BEHA  UD-DIN

ZUHAIR (ABU-L FADL ZUHAIR IBN MAHOMMED AL-MUHALLABI) (1186-1258), Arabian poet, was born at or near Mecca, and became celebrated as the best writer of prose and verse and the best calligraphist of his time . He ehtered the service of Malik u-Salib Najm ud-Din in Mesopotamia, and was with him at Damascus until he was betrayed and imprisoned . Bella ud-Din then retired to Nablus (Shechem) where he remained until Najm ud-DIn escaped and obtained possession of Egypt, whither he accompanied him in 1240 . There he remained as the sultan's confidential secretary until his death, due to an epidemic, in 1258 . His poetry consists mostly of panegyric and brilliant occasional verse distinguished for its elegance . It has been published with English metrical translation by E . H . Palmer (2 vols., Cambridge, 1877) . His life was written by his contemporary Ibn Khallikan (see M'G. de Slane's trans. of his Biographical Dictionary, vol. i . PP- 542-545)• (G . W .