Abdul Alhazred is a fictional character created by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. He is the "mad Arab" credited with authoring the fictitious occult book Kitab al-Azif (the Necronomicon). The name Abdul Alhazred is also a pseudonym that Lovecraft used in his youth.

Abdul Alhazred is not a real Arabic name, and seems to contain the Arabic definite article morpheme twice in a row (rather anomalous in terms of Arabic grammar). The more proper Arabic form might be Abd-el-Hazred or simply Abdul Hazred (with a single definite article), although these are still anomalous, as Hazred is not one of the 99 Names of God. In Arabic translations, his name has appeared as Abdullah Alḥaẓred (عبدالله الحظرد). While this Arabic-alphabet spelling of Alhazred has no real meaning in the Arabic language, it is reminiscent of the verb root ح ظ ر meaning "to forbid."

Biography

H. P. Lovecraft

According to Lovecraft's "History of the Necronomicon" (written 1927, first published 1938), Alhazred was:

^* mad poet of Sanaá, in Yemen, who is said to have flourished during the period of the Ommiade caliphs, circa 700 A.D. He visited the ruins of Babylon and the subterranean secrets of Memphis and spent ten years alone in the great southern desert of Arabia — the Roba el Khaliyeh or "Empty Space" of the ancients — and "Dahna" or "Crimson" desert of the modern Arabs, which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits and monsters of death. Of this desert many strange and 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, 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:

Of his final death or disappearance (738 A.D.) many terrible and conflicting things are told. He is said by Ibn Khallikan (13th century biographer) to have been seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight and devoured horribly before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. Of his madness many things are told. He claimed to have seen fabulous Irem, or City of Pillars, and to have found beneath the ruins of a certain nameless desert town the shocking annals and secrets of a race older than mankind. He was only an indifferent Moslem, worshipping unknown entities whom he called Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu.

Origin of the name

Abdul Alhazred was originally Lovecraft's childhood play-name, which he took on after reading 1001 Arabian Nights at the age of about five years old. The name was invented either by Lovecraft himself or by the Whipple family lawyer, Albert BakerHarms, p. 7, The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana.. While Abdul is a common Arabic name, Alhazred, however, 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. Pearsall, "Alhazred, Abdul", The Lovecraft Lexicon, p. 55.

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 Keeper of the Key", first published in May 1951. In the story, Professor Laban Shrewsbury (a recurring Derleth character) and his assistant at the time, Naylan 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" — perhaps a form of "Rabia al-Awliya" (which is not proper Arabic but could be an allusion to the Sufi Saint Rabia). More likely it refers to the Empty Quarter or "Rub al Khali".

At the center of the area they discover the Nameless City, a domain of Hastur. Shrewsbury, an old agent of Hastur and the devoted enemy of his 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 was kidnapped in Damascus and brought to the Nameless City, where he had earlier studied and learned some of the Necronomicon'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.

Popular culture

• Roberta Williams used the name "Abdul Alhazred" as the name of the villain in King's Quest 6.

• Marvel comics has also used the name Abdul Alhazred as a supervillain working for Apocalypse.

• A recruitable character named Alhazred is searching for a "cursed tome" in Suikoden V

• There's a song named "The Mad Arab" on the Mercyful Fate album Time.

See also

• Cthulhu Mythos biographies

References

Notes