:''This article is about the fictional literary character created by H.P. Lovecraft. For the character from the King's Quest video game, see [[King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow]].''
'''Abdul Alhazred''' is a [[fictional character]] created by [[United States|American]] horror writer [[H. P. Lovecraft]]. He is the so-called "Mad [[Arab]]" credited with authoring the imaginary [[sufi]]c book ''Kitab al-Azif'' (the ''[[Necronomicon]]''), and as such an integral part of [[Cthulhu Mythos]] lore.
==Name==
The name ''Abdul Alhazred'' is a pseudonym that Lovecraft created in his youth, which he took on after reading ''[[1001 Arabian Nights]]'' at the age of about five years. The name was invented either by Lovecraft, or by Albert Baker the Whipple family lawyer.<ref>Harms, p. 7, ''The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana''.</ref> ''[[Abdul]]'' is a common Arabic name component (but never a name by itself; additionally the ending -ul and the beginning Al- are redundant), but ''Alhazred'' may allude to ''Hazard'', a name from Lovecraft's family tree. It might also have been a pun on "all-has-read", since Lovecraft was an avid reader in youth.<ref>Pearsall, "Alhazred, Abdul", ''The Lovecraft Lexicon'', p. 55.</ref>
''Abdul Alhazred'' is not a real [[Arabic name]], and seems to contain the Arabic definite article morpheme ''al-'' twice in a row (anomalous in terms of [[Arabic grammar]]). The more proper Arabic form might be ''Abd-el-Hazred'' or ''Abdul Hazred'' -these still wouldn't be correct, because 'Abdul or, Abd el-' should be followed by one of god's names in Arabic because 'Abd' itself means worships, and is followed by God's name- . In [[Arabic language|Arabic]] translations, his name has appeared as ''Abdullah Al[[ḥ]]<nowiki>a</nowiki>[[ẓ]]<nowiki>red</nowiki>'' (عبدالله الحظرد): Arabic ''ḥaẓra''حظر = "he fenced in", "he prohibited". Hazred could come from the [[Persian language|Persian]] or Arabic word "Hazrat" meaning Great Lord with a twist that makes it sound like "red" and "hazard" both indicative of danger.
The phrase "mad Arab", sometimes with both words capitalised in Lovecraft's stories, is used so commonly before Alhazred's name that it almost constitutes a title. A reference to the "Mad Arab" in [[Cthulhu Mythos]] fiction is invariably a synonym for Abdul Alhazred.
==Biography==
===H. P. Lovecraft===
{{wikisource|History of the Necronomicon}}
According to Lovecraft's "History of the Necronomicon" (written [[1927]], first published [[1938 in literature|1938]]), Alhazred was:
:a mad poet of [[Sanaá]], in [[Yemen]], who is said to have flourished during the period of the [[Umayyad|Ommiade]] [[caliph]]s, circa [[700]] A.D. He visited the ruins of [[Babylon]] & the subterranean secret of [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] & spent ten years alone in the great southern desert of [[Arabia]] — the [[Rub' al Khali|Roba El Khaliyeh]] or "Empty Space" of the ancients — & "[[Al-Dahna Desert|Dahna]]" or "Crimson" desert of the modern Arabs, which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits & monsters of death. Of this desert many strange & unbelievable marvels are told by those who pretend to have penetrated it. In his last years Alhazred dwelt in [[Damascus]].
In [[730]], while still living in Damascus, Alhazred supposedly wrote a book of ultimate evil in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], ''al-Azif'', which would later become known as the ''Necronomicon''. Those who have dealings with this book usually come to an unpleasant end, and Alhazred was no exception. Again according to Lovecraft's "History":
:Of his final death or disappearance ([[738]] A.D.) many terrible & conflicting things are told. He is said by [[Ibn Khallikan|Ebn Khallikan]] (12th cent. biographer) to have been seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight & devoured horribly before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. Of his madness many things are told. He claimed to have seen the fabulous [[Iram of the Pillars|Irem]], or City of Pillars, & to have found beneath the ruins of [[The Nameless City|a certain nameless desert town]] the shocking annals & secrets of a race older than mankind. He was only an indifferent [[Muslim|Moslem]], worshipping unknown entities whom he called [[Yog-Sothoth]] & [[Cthulhu]].
