Indeed, his poems baldly defied the then (and now again) current official morality. This didn’t last, for Abu Nuwas was finally exiled and spent the remainder of his life in prison, probably because he had drawn the envy or ire of other courtiers, particularly of the Caliph’s puritanical brother, Al-Ma’mun.(*)Īnd dissolute by the standards of youthful Islam he was, judging by his poems, whose wide spectrum of topics includes the praise of wine and the love of adolescent males and unmarried women. When Harun al-Rashid died in 809 and it was safe for Abu Nuwas to return to Baghdad, he rose in the favor of the new caliph – Muhammad al-Amin – who shared his dissolute ways. He attained renown in Baghdad, the seat of the Caliphate, but had to flee to Egypt when he poetically praised the wrong people during a power struggle. Born of Arab father and Persian mother, he wrote fluent poetry in both languages and is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the Arabic language. 756 – 814) was a living embodiment of the melding of Arabic and Persian cultures which was the Abbasid dynasty. ![]() ![]() Substantial joy and pleasure, actualised!Ībū Nuwās al-Ḥasan ibn Hānī al-Ḥakamī (c. You’ll find, if drinking is not temporised,
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