Abū Badīl Ahmad ibn Muhammad Sajāwandī (Persian: ابوبدیل احمد بن محمد سجاوندی)[1] (died 1176 CE or 571 AH) was a 12th-century chronicler, commentator on the Quran,[2] poet and orator.
He is mentioned in the Lubab ul-Albab ("Heart of hearts") of Aufi and the Chahar Maqalah ("Four Discourses") of Nizami Aruzi as a great poet and orator at the court of Tughan-Shah Ibn Alp Arslan (reigning Herat in the mid-11th century), under the name Malik al-Kalām Majd ad-Dīn Aḥmad Badi'hī Sajāwandī.
[3] However, as this event must have preceded Abu Badil's lifetime by close to a century, it is likely that these individuals have been confused from an early date, with Malik al-Kalām Aḥmad Badi'hī ("the king of speech") being known for his poetry, and Imâm-e Kabīr Ahmad ibn Muhammad Sajāwandī ("the great Imam") for his religious scholarship.
His full name is ʿAbū Badīl Aḥmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Tayfour Sajāwandī (Persian: ابوبدیل احمد ابن محمد ابن طیفور سجاوندی).
He is mentioned by the honorifics Majd ad-Dīn (مجد الدین "splendour of the faith") and Imâm-e Kabīr (امام کبیر "the Great Imam").