Ibn Zaidun, Abu Al-Walid Ahmed Ibn Abdullah Al-Mahzumi

Born 1003 in Cordoba; died 1071 in Seville. Hispano-Arab poet.

Ibn Zaidun received the traditional Muslim education. His divan is one of the few collections of Hispano-Arab poetry that has come down to our days. It contains pane-gyric, elegiac, and lyrical verses; the best ones were written in periods of adversity and wandering. He was also famed as a brilliant prose stylist who frequently resorted to rhymed prose and hyperbole. In his writings ibn Zaidun remained true to the Arab literary traditions of the eastern regions of the Caliphate, although he was somewhat influenced by the Arabic Andalusian poetry.