Bashshar Ibn Burd

Date of birth unknown; died 787. Arab poet who is also part of the history of Persian literature. Wrote in Persian and Arabic. Persian by origin. Lived in Basra and Baghdad. Founder of a “new style” in Arabic poetry.

Bashshar ibn Burd openly defended Mazdaism, the dualis-tic teaching of the ancient Persians and Medes based on the acknowledgment of the existence of two opposite forces in nature, good and evil. He was a panegyrist of the caliph al-Mahdi. He satirized the vizier, for which he paid with his life. Bashshar ibn Burd was the subject of many anecdotes which are preserved in the Kitab al-Aghani.