جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه "hamza nama" در نشریات گروه "ادبیات و زبان ها"

The epic poem Sahebqeran-nama has only one manuscript of the work No.279 in the National Library of France and is a description of the story of a hero named Hamza, who has doubts about its attribution to historical figures. Sahebqeran-nama is the only Hamza-nama of Persian poetry and So far, no independent research has been done on this book, and in the book Epic in Iran (Zabihullah Safa), only a brief reference has been made to it. There is no mention of this book or its author in historical and literary sources. This research tries to determine the approximate date of the composition, the identity of the poet, his place of residence and his government by researching the text. Although the poetry and literary structure of the poem lack the characteristics of a genuine Persian poem, but this book contains many historical and literary points and in it one can look for evidence of rare Persian words and phrases. The poet is a pioneer in creating new words and phrases and this work is very important for recognizing the different quality of Persian language in India.

Stories have a large readership and are of high significance in folklore studies. Therefore, studies addressing them carry relevance not only to folklore studies but also to different fields of study such as anthropology, cultural studies and sociology. One of the well-known and popular folklore stories is Amir-al-Muminin Hamzeh. Although a few studies have been conducted on it, they are open to criticisms on several grounds. One such criticism is that the Arabic root or origin of story is overlooked except in an Arabic paper by Mustafa Al-bakur (1386) and in ‘Iran’s Folklore’ (…… 2009). Others (e.g., Farrokhi, 1389) have either taken the root as Iranian or have not touched upon the issue (e.g., Zargoush, 1389). Such a negligence and inconsistency has resulted in ambiguities, confusions, controversies and sweeping generalizations. The relationship between Farsi and Arabic versions of this story is something beyond a mere from-Arabic-to-Farsi translation. Consequently, it is necessary to take into consideration the cultural exchange of Iranian people with their southern and western neighbors. Additionally, it is equally essential and useful to compare Iranian and Arabic folklore (Adab-al-Shaabi). Both were taken into account in the current study. 

This research is descriptive in nature. For the purposes of this study, Arabic (four volumes) and Farsi (two volumes) versions of Hamzat-il-Bahlavan were studied. As a library research, works and research studies addressing Arabic Folklore (Adab-al-Shaabi) were also included. 

Findings of this study indicate that the Farsi Hamzeh-Nameh is in fact an Arabic story; it is neither Indian nor Iranian. Despite its Arabic origin, there are historical documents suggesting that Arab storytellers have been affected by Iranian epics. More specifically, stories about Iranian hero, Rostam, have been transferred by Arab storytellers into Hamzat-il-Bahlavan. Interestingly enough, Hamzat-al-Arab is the Arabic hero for Iranian Rostam. It was also found that in Farsi translation, the main character (i.e. Hamzat-al-Arab) has been changed into a religious one. In other words, the main Arab character in the Arabic version has been replaced by another character—a religious one; Hamzat-al-Arab has been replaced by Amir-al-Muminin Hamzeh. The latter character is Prophet Muhammad’s uncle. The rationale for this change is racial. Since the original Arab hero (i.e. Hamzat-al-Arab) defeats Iran’s king in a battle, it would be less humiliating and offensive to depict Amir-al-Muminin Hamzeh as the winner since he is the uncle of the Holy Prophet. In other words, Amir-al-Muminin Hamzeh’s affiliation to Prophet Muhammad—the holiest man for Muslim Iranians— makes this defeat less humiliating to the Iranian reader. Arabic and Farsi resources, materials and texts revealed that it is futile to look for the creator(s) or writer(s) of this work. It is the content, according to an old eastern tradition, that matters most.  Findings are used to argue that Hamzeh-Nameh or even Hamzat-al-Arab is a folklore story of a hero only.  Hamzat-il-Bahlavan, in fact, is a work of Arab supremacism against Iranians.     

In this study, it was concluded that unlike the perception of many Iranians, Hamazeh-Nameh is Arabic in its root and origin even though it has been under the influence of Iranian epics. When getting translated from Arabic to Farsi, several important changes pertaining to characters and events have been intentionally made to it. This story is not a religious or historical epic; rather, it is a folklore of a hero.

This study is based on the  descriptive-analytic library method. Three tales were selected for this study: Darab nama Tarsusi, Hamza nama, and Amir Arsalan Namdar. Three motifs were considered in this regard: Darab Nama has a mythical, epical, and historical motif; Hamza Nama has an epical-religious motif; and the motif of Amir Arsalan Namdar is romantic. The study, on the one hand, aims to investigate what categories of viziers' actions could be extracted from the Iranian folk stories and the factors which play role in this regard, and on the other, to pursue if these actions reveal any historical and social events or they are typical actions throughout the stories. The results of the study showed that there are two kinds of vizier; one kind is "Mobad-vizier" and another is "Sepahbad-vizier". From this point of view, the first one is cultural, social and juridical consultant and the second one is martial consultant. These two kinds of viziers are present in Darab Nama and Hamza Nama. Based on this dual division, the first vizier (Mobad-vizier) has roles such as fortune telling, wedding ceremony, ambassadorship, intercession, dream interpretation, political advisor and magic works. The other vizier, however, is a martial consultant and sometimes shows his treachery and skullduggery. Viziers in the story of Amir Arsalan Namdar are different from viziers in the other two stories. In this story, viziers are categorized as "vizier on the right hand" and "vizier on the left hand". Often the right-hand vizier is a well-mannered, kind-hearted, well-natured person and naturally the supporter of the main hero of the story. The other one, however, is an evil-minded, wicked conspirator and anti-hero. Lastly, it could be mentioned that Hamza nama and Darab nama are reflecting the social and historical events of the Sasanid era, while Amir Arsalan is related to the Qajar period.