عبد القادر الجيلاني
Ziedan was born in Sohag, Egypt in 1958. He moved with his grandfather to Alexandria when he was still a child and was raised and taught in this Mediterranean metropolis. He joined the philosophy department at the University of Alexandria and graduated summa cum laude. His postgraduate studies focused on Sufism and its philosophical underpinnings. He obtained his PhD degree in 1989 for his dissertation on "The Qadiri Sufi Order, with a study and edition of the poetical works of Abdul Qadir al-Jilani" or Abdul-Qadir Gilani. He lives in Alexandria, and has a son and two daughters.