Abu al-Fadl Abbas Ibn al-Ahnaf () (750 in
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
-809), was an
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
from the tribe of
Banu Hanifa
Banu Hanifa ( ar, بنو حنيفة) is an ancient Arab tribe inhabiting the area of al-Yamama in the central region of modern-day Saudi Arabia. The tribe belongs to the great Rabi'ah branch of North Arabian tribes, which also included Abdu ...
. His work consists solely of love poems (
ghazal
The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...
). It is "primarily concerned with the hopelessness of love, and the personae in his compositions seems resigned to a relationship of deprivation". The vocabulary he chose was simple and his style is fluent and easy.
He grew up in Baghdad, where he became a friend of the Abbasid caliph
Harun al-Rashid
Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar
, أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...
. who employed him for the purpose of amusing him in time of leisure. His work was an acknowledged influence on
Abdullah ibn al-Mu'tazz
Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz ( ar, عبد الله بن المعتز, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muʿtazz; 861 – 17 December 908) was the son of the caliph al-Mu'tazz and a political figure, but is better known as a leading Arabic poet and the author o ...
and
Abu al-Atahiya
Abū al-ʻAtāhiyya ( ar, أبو العتاهية; 748–828), full name Abu Ishaq Isma'il ibn al-Qasim ibn Suwayd Al-Anzi (), was among the principal Arab poets of the early Islamic era, a prolific ''muwallad'' poet of ascetics who ranked with ...
.
[''Bird Through A Ceiling of Alabaster; Three Abbasid Poets'', translated by Abdullah Al-Udhari and George Wightman (Penguin, 1975) ]
References
External links
Article
750 births
809 deaths
Poets from the Abbasid Caliphate
8th-century Arabic writers
8th-century Arabs
{{MEast-poet-stub