Al-Ma'arri

Blind 11th-century Arab philosopher-poet who pioneered secular humanism and vegan ethics

Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri (973–1057 CE), the Syrian rationalist, composed revolutionary works like The Epistle of Forgiveness – a Dante-esque cosmic journey critiquing religious dogma. His Luzumiyyat collection contained verses like 'Humans are divided into two: those with brains but no religion, and those with religion but no brains.'

Centuries before Enlightenment thinkers, he rejected supernatural claims and adopted vegetarianism based on animal rights ethics. Despite blindness from childhood smallpox, his 30,000-line poems spread through Islamic Golden Age intellectual networks, influencing Persian Sufi poetry and European Renaissance skeptics.

Modern scholars recognize al-Ma'arri's al-Fusul wa al-Ghayat as the first attempt to mimic Quranic style for secular philosophy. His tombstone inscription – 'This wrong was by my father done to me, but never by me to anyone' – remains a manifesto against inherited trauma.