Abdul Alhazred

Abdul Alhazred, or the Mad Arab, is a fictional character created by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.

Related Topics:
Fictional character - H. P. Lovecraft

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Abdul Alhazred is not an Arabic name. The more proper Arabic form might be Abd-el-Hazred or simply Abdul Hazred, although these are still anomalous, as Hazred is not one of the 99 Names of God. In Arabic texts, his name has appeared as Abdullah Alhazred (??????? ??????).

Related Topics:
Arabic name - 99 Names of God - Arabic

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

Related Topics:
Necronomicon - 1927 - 1938

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: 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.

Related Topics:
Sanaá - Yemen - Ommiade - 700 - Babylon - Memphis - Arabia - Roba el Khaliyeh - Damascus

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In 730, while still living in Damascus, Alhazred supposedly authored in Arabic a book of ultimate evil, al Azif, which would later become known as the Necronomicon.

Related Topics:
730 - Arabic - Necronomicon

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Those who have any dealings with the Necronomicon usually come to an unpleasant end, and Alhazred was no exception. Again according to Lovecraft:

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