1. Abu Nuwas entered the folkloric tradition, appearing several times in One Thousand and One Nights.
26 Facts About Abu Nuwas
1. 2.
Abu Nuwas earned the favour of the Abbasid caliphs Harun ar-Rashid and al-Amin.
3.
Abu Nuwas is best known for his wine poetry, and Diwan, his collected volume of poetry that explored religion, pleasure, and homoeroticism.
4.
Abu Nuwas was born in the province of Ahvaz of the Abbasid Caliphate, either in the city of Ahvaz or one of its adjacent districts.
5.
Abu Nuwas's date of birth is uncertain, he was born sometime between 756 and 758.
6.
Abu Nuwas's mother was a Persian named Gulban, whom Hani had met whilst serving in the police force of Ahvaz.
7.
Abu Nuwas wrote poetry in multiple genres; his great talent was most recognized in his wine poems and in his hunting poems.
8.
Abu Nuwas participated in the well-established Arabic tradition of satirical poetry, which included duels between poets involving vicious exchanges of poetic lampoons and insults.
9.
Abu Nuwas was a major influence on the development of wine poetry.
10.
Abu Nuwas's poems were likely written to entertain the Baghdad elite.
11.
Abu Nuwas used wine poetry as a medium to echo the themes of Abbasid relevance in the Islamic world.
12.
Abu Nuwas was known to have both a poetic and political tone in his poetry.
13.
Abu Nuwas wrote satirical strikes at Islam using wine as both an excuse and liberator.
14.
Abu Nuwas wrote his literature as if his sins were vindicated within a religious framework.
15.
Abu Nuwas explores an intriguing prejudice: that homosexuality was imported to Abbasid Iraq from the province in which the revolution originated.
16.
Abu Nuwas is a Christian, he wears clothes from Khurasan and his tunic bares his upper chest and neck.
17.
Abu Nuwas's writing ridicules heterosexual propriety, the condemnation of homosexuality, the alcohol ban, and Islam itself.
18.
Abu Nuwas uses his literature to testify against the religious and cultural norms during the Abbasid caliphate.
19.
Abu Nuwas's preference was not uncommon among men of his time as homoerotic lyrics and poetry were popular among Muslim mystics.
20.
Abu Nuwas died during the Great Abbasid Civil War before al-Ma'mun advanced from Khurasan in either 199 or 200 AH.
21.
The cause of his death is disputed: four different accounts of Abu Nuwas's death survive: 1.
22.
Abu Nuwas was poisoned by the Nawbakht family, having been framed with a poem satirizing them; 2.
23.
Abu Nuwas died in a tavern drinking right up to his death; 3.
24.
Abu Nuwas is one of a number of writers credited with inventing the literary form of the mu'amma, a riddle which is solved "by combining the constituent letters of the word or name to be found".
25.
Abu Nuwas perfected two Arabic genres: Khamriyya and Tardiyya.
26.
In Indonesia, Abu Nuwas, called Abunawas, is a character of various folk stories, similar to Nasreddin Hoca.