatih al-djalal Usul al-'ashara Risalat al-kha'if al-ha'im min lawmat al-la'im His works discuss the analysis of dreams and visions, such as the "significance of dreams and visions, the degrees of luminous epiphany that are manifested to the mystic, the different classes of concept and image that engage his attention, and the nature and interrelations of man's 'subtle centres.'" The interpretation and understanding of dreams was important because Muhammad had developed the Islamic faith