Abu'l-Fath Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hussain ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Busti (, ), more commonly known as Abu'l-Fath al-Busti (Arabic: , Persian: ) was a Persian secretary and poet who wrote in Arabic and Persian. Born in the ancient city Bost (today Lashkargah, Afghanistan) in Sistan, he served in the chancery of the Ghaznavid Amirs Sebuktigin and his son and successor Mahmud.

Abu al-Fath was, amongst others, a student of the well known Islamic scholar Ibn Hibban who derives from the same city and from whom he learned the Islamic sciences of Hadith and Fiqh.

Works

Qasidah an-Nuniyyah (“Poem in Nun”)

The poem is also known under the title of "Unwan al-Hikam" ("The Title for Wisdoms") and "Ziyadat ul-Mar’i fi-Dunyahi Nuqsan" ("To Rise in One's World Is to Decline"). It is a Qasida which relates to moral aphorisms and akhlaq (good character).

References