The name of the Sheikh has become known to posterity as the author of this work, which is the only one attributed to him.
The book was translated into English in 1886 by Sir Richard Burton.
According to Burton, from the historical notice contained in the first leaves of the manuscript, and notwithstanding the apparent error respecting the name of the Bey who was reigning in Tunis, it may be presumed that this work was written in the beginning of the sixteenth century, about the year 925 of the Hegira.
As regards the birthplace of the author, it can be deduced from his name, considering the Arab naming practice of joining the name of their birth-place to their own, that he was born at Nefzaoua, a town situated in the district of that name on the shore of the lake Sebkha Melrir, in the south of the kingdom of Tunis.
The Sheikh himself records that he lived in Tunis, and it is most probable the book was written in that city. According to tradition, a particular motive induced him to undertake a work entirely at variance with his simple tastes and retired habits.
Burton mentions that he considers that The Perfumed Garden can be compared with the works of Aretin and Rabelais, of the book Conjugal Love. But what he believes makes the Perfumed Garden unique as a book of its kind is "the seriousness with which the most lascivious and obscene matters are presented".
Burton points out that not all of the ideas in the Perfumed Garden are original. For instance, all the record of Moçama and of Chedja is taken from the work of Mohammed ben Djerir el Taberi; the description of the different positions for coition, as well as the movements applicable to them, are borrowed from Indian works; finally, the book Birds and Flowers by Azeddine el Mocadecci seems to have been consulted with respect to the interpretation of dreams.
The Perfumed Garden was also the title given by John Peel to his 1967 late-night programme on the British pirate radio station, Radio London. Completely ignoring the station's heavily commercial playlist, Peel broadcast psychedelic and progressive rock tracks that he happened to like, announcing them in a laconic drawl. The first the management knew of his programme was when it began to receive glowing reviews in the music press. Peel continued his show until anti-pirate legislation forced the station to close in August, 1967. Peel was snapped up by BBC Radio 1, where he has remained ever since, broadcasting in a similar style and completely ignoring convention.