Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz

Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz (Arabic: عبد الله بن المعتز, romanized: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muʿtazz; 861 – 29 December 908) was the son of the caliph al-Mu'tazz and a political figure, but is better known as a leading Arabic poet and the author of the Kitab al-Badi, an early study of Arabic forms of poetry. This work is considered one of the earliest works in Arabic literary theory and literary criticism.

Persuaded to assume the role of caliph of the Abbasid dynasty following the premature death of al-Muktafi, he succeeded in ruling for a single day and a single night, before he was forced into hiding, found and then strangled in a palace intrigue that brought al-Muqtadir, then thirteen years old, to the throne.