Birth of Abu Nuwas

Abu Nuwas was born around 762 CE in Ahvaz. A classical Arabic poet of the early Abbasid era, Abu Nuwas was of mixed Arab and Persian background and grew up in Basra and Kufa before making his name at the court in Baghdad, particularly under Caliph Harun al-Rashid. He wrote in nearly every genre but is best known for witty, sensual poems about wine, love and hunting, which broke with the conventions of desert poetry. His verses often mocked traditional pieties and the old Bedouin poetic style. He became a legendary figure in later storytelling, and some anecdotes about him appear in collections linked to the Arabian Nights. The exact years of his life are uncertain, and the dates given are traditional.

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