[1] Hāni's father was a native of a village near al-Mahdiyya in Tunisia, who had moved to Medina Elvira (now an archeological site near present-day Granada) in Spain or, according to others, to Córdoba.
In the latter city, his frivolous way of living and too free speech brought upon him the wrath of the people who accused him of agreeing with the Greek philosophers and of heresy, so that he was counseled by the local ruler, a supporter, to leave Seville as he was afraid of being suspected of allying with him.
[3] While at the Banu Hamdun, his fame spread throughout the empire owing to his incomparable odes until he was summoned by the Caliph Al-Muizz himself to serve him at his court, overwhelming him with tokens of esteem.
[7] Also, his political mentioning dramatically merges with his religious views whereby he claims that the Umayyads and the Abbasids rule over illegitimate territories as they have defied the sayings of Muhammad by usurping and killing the Ahl al Bait for whom Muhammad willed obedience, loyalty and allegiance and the Fatimid Imam is that very descendant who claims absolute loyalty of the Muslim world.
The Abbasids, the weakest and most distant of the Fatimid adversaries, were seen as debauched people unworthy to rule, effeminate, indifferent to the Byzantine advances in Syria they were unable to check, and an old decrepit dynasty which should make room for new blood.
The propaganda against the Byzantines, which was written primarily for internal consumption and self-congratulation, created an image of the infidel ever defeated by the might of Fatimid land and sea power.
This propaganda coupled with intense diplomacy resulted in a series of convergent attacks against Egypt, the Byzantine fleet, the Qarmatians in Palestine and Berber tribes near Alexandria.
"[9] When al-Muizz went to Egypt in c. 972 to take up his residence in Cairo, Ibn Hani left him and returned to the Maghreb to bring back his family, but was murdered in Barqah in Cyrenaica on his road on Wednesday, 30 April, c. 973 at the age of 36.
[11] Ibn Hani's diwan, apart from surviving, has been the subject of research for many scholars like Zahid Ali, Farhad Daftary and M. Canard, the author of the French book "L'imperialisme des Fatimides et leur propagande".