Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri is somebody whom I only learned of recently, but has definitely become one of my greatest heroes. According to his Wikipedia article: "[He] was a blind Arab philosopher, poet, and writer. He was a controversial rationalist of his time, attacking the dogmas of religion and rejecting the claim that Islam or any other religion possessed the truths they claimed and considered the speech of prophets as a lie (literally, 'forgery') and 'impossible' to be true. He was equally sarcastic towards the religions of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. According to the poet Sa'di of Shiraz, he was a strict Vegetarian who argued for animal rights." "He rejected claims of any divine revelation. His creed was that of a philosopher and ascetic, for whom reason provides a moral guide, and virtue is its own reward." "Al-Maarri's fundamental pessimism is expressed in his anti-natalist recommendation that no children should be begotten, s