Abān b. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Lāḥiqī (d. 200/816) was a man of letters of Persian origin who wrote poetry in Arabic. His forebear Lāḥiq b. ʿUfayr was a narrator of ḥadīth and a mawlā (client) of the tribe of Banū Raqqāsh. His forefathers lived in Fasā, a city in the province of Fārs (al-Ṣūlī, 40). Their designation as Jews (Fariq, 46), a notion originating with Abū ʿUbayda (al-Ṣūlī, 36; Abū al-Faraj, 23/165), is unfounded.

Nothing is known of Abān's childhood. He was probably born in Baṣra which is where he grew up and studied literature, jurisprudence, logic and mathemat…