Badīʿ al-Zamān Hamadānī (also Hamadhānī), Abū al-Faḍl Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn b. Yaḥyā (358–398/969–1007), was a Persian writer and literary figure who wrote in Arabic and was the pioneer of the literary genre of the maqāma (a form of extemporising which allowed the display of prowess in poetry and prose).

Information about his life is drawn from accounts and reports produced by his contemporary ʿAbd al-Malik al-Thaʿālabī (4/256–301). Later writers reproduced in essence what al-Thaʿālabī wrote: even Yāqūt…