Abu Nuwas

Abu Nuwas (Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Hani al-Hakami) was born around 760 in southwestern Persia, now a borderland between Iran and Iraq. He studied in Basra under the mentorship of the poets Abu Usama Waliba ibn al-Hubab al-Asad and Khalaf al-Ahmar, and spent his adult life in Baghdad.

Abu Nuwas was one of the most important poets of 8th-century Islamic world. He is perhaps best known for his khamriyyat (wine poems). His collected poems, or Diwan, includes around 1,500 works that explore pleasure, sexuality, especially homosexuality, and religion.

Abu Nuwas died in Baghdad around 814.