 Abul Ala was born in Maʿarra, modern Maarrat al-Nuʿman, Syria, near the city of Aleppo, in December 973. At his time, the city was part of the Abbasid Caliphate, the third Islamic caliphate, and was during the Golden Age of Islam. He was a member of the Banu Sulayman, a notable family of Maʿarra, belonging to the larger Tanukh tribe. One of his ancestors was probably the first qadi of Maʿarra. The Tanukh tribe had formed part of the aristocracy in Syria for hundreds of years and some members of the Banu Sulayman had also been noted as good poets.
