|
Further reading: S. Nomanul Haq, Names, Natures, and
Things: The Alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan and His Kitab al-
ahjar (Book of Stones) (Dordrecht and Boston: Kluwer
Academic, 1994); Donald R. Hill, “The Literature of
Arabic Alchemy.” In Religion, Learning and Science in the
Abbasid Period, edited by M. J. L. Young, J. D. Latham,
and R. B. Sergeant, 328–341 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1990).
alcohol
See
dietary
laws
;
food
and
drink
.
Alevi
See a
lawi
.
Alexander the Great
(356–323
b
.
c
.
e
.)
youthful conqueror of the ancient world and heroic
figure in Islamic tradition
Alexander (Arabic: Iskandar), the youthful king of
Macedonia, is considered the greatest conqueror
of classical Greek and Roman times (fourth cen-
tury
b
.
c
.
e
. to fourth century
c
.
e
.). He is the heroic
subject of the Alexander Romance, a cycle of sto-
ries that contributed to the high esteem in which
he is held in Islamic tradition.
One should distinguish the legendary content
of the Alexander Romance from the historical
figure Alexander the Great. The fabulous deeds
of the renowned world conqueror are celebrated
in medieval literature of the East and the West.
There exist romances on Alexander in medieval
English, Spanish, French, and German as well
as in Ethiopic, Syriac, Armenian, Persian, and
Arabic. The first known reference to Alexander
in Arabic literature is in the q
Uran
(Q 18:83–98),
where he is called Dhu al-Qarnayn, the “Two-
Horned One.” The presence of this brief allusion
in the sacred book of Islam transforms the Greek
pagan Alexander into a Muslim holy man, and
Muslim commentators debated over whether he
was a prophet. As the Islamic empire spread out
from Mecca and Medina into the ancient lands
of Mesopotamia (i
raq
) and westward to Spain,
quranic exegetes and storytellers of the eighth
through 10th centuries from Baghdad to North
K 30
alcohol
Africa sought to elucidate the identity of the
Two-Horned One by collecting tales from diverse
sources, including Arabic geographical compendi-
ums, local oral literature, the Bible, and the Torah
and attributing them to Dhu al-Qarnayn.
By the turn of the first millennium
c
.
e
., the
romance of Alexander in Arabic had a core cen-
tered on the Greek legendary material from a
work of the second or third century
c
.
e
. known
as the Pseudo-Callisthenes, wherein the young
king and student of Aristotle defeats the Persian
army and goes on to take India, China, and lands
in between, including the land of the Amazon
women, before dying at the age of 32 without
making it back home. This material is usually
placed in the mouth of the prophet m
Uham
-
mad
, who characterized Dhu al-Qarnayn as one
of the faithful whom the Lord had entrusted
with the mission of delivering God’s message to
the remote corners of the earth in preparation
for the coming of Islam. Interwoven later into
this narrative in the Tales of the Prophets litera-
ture were episodes of an apparent Arab-Islamic
elaboration: the construction of a great barrier
to keep the barbarian tribes of Gog and Magog
from harassing the people of the civilized world
until J
Udgement
d
ay
, the voyage to the end of the
Earth to witness the sun set in a pool of boiling
mud, and Dhu al-Qarnayn’s expedition into the
Land of Darkness in search of the Fountain of
Life accompanied by his companion k
hadir
(the
Green-One). God veils from Dhu al-Qarnayn
the spring of rejuvenating waters because he
has become too ambitious in seeking to reveal
the secrets of God’s creation. For example, he
enters forbidden lands inhabited by angels and
knocks on the doors of
paradise
itself. The theme
of the hero’s arrogance is delicately balanced
with his piety as seen in his frequent prayer for
the strength to complete his mission to call the
people of the earth to humble themselves before
their creator. Relating numerous encounters
with sea serpents, beasts, angels, and enchanted
castles, the medieval Islamic versions of the
Alexander legend were a favorite among Muslim
peoples for many centuries.
See also a
rabic
langUage
and
literatUre
;
prophets
and
prophecy
.
Z. David Zuwiyya
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: | 
