Al-Maʿarri Biography

Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Maʿarri (Arabic أبو العلاء المعري‎ Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī, full name أبو العلاء أحمد بن عبد الله بن سليمان التنوخي المعري‎ Abū al-ʿAlāʾ Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaimān al-Tanūẖī al-Maʿarrī; December 973 – May 1057) was a blind Arab philosopher, poet, and writer. Al-Maʿarri held and expressed an irreligious world view which was met with controversy, but in spite of it, he is regarded as one of the greatest classical Arabic poets.