Al-Tutili


Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hurayra al-ʿUtbī , nicknamed al-Aʿmā al-Tuṭīlī or the Blind Poet of Tudela, was an Andalusian mūwallad poet who composed in Arabic. Although born in Tudela, he was raised in Seville, where he gained talent in poetry. He later lived in Murcia. He died young. He was one of the best-known strophic poets and songwriters of the Almoravid period in Al-Andalus and competed with Ibn Bajjah in witty compositions at the court of Ibn Tifilwit, the Almoravid governor in Saragossa. He wrote panegyrics to both the Almoravids in al-Andalus and the Banu Kasim in Alpuente and was famous for his love poems. Especially well known is the elegy he wrote on the death of his wife, whom he invokes by the name of Amina.