Al-Atahiyya

Abu Isħaq Ismā'īl ibn Qāsim al-ʻAnazī better known as Abū l-ʻAtāhiyya (748–828) was an Arab poet born in Ayn al-Tamr in the Iraqi desert. His ancestors were of the tribe of Anaza.

 Al-Atahiyya spent his youth in Kufa and made a living for some time by selling pottery. During this time he came across an assembly of poets in a competition. He participated in the competition and became famous for his poetry. He then settled in Baghdad and continued his business there but landed in infamy for the verses he addressed to ʻUtba, a concubine of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi. Though the poet’s love was unrequited and he was interceded for by Harūn al-Rashīd, Al-Atahiyya had offended the caliph and was imprisoned for a short time. The later part of his life was more ascetic. He died in 828 in the reign of Caliph al-Ma'mun.

The poetry of Abū l-ʻAtāhiyya is notable for its avoidance of the artificiality almost universal in his days. He lived during a time that constantly imitated the older poetry of the desert even though it bore little relevance to cosmopolitan life. Abū l-ʻAtāhiyya was one of the first to drop the old qasida (elegy) form. He was very fluent and used many metres. He is also regarded as one of the earliest philosophical poets of the Arabs. Much of his poetry is concerned with the observation of common life and morality, and is pessimistic at times.