Sayf al-Dawla
His father was killed in 935, during a dispute over possession of Mosul with his nephew, Nasir al-Dawla, and Abu Firas's mother fled to the protection of Nasir al-Dawla's brother, Sayf al-Dawla. When the latter occupied Aleppo and northern Syria in 944/5, Abu Firas was welcomed at his cousin's court. There he was raised under the supervision of Sayf al-Dawla, who also married his sister. Aside from being a renowned warrior, Sayf al-Dawla was famous for his patronage of scholars and poets, and the young Abu Firas grew up in a culturally vibrant atmosphere, which saw assembled at Aleppo some of the finest minds of the Muslim world: the preacher Ibn Nubatah, the philosopher and musician al-Farabi, and the great poet al-Mutanabbi, while the grammarian Ibn Khalawayh was his tutor.