Al-Maʿarri

Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri
Born	December 973 Maarrat al-Nu'man, Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo
Died	May 1057 (aged 83) Maarrat al-Nu'man, Mirdasid Emirate of Aleppo
School	Arabic literature
Main interests	Poetry, Skepticism, Rationalism, Ethics, Pessimism
Influences Ibn al-Rawandi
Influenced Turan Dursun

Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri (Arabic أبو العلاء المعري Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī, full name أبو العلاء أحمد بن عبد الله بن سليمان التنوخي المعري Abū al-ʿAlāʾ Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaimān al-Tanūẖī al-Maʿarrī; 973–1057) was a blind Arab philosopher, poet, and writer. Al-Maʿarri held and expressed an irreligious worldview which was met with controversy, but in spite of it, he is regarded as one of the greatest classical Arabic poets. He was part of the falsafah movement in Arabic philosophy.

Born in the Syrian city of Maʿarra, he studied in nearby Aleppo, then in Tripoli and Antioch. Producing popular poems in Baghdad, he nevertheless refused to sell his texts. In 1010, he returned to Syria after his mother began declining in health, and continued writing which gained him local respect.

Described as a "pessimistic freethinker", Al-Maʿarri was a controversial rationalist of his time, citing reason as the chief source of truth. He was pessimistic about life, describing himself as "a double prisoner" of blindness and isolation. He attacked the dogmas of religion and rejected Islam. He was equally sarcastic towards the religions of Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. He advocated social justice, and lived a secluded, ascetic lifestyle. He became a strict vegan, writing "do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals / Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught / for their young". Al-Maʿarri held an anti-natalist view, in line with his general pessimism, suggesting that children should not be born to spare them of the pains of life.