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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Escapades, and Other Lesser Known Historic Events

Khalid Elhassan January 21, 2020 33 min

William Carver - Butch Cassidy — Butch Cassidy, far right, The Sundance Kid, far left, and other members of the Wild Bunch gang. Wikimedia

28. The Braggart Who Got Himself Killed Trying to Live Up to His Boasts

Al Mutanabbi statue in Baghdad. Wikimedia

Abu al Tayib Ahmad ibn Hussayn, better known as Al Mutanabbi (915 – 965) is the Arabic language’s most influential and prominent poet. He crafted his poems with such consummate skill and artistry, that he is commonly deemed to have attained a pinnacle unequaled in the Arabic language before or since.

His verse is widespread and proverbial throughout the Arab world. Most of his work was odes to patrons, but he was an egomaniac who managed to turn a significant portion of his panegyrics into odes to himself, his talent, and his courage. That bragging eventually came back to bite Al Mutanabbi, and get him killed.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.