Ibn Khafaja

[1] He was born in 1058 in Alzira (Arabic: جزيرة شقر) near Valencia where he spent most of his life.

[1] He was the maternal uncle of poet Ibn al-Zaqqaq.

[3] He remained unmarried but had many friends[4] and lived to be over eighty.

His poetry often uses images to a dramatic function, such as contrasting light and darkness, or humanising the night environment.

[2] Composer Mohammed Fairouz set three poems of Ibn Khafajah to music in a cycle of vocal chamber music written for the Cygnus Ensemble.