A'SHA, AL-

((Arabic: the Night-Blind), ) born before 570, , Durna, Arabia died c. 625, , Durna in full Maymun Ibn Qays Al-a'sha pre-Islamic poet whose qasidah (ode) is included by the critic Abu 'Ubaydah (d. 825) in the celebrated Mu'allaqat, a collection of seven pre-Islamic qasidahs, each of which was considered by its author to be his best; the contents of the collection vary slightly, according to the views of several compilers. Al-A'sha spent his youth in travels through Mesopotamia, Syria, Arabia, and Ethiopia. He continued to travel, even after becoming blind, particularly along the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It was then that he turned to the writing of panegyrics as a means of support. His style, reliant on sound effects and full-bodied foreign words, tends to be artificial.