968-1008
Maqamat Writer

Prodigy. Ahmad Badi al-Zaman al-Hamadhani, whose middle name (Badi al-Zaman) means the Prodigy of the Age, was an Arabo-Persian writer born at Hamadan in 968. He began his early studies in Hamadan and soon showed an exceptional talent in Arabic and Persian language, as well as an excellent memory. At about twenty-two years of age, he settled at Rayy, where the atmosphere was suited to an ambitious writer, and received the patronage of the Buyid wazir. As was fashionable at the time, he may also have mingled with the local association of beggars and with the poet Abu Dulaf, who also enjoyed "slumming" with the local low life. While still in his early twenties al- Hamadhani lived in Nishapur and Jurjan, both famous Iranian intellectual centers, and made some important connections. As al-Hamadhani gained renown as a writer, he began traveling in...