Al-Hasan ibn Hani Abu Nuwas (d. 814 or 815) is widely considered one of the greatest Arab poets of all time, largely because of his wine poems. He was born around 760 to a Persian seamstress, probably in Ahwaz province. His father, a Damascene, died while he was a child and his mother moved with him to Basra. There Abu Nuwas memorized the Quran at school and studied Islamic law and prophetic traditions (hadith). In Basra, and later in Kufa, Abu Nuwas continued his education in Arabic poetry, Arabian lore, and tribal genealogy with some of the renowned intellectual luminaries of the day. In Kufa, he fell under the sway of the reprobate poet Walibah ibn al-Hubab, who taught him poetry and with whom he had a sexual relationship. In 786 Abu Nuwas moved to Baghdad in search of his fortune. That year, Harun...