12th-century Islamic poet and oratorAbū Badīl Ahmad ibn Muhammad Sajāwandī (Persian: ابوبدیل احمد بن محمد سجاوندی) (died 1176 CE or 571 AH) was a 12th-century chronicler, commentator on the Quran, poet and orator. He was the son of the scholar Muhammad ibn Tayfour Sajawandi. He is mentioned in the "Lubab ul-Albab" ("Heart of hearts") of Aufi and the "Chahar Maqalah" ("Four Discourses") of Nizami Aruzi as a great poet and orator at the court of Tughan-Shah Ibn Alp Arslan (reigning Herat in the mid-11th century), under the name "Malik al-Kalām Majd ad-Dīn Aḥmad Badi'hī Sajāwandī". However, as this event must have preceded Abu Badil's lifetime by close to a century, it is likely that these individuals have been confused from an early date, with "Malik al-Kalām Aḥmad Badi'hī" ("the king of speech") being known for his poetry, and "Imâm-e Kabīr" "Ahmad ibn Muhammad Sajāwandī" ("the great Imam") for his religious scholarship.
Name.
His full name is "ʿAbū Badīl Aḥmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Tayfour Sajāwandī" (Persian: ابوبدیل احمد ابن محمد ابن طیفور سجاوندی). "Sajāwandī" is his nisbah meaning "from Sajawand". He is mentioned by the honorifics Majd ad-Dīn (مجد الدین "splendour of the faith") and Imâm-e Kabīr (امام کبیر "the Great Imam").