Islam and Heroic Image: Themes in Literature and the Visual Arts.

• Author: Knappert, Jan

By JOHN RENARD. Studies in Comparative Religion. Columbia, S.C.: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS, 1994. Pp. xxi + 342.

This work is rich in ideas, and for the student of traditional literature of the Islamic lands, a pleasure to read. Part one is introductory; part two is entitled "Islamic Heroic Figures," and is, in turn, divided into four chapters, viz., "The Folk Hero," describing among others the Bedouin ideal and its transformations; "The Hero as Comrade in Arms and Champion"; and "The Survival of the Folk Hero." Chapter four discusses "The Royal Hero," including "The Adventurer," "The Progenitor," "The Tragic Prince and the Heroine," and finally, "The World Conqueror" - such as Alexander the Great, well known in Islamic legends.

Chapter five discusses "The Religious Hero." In Islamic myth, the religious hero is, in the first place, one of the series of twenty-five prophets who are mentioned by name in the Qur an, all of whom have found a place in the literature of popular legend. For instance, Joseph of the Bible becomes a young prophet in Islam (Qur an 6:84) who can explain the king's dream (12:43-49); epic poems have been composed about him in Arabic, Malay, Swahili, and Urdu, and in Persian by Firdausi himself (p. 97). This literature is still very much a living tradition - witness the recent discovery of the epic of Moses in Swahili, a twin of the epic of Noah which has never surfaced. In popular Islamic literature, the religious hero occupies a central position, certainly if we include Husayn, who has acquired a hallowed status in Iran and elsewhere.

Next to the virtuous heroes there are, in all popular tales, the villains. These evil characters can be non-human, such as the devil (Iblis, p. 120), or superhuman, such as the giants who confront Muhammad's uncle Hamza, or human (p. 125), such as Dahhak, a Persian king in Firdausi's Shahnameh, who made a vile compact with the Evil One and grew two snake heads on his back.

Chapter seven is concerned with the special circumstances of the hero's birth and childhood, with his sense of destiny, the emblems of his authority, and the recognition of his identity. The poets of the Islamic world seem to have been excellent psychologists who perceived the complexity of human souls (p. 146). Chapter eight deals with the theme of the Odyssey, the Aeneid, or the Lusiadas, that is, the hero's journey as symbolic of his life's quest, such as the endless peregrinations of Antar, Miqdad, and Amr...