Isma’il ibn al-Qasim ibn Suwayd al-‘Anazi al-Kufi, also known as Abu Ishaq, is of two opinions regarding his lineage. The first is that he was a client of the ‘Anazah tribe, and the second is that he was a pure-blooded ‘Anazah, a view held by his son Muhammad and adopted by several academic studies. He was born in ‘Ayn al-Tamr in 130 AH/747 CE. He later moved to Kufa, where he worked as a potter. He was drawn to knowledge and literature, and he composed poetry, excelling in it. He then moved to Baghdad and became associated with the caliphs, praising Caliphs al-Mahdi, al-Hadi, and Harun al-Rashid. He is considered one of the leading poets of the early Abbasid era, belonging to the same class as Bashar ibn Burd, Abu Nuwas, and their contemporaries. He excelled in writing about asceticism, panegyric, and most other poetic genres of his time.