===August Derleth===
[[August Derleth]] later made alterations to the biography of Alhazred, such as redating his death to [[731]]. Derleth also changed Alhazred's final fate, as described in his [[short story]] "[[The Trail of Cthulhu|The Keeper of the Key]]", first published in May [[1951 in literature|1951]]. In the story, [[The Trail of Cthulhu#Laban Shrewsbury|Professor Laban Shrewsbury]] (a recurring Derleth character) and his assistant at the time, [[The Trail of Cthulhu#Nayland Colum|Nayland Colum]], discover Alhazred's burial site.
While the two are heading a caravan from [[Salalah]], [[Oman]], they cross the border into [[Yemen]] and find the unexplored desert area that the ''Necronomicon'' calls "Roba el Ehaliyeh" or "Roba el Khaliyeh" — presumably a reference to the [[Empty Quarter]] or "Rub al Khali".
At the center of the area they discover the [[Nameless City]] (the setting of the Lovecraft story of the same name) and in Derleth's text the domain of the [[Great Old One]] [[Hastur]]. Shrewsbury, an old agent of Hastur and the devoted enemy of Hastur's half-brother, Cthulhu, crosses its gates in search of Alhazred's burial site.
He indeed finds Alhazred's [[burial chamber]] and learns of his fate. Alhazred had been kidnapped in [[Damascus]] and brought to the Nameless City, where he had earlier studied and learned some of the ''Necronomicon''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s lore. As punishment for betraying their secrets, Alhazred was tortured. Then they blinded him, severed his tongue and executed him.
Although the entrance to the chamber warns against disturbing him, Shrewsbury opens Alhazred's [[sarcophagus]] anyway, finding that only rugs, bones, and dust remain of Alhazred. However, the sarcophagus also contains Alhazred's personal, incomplete copy of the ''Necronomicon'', written in the [[Arabic alphabet]]. Shrewsbury then uses [[necromancy]] to recall Alhazred's spirit and orders it to draw a map of the world as he knew it. After obtaining the map, which reveals the location of [[R'lyeh]] and other secret places, Shrewsbury finally lets Alhazred return to his eternal rest.
==References==
*{{cite book|author=August Derleth|chapter=The Keeper of the Key|origyear=1951|title=Quest for Cthulhu|year=2000|location=New York, NY|publisher=Carroll & Graf|id=ISBN 0-7867-0752-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Harms|first=Daniel|title=The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana|edition=2nd ed.|year=1998|location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|id=ISBN 1-56882-119-0}}
*{{cite book|first=Howard P|last=Lovecraft|title=History of The Necronomicon|publisher=Necronomicon Press|location=West Warwick, RI|id=ISBN 0-318-04715-2|url=http://www.necfiles.org/nechisto.htm}}
*{{cite book|last=Pearsall|first=Anthony B.|title=The Lovecraft Lexicon|edition=1st ed.|year=2005|location=Tempe, AZ|publisher=New Falcon|id=ISBN 1-56184-129-3}}
===Notes===
<references/>
[[Category:Mortals in the Cthulhu Mythos|Alhazred, Abdul]]
[[Category:Fictional Arabs|Alhazred, Abdul]]
[[Category:Fictional writers|Alhazred, Abdul]]
[[Category:Fictional Muslims]]
[[ar:عبد الله الحظرد]]
[[es:Abdul Alhazred]]
[[fr:Abdul al-Hazred]]
[[it:Abdul Alhazred]]
[[ja:アブドル・アルハズラット]]
[[pl:Abdul Alhazred]]
[[pt:Abdul Alhazred]]
[[ru:Абдул Альхазред]]
[[sv:Abdul Alhazred]]
[[tr:Abdul Alhazred]]