Ismail ibn Yasar al-Nisai

Ismail ibn Yasar al-Nisa'i^[1] (Arabic: اسماعیل بن یسار النسائی‎) was an Arabic-language poet of Persian origin and one of the earliest Shu'ubi poets. His son, Ebrahim, and his brothers, Muhammad and Musa Shahawat were also poets. Al-Nasa'i was born and lived in Medina as a client (mawlā) of Taym b. Morra. He was a descendant of a Persian prisoner of war from Adharbayjan. He initially supported the Zubayrid’s cause, but when the cause was crushed and Abd Allah ibn Zubair was killed in 73/692, Al-Nasa'i attached himself to the court of Umayyad Caliphate, despite his strong Anti-Arab sentiments.^[1]

When he recited a poem for Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in which he glorified his Persian ancestors without praising the caliph, Hisham punished and exiled him to Hejaz.^[1]

Al-Nasa'i died before 132/750 at a very old age and shortly before the fall of Umayyad dynasty.^[1]

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