A Sufi Sheikh of Yemen The founder of the Tabah Foundation for Islamic Studies and Research in the United Arab Emirates, an institution to promote the study of traditional Islamic sciences, Sheikh al-Jifri has also penned a treatise on the nature of Islam's relationship with Jesus and Mary. Widely travelled Sheikh al-Jifri has been giving numerous speeches on the sbjects such as the nature of Jihad and expressing the need for tolerant and moderate discourse in and about Islam.