DOI issue:
Nr. 333 (February 1925)
DOI article:Comstock, Helen: The romance of Amir Hamzah
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19984#0095
mceRnACionAL
allegory nor fable, but partly a wild panegyric and
partly a childish series of fairy tales. As a literary
effort the record, devoid of genius, compares
unfavorably with other surviving specimens of
Arabian and Persian literature. As fairy tales, its
stories, contrasted with works such as the bril-
liantly imaginative Arabian Nights (the Thousand
and One Nights, the original compilation of which
dates from the eighth to ninth century), are found
sadly lacking in essentials, especially in 'thoughts
that breathe and words that burn.' Present day
Moslems for the most part hold the Romance in
contempt, preferring to regard it rather as an
inelegant and feeble absurdity than as a libelous
or profane work. Still further proof of its failure
is afforded in the fact that no truly serious
attempt has been made to translate it into a
Western tongue."
Of the life of the hero Mr. Clarke says: "Ham-
zah, the son of 'Abd al-Muttalib, was born at
Mecca about A. D. 569. He was the uncle of the
Prophet Muhammad (b. about 570). Tradition
also makes them foster-brothers, asserting that
both were suckled by Thueiba, slave of Abu
Lahab. Up to 594, excepting references to his
abnormal physical strength, prowess and pro-
ficiency with the bow in hunting, the records are
wanting of his early life. In 595, at the age of
FEBRUARY I p2 5
three fifty-Jive
allegory nor fable, but partly a wild panegyric and
partly a childish series of fairy tales. As a literary
effort the record, devoid of genius, compares
unfavorably with other surviving specimens of
Arabian and Persian literature. As fairy tales, its
stories, contrasted with works such as the bril-
liantly imaginative Arabian Nights (the Thousand
and One Nights, the original compilation of which
dates from the eighth to ninth century), are found
sadly lacking in essentials, especially in 'thoughts
that breathe and words that burn.' Present day
Moslems for the most part hold the Romance in
contempt, preferring to regard it rather as an
inelegant and feeble absurdity than as a libelous
or profane work. Still further proof of its failure
is afforded in the fact that no truly serious
attempt has been made to translate it into a
Western tongue."
Of the life of the hero Mr. Clarke says: "Ham-
zah, the son of 'Abd al-Muttalib, was born at
Mecca about A. D. 569. He was the uncle of the
Prophet Muhammad (b. about 570). Tradition
also makes them foster-brothers, asserting that
both were suckled by Thueiba, slave of Abu
Lahab. Up to 594, excepting references to his
abnormal physical strength, prowess and pro-
ficiency with the bow in hunting, the records are
wanting of his early life. In 595, at the age of
FEBRUARY I p2 5
three fifty-Jive