Abdullah ibn al-Mu'tazz Biography | Poet

Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz (861 in Samarra – 908 in Baghdad ) (Arabic : / ALA-LC : ‘Abd Allah bin al-Mu‘utaz ) was persuaded to assume the role of caliph of the Abbasid dynasty following the premature death of al-Muktafi. He succeeded in ruling for a single day and a single night, before he was forced into hiding, found, and then strangled in a palace intrigue that brought al-Muqtadir, then thirteen years old, to the throne. Ibn al-Mu'tazz is best known, not as a political figure, but as a leading Arabic poet and the author of the Kitab al-Badi, an early study of Arabic forms of poetry. This is considered one of the earliest works in Arabic literary theory and literary criticism.