Sheikh Nefzaoul

Sheikh Nefzawi, full name Abu Abdullah Muhammad ben Umar Nafzawi, was born among the Berber Nefzawa tribe in the south of present-day Tunisia. He compiled The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight (Arabic: الروض العاطر في نزهة الخاطر‎ Al-rawḍ al-ʿāṭir fī nuzhaẗ al-ḫāṭir), a fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature, at the request of the Hafsid ruler of Tunis, Abū Fāris ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mutawakkil. The reputation acquired by this work in the Arab world was similar to that of the Arabian Nights. The book presents opinions on what qualities men and women should have to be attractive, gives advice on sexual technique, warnings about sexual health, and recipes to remedy sexual maladies. It gives lists of names for the penis and vagina, has a section on the interpretation of dreams, and briefly describes sex among animals. Interspersed with these there are a number of stories which are intended to give context and amusement.