Aban al-Lahiqi

Aban al-Lahiqi, Aban ibn Abd al-Hamid ibn Lahiq, a poet and man of letters from Basra in the early Abbasid period. He attached himself to the Barmakids and was their poet, and he versified the book «Kalila wa-Dimna» ¹.

A mawla of Banu Raqqash, he was born and raised in Basra, then came to Baghdad after his poetic talent had matured ². He attached himself to the Barmakids, and al-Fadl ibn Yahya presented him to al-Rashid, and through him he obtained prizes and gifts ¹, ³.

The encyclopaedia reports, citing al-Suli in «Akhbar al-shu'ara'», that Aban stayed at the door of al-Fadl ibn Yahya for a long time before reaching him. His circumstances then improved through a qasida he addressed to him, and al-Fadl gave him gifts and drew him close; through it his ties with the Barmakids grew strong ³.

Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki required him to stay in a room until he turned the book «Kalila wa-Dimna» from prose into verse. It is said that he remained in his house for three months without leaving until he finished it, and Yahya gave him ten thousand dinars. He versified it in a mazdawija (a rhyming-couplet form) of about fourteen thousand lines ³.

Among his poems is «Dhat al-hulal», a qasida in which he mentions the beginning of creation, the affairs of this world and some points of logic ³. He wrote panegyrics to al-Rashid and al-Fadl ibn Yahya, verses of satire with his contemporaries, drinking-party poems, descriptions of young men and slave-girls, and verses on asceticism and wisdom ⁴, ⁵.

He had exchanges of poems with Abu Nuwas, in satire and in erotic verse about women. His friends among the poets of his age included Hammad Ajrad, Walaba ibn al-Hubab and Muti', who met and gathered over wine ³, ⁴.

The encyclopaedia reports that the transmitters said some people criticised his religion, and that someone who knew him answered them that nothing had ever been held against him in his faith, given how much he recited the Qur'an and how truthful he was. A neighbour is reported to have said that his inner self was better than his outward appearance and that he used to pray at night. The encyclopaedia also notes that a number of his contemporaries testified to his piety, devotion and righteous deeds, while poems of licentiousness and descriptions of young men and slave-girls are also attributed to him ⁴, ⁵.

Al-Jahiz reports Abu Nuwas's saying that Aban, when drunk, had a clearer mind than the poets of his age when they were sober ¹.

• This entry is based on the encyclopaedia «A'lam al-ulama' wa-l-udaba'» (volume 1, pp. 141–144). It is a secondary reference that draws on al-Suli, al-Aghani, Tarikh Baghdad, al-Jahiz and others; we have not yet returned to those original sources.
• His year of death is not clearly legible on the first page of the entry. The encyclopaedia gives 815 CE, and we have not confirmed the Hijri year.
• He is said to have versified «Kalila wa-Dimna» in about fourteen thousand lines. The figure is reported from the encyclopaedia, and we have not checked it against a manuscript of the mazdawija.
• The discussion of his religion is reported from the transmitters, and we have not passed judgement on it. It is included to record what was reported about him, not to establish his state.