Life
Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn was born in Kufa in 915 into a poor family, became a professional panegyrist young and travelled in search of patrons. Arabic sources say he was jailed in Homs around 933 after trying to lead a desert revolt—the traditional origin of the name “al-Mutanabbī”.
Aleppo, 948–957
His longest stay with any patron was at the court of the Hamdanid prince Sayf al-Dawla in Aleppo. He reportedly recited seated and refused to kiss the ground, and wrote his celebrated panegyrics there, fighting alongside the prince against Byzantium.
Egypt and the end
He later praised, then satirised, Kāfūr in Egypt, fled to Kufa, visited ʿAḍud al-Dawla in Shiraz, and was killed on the road in 965 by a chieftain whose kin he had satirised.
Why the lines last
He closes images with compact general wisdom—“according to the people of resolve come resolutions”—so a single line travels far beyond its occasion. His dīwān attracted many commentaries.