Abū Miḥjan ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb () called al-Thaqafī, was an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

poet of the '' Jāhiliyya'' and the early

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic period. A member of the Banū Thaqīf tribe, Abū Miḥjan was a ''mukhaḍram'' (non-Muslim) who took part in the defence of al-Ṭāʾif against

Muḥammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

in year 8 AH (630 AD). There he was wounded by an arrow fired by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abū Bakr. In year 9 AH (631/2 AD), however, he converted to Islam and afterwards joined the

Muslim conquest of Persia As part of the early Muslim conquests, which were initiated by Muhammad in 622, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Sasanian Empire between 632 and 654. This event led to the decline of Zoroastrianism, which had been the official religion of ...

. He may have fought at the Battle of Vologesias in 633, but Muḥammad's second successor, Caliph

ʿUmar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muh ...

, ordered him into exile to a place called Ḥaḍawḍa. He escaped his escort, but was then imprisoned by Ṣaʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ for drunkenness. Ṣaʿd's wife obtained his temporary release so that he could fight at the Battle of al-Qādisiyya in November 636. His conduct in battle secured his full pardon from Ṣaʿd. After the battle, in 637 ʿUmar again exiled Abū Miḥjan, this time to Bāḍiʿ in the Sudan, according to

al-Ṭabarī Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present-day ...

. He died not long after going into exile. According to tradition, his tomb could be seen either on the frontier of Gorgan or of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. The poetry of Abū Miḥjan is unoriginal and chiefly of interest for its author's evident oenophilia. The line "When I die, bury me at the foot of a vine" is attributed to him, as are several poems challenging the

Qurʾān The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God (''Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides i ...

ic prohibition on alcohol. It was drunkenness that got him exiled and imprisoned on several occasions.

Notes

References

{{Authority control 7th-century Arabic-language poets 630s deaths Banu Thaqif