ABSTRACT

To this group of ideas seems to belong a poem of the sixth century by the Arab poet Ahmad b. Muhammad (known as Dhul-Maf äkhir), who came from Nïraman in Persia (district of Hamadän). The poet, who otherwise seems to have had little local patriotism, 1 had to defend himself in his capacity as a legtimate Arabic poet from the satire of those who accused him of his Persian descent: