The Adventures of Amir Hamza

by Ghalib Lakhnavi

  When it was morning, Amir ordered a weeklong period of festivities. After that merrymaking was over, Amir Hamza was about to give marching orders to his army when Aadi presented him a letter from Jaipal Hindi, whom Landhoor had left behind to look after the affairs of his land in his absence. Jaipal Hindi had written:

  Firoz Shah the Turk has attacked us with an army of three hundred and fifty thousand troops and foot soldiers. We have already had a few encounters, but because Firoz Shah came with a vast army, he has returned victorious from the battlefield after each skirmish. If the Sahibqiran or the Khusrau of India should fail to come to our aid, we shall all become Your Honor’s sacrifice by the good fortune of your foes.

  Amir said to Landhoor, “I want you to advance on India and chastise that headstrong rebel.”

  Amir dispatched Mehr-Nigar and Zehra Misri toward Mecca escorted by Amar and Muqbil with forty thousand troops, and said to them all, “I shall have the pleasure of your company as soon as I have seen off Landhoor on his campaign.” Then Amir ordered Aadi to move the advance camp toward Basra for the purpose.

  In a few days Amar and Muqbil arrived in Mecca with Mehr-Nigar and Zehra Misri, and the Sahibqiran reached Basra accompanied by Landhoor and Bahram and his army. After Landhoor and his army had boarded the ships and set sail, Amir said to Bahram, “O Bahram! I had no choice but to send Landhoor on the campaign to India, and now I count on you to proceed there and assist him in his undertaking. From one end Landhoor shall visit scourges on Firoz Shah and from the other you shall despoil his land and spring a surprise on his rear. Once you have accomplished your mission, I will send for you along with Landhoor. Until the two of you have joined me, I promise not to marry Mehr-Nigar.”

  That same day Bahram also boarded a ship with his army; and after seeing him off on his campaign, Amir himself headed for Mecca with his victory-clinching army. On the way to Mecca Amir Hamza bivouacked in the pasture of Alang Zamarrud. A day later, two ayyars presented themselves to him. They announced that the warrior Zhopin Kaus was headed there to challenge him at the head of a seventy-thousand-strong intrepid army.

  While Naushervan was on his way to Egypt to murder Hamza he received intelligence that Ctesiphon had been sacked and ruined by Hamza, who had absconded with Mehr-Nigar. Naushervan hastily retraced his steps to the seat of his empire where he saw the devastation.

  Presently Bakhtak also returned to the court from his home and, flinging his turban on the floor, wailed that after Amar had killed his mother, now his daughter had died at Aadi’s hands. Naushervan replied that he was at a loss to find a remedy for the plague that was Hamza. Bakhtak answered that none but Gustham might be pitted against Hamza. Then Naushervan immediately sent a communiqué summoning Gustham to his presence.

  The next day intelligence reached the emperor that Zhopin Kaus had issued forth with forty thousand troops and was encamped two kos from the city in order to present himself and wait upon the emperor. When Zhopin presented himself before Naushervan, he vowed to punish Hamza and bring back Mehr-Nigar. The emperor asked him to bring back Mehr-Nigar so that he might give him her hand in wedlock, and moreover appoint him as his heir. Naushervan then accompanied him with two nobles of his court, one of whom was Ayashan Malik, with a force of thirty thousand warriors.

  Upon hearing this account Amir smiled and said to his men, “Zhopin shall be dealt with when he arrives.”

  Around the time of asr prayers, the horizon was darkened by a foul dust cloud rising to the heavens, and an army was seen approaching. When the scissors of wind tore apart this collar of dust, Hamza’s men beheld seventy standards and many detachments of one-thousand-strong troops marching under them. By and by Zhopin’s army settled down before them and set about making preparations for battle.

  Before long, King Sol routed the Potentate of the First Heaven4 along with his army of stars, and Zhopin entered one end of the battlefield with his seventy-thousand-strong army, and the Sahibqiran arrayed his five hundred thousand valiant troops at the other. Zhopin Kaus spurred his horse from out of the center of his army. He brought him to a halt in the middle of the field and called out, “O worshippers of the True God! May the one who yearns for death come forward to face me.” Unable to countenance this vain and boastful talk, Amir spurred on Siyah Qitas and descended like lightning on Zhopin’s head, ramming his steed so powerfully against Zhopin’s own that the latter was thrown back a full twenty paces. Zhopin said, “It seems to me that you are the one who goes by the appellation of Hamza!” Amir replied, “Indeed, I am Hamza, an abject servant of God!”

  Zhopin said, “O Hamza! Surrender Princess Mehr-Nigar to me so that I may take her as my wife, and follow me yourself with your hands tied in voluntary submission, so that I may intercede for you!”

  The Sahibqiran answered, “O wretch! Fulfill your heart’s desire and deal me a blow if you have any claim to valor!”

  Upon hearing this Zhopin thrust his spear at Amir’s immaculate chest. Amir pulled the weapon lightly from Zhopin’s hands. Enraged, Zhopin next attacked with his mace, but Amir received its blows on the shield of Garshasp, foiling every single one of his strikes. Zhopin brought down his mace ceaselessly and repeatedly, yet Amir foiled every blow, which landed on the ground causing a cloud of dust to rise over their heads. As that dust cloud screened Amir, Zhopin fell to boasting and swaggering and said, “There! I have killed him and made him dust.”

  When Amir heard his bragging, he spurred on Siyah Qitas like a blinding bolt of lightning and advanced on his adversary, saying, “O dastard! Who do you claim to have killed, and boast to have made into dust? The Angel of Death stands before you in my person seeking your soul. Come, I shall give you another blow, so that your desire is fully requited!” Zhopin weighed his mace in his hands and attacked again. Amir again foiled the blow and wrested the mace from his hands. He plucked Zhopin off his saddle as a hawk picks up a wagtail, or a kestrel a pigeon, and slammed him against the ground.

  After dismounting his steed, Amir pinned Zhopin down by sitting on his chest. Zhopin pleaded for mercy, and made a pretense of conversion to the True Faith. Amir got off his chest and stepped away. Drums of victory were sounded in the camp of the followers of the True Faith.

  Amir returned triumphant and victorious to his camp along with Zhopin. When the cloth was spread and food served, Amir broke bread with him. Later, Zhopin said to Amir, “I ask your leave now to return to my camp and convert my army to the True Faith.” Amir was immensely delighted by his words and said, “Go forth with my blessings!” Then Zhopin departed and went back to his men, and busied himself in spawning deceit and subterfuge.

  OF ZHOPIN CONDUCTING A NIGHT RAID ON AMIR HAMZA’S CAMP, AND OF AMIR DISAPPEARING WOUNDED FROM THE BATTLEFIELD

  Those who are pure of heart do not nurse grudges once they have made peace, and never brood on what lies in the past nor think of settling old scores. Hear what Zhopin the wretch planned and plotted in his camp. Upon entering his own camp Zhopin comforted and consoled his army, and said, “I converted to the True Faith upon finding my life in peril. Now, gird yourselves for ambushing Hamza’s camp tonight and routing and scattering his army speedily.” When night fell Zhopin headed for Amir’s camp with his seventy thousand men to conduct the night raid.

  On the way he ran into Amir Hamza’s commander, Shis Yemeni, who beheld Zhopin advancing with hostile intent at the head of seventy thousand troops and foot soldiers. He challenged Zhopin, and the two parties drew swords and were locked in fierce combat. Shis Yemeni met his martyrdom at Zhopin’s hands. The enemy then fell upon Hamza’s camp.

  Amir’s army was deep in peaceful slumber when Zhopin’s seventy thousand troops took them by surprise. The men snatched the first thing they laid their hands on, and faced the enemy. The cling-clang of swords, the rattle of weapons, and cries at last interrupted Amir’s serene repose. His spies informed him of Zhopin’s night raid on their camp. Fearful lest some harm should come to his mount, Amir headed for Siyah Qitas�
�s stable from his pavilion and bridled the horse and rode out bareback.

  Naushervan’s commander, Ayashan Malik, attacked Amir with a bloodied sword, but Amir foiled his blow and, wresting the sword from Ayashan Malik’s hand, dispatched him to Hell with his own weapon. Ayashan Malik’s younger brother then attacked Amir who parried his blow and returned it with such a blow to his back that it sliced him in two like a cucumber.

  In the meanwhile, Zhopin stole up behind Amir and, calling all his power to his aid, landed a lethal blow on Amir’s head. Nevertheless, Amir turned back and answered with a blow to Zhopin’s head that left a four-digit-deep impression in the skull of that brainless ape. Amir’s second blow cut through his ribs on one side, and his next blow wounded him similarly on the other side. Disconcerted by these blows, Zhopin swung forward in his saddle, and his derriere presented itself to Amir, who drove the point of his sword nearly a handspan’s measure into Zhopin’s ass, causing it to burst forth in a veritable fountain of blood. As Zhopin fell unconscious from his horse, ten thousand men from his army rushed to his aid and carried him off to Ctesiphon.

  Of Zhopin’s seventy thousand men, sixty thousand made their permanent abode in Hell. Several thousand men in the camp of the followers of the True Faith entered the gates of Paradise after attaining martyrdom in the night raid. Amir lost consciousness from the continuous bleeding of his head wound. Noticing that his master had been injured, Siyah Qitas carried him into the forest and away from the battlefield.

  Aadi and other commanders from Amir’s army looked for him among the dead and searched high and low the surrounding area of the battlefield for some trace of him, but they found none. Then the clamor of the mourners rose from the camp of the followers of the True Faith, and all the commanders and their men ripped open their collars in grief and clad themselves in sable. On the third day following the incident, Aadi arrived in Mecca with his entire army and gave news of the tragedy to Khvaja Abdul Muttalib and Amar. Stunned by grief, Khvaja Abdul Muttalib clutched his heart. Amar and Muqbil tore the collars off their garments. Mehr-Nigar slapped her rose-colored cheeks purple as the iris, and pulled out her locks until she was far from all cares of combing and plaiting them, and her face looked like that of a woman recently widowed.

  Amar said, “Believe me when I tell you that by God’s grace the Sahibqiran is alive and well and safe. If the least harm had come to him, Siyah Qitas would not have failed to return to camp.” Then, clad in the livery of ayyars, Amar embarked on his search for Amir Hamza, and headed toward that field in Alang Zamarrud which had been the scene of the battle.

  OF THE ARRIVAL OF ABDUR RAHMAN JINN, MINISTER OF THE EMPEROR OF QAF, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING AWAY AMIR HAMZA TO HIS DOMINION

  The chroniclers of news and the copyists of traditions relate that at the appointed time the infamous devs of Qaf rebelled against Shahpal bin Shahrukh, the emperor of the realm of Qaf, and wrested control of his dominions. The emperor was reduced to taking refuge in Gulistan-e Irum, where he and his family hid in a fort.

  One day the emperor of Qaf sent for his minister Abdur Rahman and said, “Find out what became of that boy Hamza, about whom it was foretold that after the rebellion of the devs of Qaf, he would arrive and root out the rebels, and return the land to our control.”

  Abdur Rahman cast lots and said, “He has lately seen action in a fierce battle and received a wound from a poisoned blade! If Your Honor so desires, he can be presented before you!” Shahpal forthwith sent for the salve of Suleiman5 and gave it to Abdur Rahman along with plentiful fruit from the lands of Qaf, saying, “Go forth without further delay and apply this tincture to Hamza’s head so that his wound is healed, and feed him these fruits so that he regains his lost strength. Then bring him along once he has recuperated!”

  Abdur Rahman left the realm of Qaf mounted on a throne, accompanied by an entourage of several hundred jinns, and departed in a flash to fulfill his mission. Arriving in the pasture, he looked around and discovered Amir Hamza lying on the grass, unconscious. Abdur Rahman carried Hamza away on the throne and moved him to a cave in the hills of Abu Qubais.

  There he cleansed his wound gently and carefully, and bandaged it after applying the salve of Suleiman. When Amir opened his eyes, Abdur Rahman offered his blessings to the Sahibqiran, whereupon Amir returned them and said, “Who are you, whence have you come? Tell me if it was you who brought me here and laid me on this throne!”

  Abdur Rahman then narrated the entire history to Hamza. Amir said, “How and by what signs did you recognize me?” Abdur Rahman replied, “By the exercise of deduction, from remembering your dark mole, and by your curled locks, which are the telltale mark of Prophet Ibrahim’s progeny!”

  Abdur Rahman’s manners greatly pleased Amir Hamza. Then Abdur Rahman introduced the several hundred jinns who had accompanied him and entered them into Amir’s service. Next he told Amir, “I have a favor to ask of you, and I put my hope in your manly courage! Once you are fully recovered, I shall wait your pleasure to grant it!” Amir replied, “I grant you your request without your asking for it!”

  Now hear of Amar. He happened upon a pasture where he saw Siyah Qitas grazing. Amar kissed the horse’s forehead and said, “Lead me to your master!” Siyah Qitas neighed and pointed with his muzzle toward the cave. But the gesture was lost on Amar and, unable to comprehend it, he made a futile search of the surrounding area. Amar decided that he would resume his search after taking Siyah Qitas home. Amar led Siyah Qitas back to his camp and headed back to find Amir.

  This time his path led him to the slope of Abu Qubais where his ears picked up the buzzing of human speech. Upon entering the hill’s cave he beheld Amir seated on a throne, partaking of a variety of fruits the likes of which Amar had never before seen. He rushed forward and fell at Amir’s feet. His friend raised him and embraced him affectionately, and asked news of Mehr-Nigar’s well-being.

  Amar narrated all that had happened up to that point, and then stood with folded arms before Amir. Because Amar’s eyes were not lined with the collyrium of Suleiman, he could not see any of the jinns present there. The jinns were greatly amused by Amar’s mien and appearance. One of them pulled Amar’s feet out from under him, and Amar fell flat on his face. When Amir laughed at the caper, Amar said to him, “Do not laugh at me O Sahibqiran, since I am exhausted after wandering in the forest and hills in search of you. I fell down because there was no strength left in my legs!” Then Amir asked him to draw near, and as Amar stepped forward one of the jinns sat down on his haunches in front of him. Amir Hamza again broke into laughter as Amar stumbled over the jinn and fell. Another jinn removed Amar’s headgear with such a light hand that he never felt a thing. Amar felt his head with his hand and, finding his headgear gone, raised a great hue and cry, and gave vent to his anger.

  Seeing Amar become so nettled, Hamza told him what had come to pass. He had Amar’s eyes lined with the collyrium of Suleiman as well. Amar was then able to see everyone present there, and the Sahibqiran introduced him to Abdur Rahman. Afterward, Hamza said to Amar, “You may go back to Mecca and take news of my well-being, but do not breathe a word to anyone about my whereabouts!” After Amar had departed for Mecca, the Sahibqiran said to Abdur Rahman, “Now you may relate the matter regarding which your lord and master sent you here!”

  When Abdur Rahman presented his case before Amir and gave account of Ifrit dev’s ravages, Amir replied, “O Abdur Rahman! The prospect of that dev dying at my hand and the emperor’s land being freed and restored to him by the dint of my arm affords me immense delight. I will accompany you most willingly!” Abdur Rahman answered, “I have already divined the certainty through ramal—and I am convinced of it in my heart as well—that you are the slayer of Ifrit!”

  The next morning when Amar again presented himself, Amir said to him, “Dear friend, I am obliged to undertake a journey that will last a number of days.” Then Hamza repeated all that Abdur Rahman had told him. Amar said, “What leads you on this fr
uitless endeavor to that far-off place, after you went to all that trouble to rescue Mehr-Nigar?”

  Amir answered, “I am obligated to Abdur Rahman because he healed my wound and tended to me as I lay injured. You well know that the mightiest dev or ghol or sorcerer holds no terror for me because the True Savior is my protector.”

  At that point, Abdur Rahman said, “O Sahibqiran! The journey to Qaf will take you three days. Allowing another three days for the return journey, one for rest, one for killing Ifrit, and another to celebrate your victory, the entire trip will last nine days.” Amir said, “I would still agree to your request even if the journey took twice that time, and a full eighteen days!”

  Amar said to Hamza, “Do as you wish! I shall guard Mehr-Nigar for another eighteen days. But my responsibility will end on the nineteenth day, and I shall go my way, leaving you the master of your own affairs!” Hamza answered, “You have my consent! Bring me my inkstand, so that I may write out my instructions to Mehr-Nigar and the commanders of the army, enjoining all of them to obey your orders and seek your pleasure and consent in all matters.”

  Amar left the cave with tears in his eyes, and headed for Mecca. When he arrived there, and Khvaja Abdul Muttalib learned Hamza’s intent of journeying to Qaf, he became greatly alarmed. Khvaja wrote out a letter to Hamza counseling him against undertaking the journey to Qaf, and handed it to Amar.

  From there Amar went to his camp, where a pandemonium like the Day of Judgment broke out when the commanders heard the news of Amir’s impending journey. Mehr-Nigar fell to the floor crying, and tossed and turned and writhed in agony. Amar said to her, “Princess! All this crying and wailing will serve no purpose! Write a letter to Amir as Khvaja Abdul Muttalib has done and see what he writes in reply!”