Abu al-Waleed Ahmad Ibn Zaydún al-Makhzumi known as Ibn Zaydún was a famous Arab poet of Cordoba and Seville.
Background
His romantic and literary life was dominated by his relations with the poet Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, the daughter of the Umayyad Caliph Muhammad III of Cordoba. Ibn Zaydun was born in Cordoba to an aristocratic Arab family of the tribe of Makhzum. He grew up during the decline of the Umayyad caliphate and was involved in the political life of his age.
Career
He joined the court of the Jahwarid Abu al-Hazm of cordoba and was imprisoned by him after he was accused of conspiring against him and his patrons. His relationship with the Umayyad princess Wallada was quickly terminated by Wallada herself. lieutenant is suggested that Ibn Abdus himself was the one who instigated Abu al-Hazm ibn Jahwar against Ibn Zaydun.
He was able to return home for a period after the ruler of Seville conquered Cordoba.
Much of his life was spent in exile and the themes of lost youth and nostalgia for his city are present in many of his poems. In a poem about Cordoba he remembers his city and his youth:
God has sent showers upon abandoned dwelling places of those we loved.
He has woven upon them a striped many-coloured garment of flowers, and raised among them a flower like a star. How many girls like images trailed their garmets among such flowers, when life was fresh and time was at our service..How happy were, those days that have passed, days of pleasure, when we lived with those who had back flowing hair and white shoulders.