qualified for the office, so al-Maʾmūn excused him, and the public admired him all the more for his refusal. He also authored several works.
43 – Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah, Ismāʿīl ibn Qāsim ibn Suwayd al-ʿAnazī *
The foremost of the poets, an accomplished littérateur, and a uniquely devout man—Abū Isḥāq Ismāʿīl ibn Qāsim ibn Suwayd ibn Kaysān al-ʿAnazī⦗1⦘, a client of that tribe, originally from Kūfa and later a resident of Baghdad.
He was dubbed “Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah” because of a certain eccentric streak in his character; others say the nickname derives from his fondness for uninhibited living, the root being ʿutū (excessiveness).
His poetry circulated far and wide on account of its excellence, its beauty, and its freedom from affectation. Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr collected his verses and biographical details⦗2⦘. In his later years Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah adopted an ascetic way of life, composing moving lines on admonition and renunciation in which he excelled.
Abū Nuwās revered him, behaved with deference toward him because of his piety, and used to say, “Whenever I see him, I fancy that he is of the heavens while I am of the earth.”⦗3⦘
(*) Ash-Shiʿr wa-ash-Shuʿarāʾ, pp. 497–501; Ṭabaqāt Ibn al-Muʿtazz, p. 228; Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, vol. 10, p. 278; Murūj adh-Dhahab, vol. 7, pp. 82–88; al-Muwashshaḥ, pp. 254–263; al-Aghānī, vol. 4, pp. 1–112; al-Fihrist, p. 181; Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 6, pp. 250–260; Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, vol. 1, pp. 219–226; al-Mukhtaṣar fī Akhbār al-Bashar, vol. 2, p. 31; Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl, vol. 1, p. 245; al-ʿIbar, vol. 1, p. 360; ʿUyūn at-Tawārīkh, vol. 7, fol. 263; Mirʾāt al-Jinān, vol. 2, pp. 49–52; al-Bidāya wa-an-Nihāya, vol. 10, pp. 265–266; Lisān al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 426; Rawḍāt al-Jannāt, pp. 102–103; Maʿāhid at-Tanṣīṣ, vol. 2, p. 285; Shadharāt adh-Dhahab, vol. 2, p. 25; Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 1, p. 377; Umaraʾ ash-Shiʿr al-ʿArabī fī al-ʿAṣr al-ʿAbbāsī, p. 138.
(1) The nisba refers to the tribe of ʿAnaza ibn Asad ibn Rabīʿa; see al-Aghānī 4/3 and Wafayāt al-Aʿyān 1/226.
(2) A manuscript copy is preserved in the Ẓāhiriyya Library (Damascus); it is one of the two codices used by Dr. Shukri Faisal for his critical edition of the poetry and life of Abū al-ʿAtāhiya.
(3) For the complete report, see al-Aghānī 4/71 and Tārīkh Baghdād 6/251.