al-ʿAkawwak, ʿAlī b. Jabala - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Weipert, Reinhard
Leiden
Brill
(410 words)
Al-ʿAkawwak (160-213/776-828) was the sobriquet of Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Jabala , an Arab poet of Baghdad, known for his panegyrical odes. He was born in al-Ḥarbiyya, near Baghdad, into a family originally from Khurāsān. Blind from birth or as a result of smallpox in his seventh year and afflicted with leprosy, he was dark-skinned, short, and compact (hence his laqab , "stumpy"). These disadvantages did not, however, keep him from becoming a model for other poets, a shāʿir matbūʿ , admired for his panegyrical odes