Question:
Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri (Arabic 'bw l'l lm'ry Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri, full name 'bw l'l 'Hmd bn 'bd llh bn slymn ltnwkhy lm'ry Abu al-'Ala' Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Sulaiman al-Tanuhi al-Ma'arri; December 973 - May 1057) was a blind Arab philosopher, poet, and writer. Al-Ma'arri held and expressed an irreligious world view which was met with controversy, but in spite of it, he is regarded as one of the greatest classical Arabic poets.
An early collection of his poems appeared as The Tinder Spark (Saqt al-zand; sqT lznd). The collection of poems included praise of notable people of Aleppo and the Hamdanid ruler Sa'd al-Dawla. It gained great popularity and established his reputation as a poet. A few poems in the collection were about armour. A second, more original collection appeared under the title Unnecessary Necessity (Luzum ma lam yalzam lzwm m l ylzm 'w llzwmyt), also simply Luzumiyat or Necessities. The title refers to how al-Ma'arri saw the business of living and alludes to the unnecessary complexity of the rhyme scheme used. His third famous work is a work of prose known as The Epistle of Forgiveness (Resalat Al-Ghufran rsl@ lGfrn). The work was written as a direct response to the Arabic poet Ibn al-Qarih, whom al-Ma'arri mocks for his religious views. In this work, the poet visits paradise and meets the Arab poets of the pagan period, contrary to Muslim doctrine which holds that only those who believe in God can find salvation. Because of the aspect of conversing with the deceased in paradise, the Resalat Al-Ghufran has been compared to the Divine Comedy of Dante which came hundreds of years after. The work has also been noted to be similar to Ibn Shuhayd's Risala al-tawabi' wa al-zawabi, though there is no evidence that al-Ma'arri was inspired by Ibn Shahayd nor is there any evidence that Dante was inspired by al-Ma'arri. Algeria reportedly banned The Epistle of Forgiveness from the International Book Fair held in Algiers in 2007. Paragraphs and Periods (Al-Fusul wa al-ghayat) is a collection of homilies. The work has also been called a parody of the Quran.
Answer this question using a quote from the text above:

What else was he known for?

Answer:
Paragraphs and Periods (Al-Fusul wa al-ghayat) is a collection of homilies. The work has also been called a parody of the Quran.

Question:
Kaine was born at Saint Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the eldest of three sons born to Mary Kathleen (nee Burns), a home economics teacher, and Albert Alexander Kaine, Jr., a welder and the owner of a small iron-working shop. He was raised Catholic. One of Kaine's great-grandparents was Scottish and the other seven were Irish.
After graduating from law school, Kaine was a law clerk for Judge R. Lanier Anderson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Macon, Georgia. Kaine then joined the Richmond law firm of Little, Parsley & Cluverius, P.C. In 1987, Kaine became a director with the law firm of Mezzullo & McCandlish, P.C. Kaine practiced law in Richmond for 17 years, specializing in fair housing law and representing clients discriminated against on the basis of race or disability. He was a board member of the Virginia chapter of Housing Opportunities Made Equal, which he represented in a landmark redlining discrimination lawsuit against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. arising from the company's practices in Richmond. Kaine won a $100.5 million verdict in the case; the judgment was overturned on appeal, and Kaine and his colleagues negotiated a $17.5 million settlement. Kaine did regular pro bono work. In 1988, Kaine started teaching legal ethics as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. Kaine taught at the University of Richmond for six years, and his students included future Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. He was a founding member of the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness. Kaine had a largely apolitical childhood, but became interested in politics in part due to the influence of his wife's family and his experience attending Richmond city council meetings. In May 1994, Kaine was elected to the city council of the independent city of Richmond, from the City's 2nd District. He defeated incumbent city councilman Benjamin P. A. Warthen by 97 votes. Kaine spent four terms on the council, the latter two as mayor.
Answer this question using a quote from the text above:

Did anything influence him to perform the work he did?

Answer:
became interested in politics in part due to the influence of his wife's family and his experience attending Richmond city council meetings.