[b][3] Born in the city of al-Ma'arra (present-day Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria) during the later Abbasid era, he became blind at a young age from smallpox but nonetheless studied in nearby Aleppo, then in Tripoli and Antioch.

He attacked religious dogmas and practices,[5][6] was equally critical and sarcastic about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism,[4][5][6] and became a deist.

[1][3] He was a vegan, known in his time as a moral vegetarian, entreating: "Do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals / Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught for their young.

"[7] Al-Ma'arri held an antinatalist outlook, in line with his general pessimism, suggesting that children should not be born to spare them of the pains and suffering of life.

Abu al-'Ala' was born in December 973 in al-Ma'arra (present-day Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria), southwest of Aleppo, whence his nisba ("al-Ma'arri").

The Tanukh tribe had formed part of the aristocracy in Syria for hundreds of years and some members of the Banu Sulayman had also been noted as good poets.

[14] Al-Qifti reports that when on his way to Tripoli, al-Ma'arri visited a Christian monastery near Latakia where he listened to Hellenistic philosophy debates that birthed his secularism, but other historians such as Ibn al-Adim deny that he had been exposed to any theology other than Islamic doctrine.

[8] He remained in Ma'arra for the rest of his life, where he opted for an ascetic lifestyle, refusing to sell his poems, living in seclusion and observing a strict moral vegetarian diet.

Throughout his philosophical works, one of the recurring themes that he expounded upon at length was the idea that reason holds a privileged position over traditions.

In his view, relying on the preconceptions and established norms of society can be limiting and prevent individuals from fully exploring their own capabilities.

[20] He rejected claims of any divine revelation and his creed was that of a philosopher and ascetic, for whom reason provides a moral guide, and virtue is its own reward.

He wrote:[26] Do not unjustly eat what the water has given up, and do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,Or the white (milk) of mothers who intended its pure draught for their young, not for noble ladies.And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking their eggs; for injustice is the worst of crimes.And spare the honey which the bees get betimes by their industry from the flowers of fragrant plants;For they did not store it that it might belong to others, nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.I washed my hands of all this; and would that I had perceived my way ere my temples grew hoar!

Methinks the earth's surface is but bodies of the dead, Walk slowly in the air, so you do not trample on the remains of God's servants.

[16] In 2013, almost a thousand years after his death, the al-Nusra Front, a branch of al-Qaeda, demolished a statue of al-Ma'arri during the Syrian Civil War.

The work was written as a direct response to the Arabic poet Ibn al-Qarih, whom al-Ma'arri mocks for his religious views.

[33] Because of the aspect of conversing with the deceased in paradise, the Risalat al-Ghufran has been compared to the Divine Comedy of Dante[34] which came hundreds of years after.