Ibn al-Raqiq

Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn al-Qāsim al-Raqīq[1] al-Qayrawānī (Arabic: أبو إسحاق ابراهيم ابن القاسم الرقيق القيرواني, c. 972 – after 1028) was a courtier and author in the court of the Zirids in Ifriqiya.

[3] He served as secretary to two Zirid princes[4] for over a quarter of a century and gained a reputation as a diplomat, poet and historian.

The following is a few lines from one:[5] And at the convent[6] of al-Quṣayr, what nights have I passed not knowing Morning from evening, without ever waking from drunkenness!

Slender Christian beauty, at her slightest movement Her waist slays me, so slim in size!

In 1965, a Tunisian scholar working in Morocco discovered a manuscript which he believed might be a small part of al-Raqiq's Tarikh, dealing with the Umayyad conquest of North Africa.