Ibn Al-Mutazz, Abdallah Abu Al-Abbas

Born Nov. 1, 861, in Baghdad; died there Dec. 19,908. Arab poet and philologist. Son of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutazz.

Ibn al-Mutazz followed the so-called new trend in court poetry and wrote a versified chronicle of Caliph al-Mutadid (892–902). He compiled several anthologies belonging to the adab literature, a large anthology of “new” poets, a collection of aphorisms, an anthology of Bacchanalian poetry, and a book about literary plagiarisms. His work on poetics (Book About the New) laid the foundation for an entire science in the Near East.