text:
17th-century Mughal painting of al-Khidr
|Mystic, Green One, The Verdant One, Teacher of the Prophets, Sayyidina, Guide
|Venerated in
|Islamic and Islamicate area
|Countless future Sufi saints and mystics
Khidr or al-Khidr (Arabic: ٱلْخَضِر al-Khaḍir), also transcribed as al-Khadir, Khader, Khizr, Khazer, Khadr, Khedher, Khizir, Khizar, is a figure described but not mentioned by name in the Quran[1] as a righteous servant of God possessing great wisdom or mystic knowledge. In various Islamic and non-Islamic traditions, Khidr is described as a messenger, prophet, wali, slave[2] or angel,[3][4] who guards the sea, teaches secret knowledge[5] and aids those in distress.[6] As guardian angel, he prominently figures as patron of the Islamic saint Ibn Arabi.[7] The figure of al-Khidr has been syncretized over time with various other figures including but not limited to Dūraoša [8] and Sorūsh in Iran,[9][10][11][12] Saint Sarkis the Warrior,[13][14] and Saint George in Asia Minor and the Levant, Samael (the divine prosecutor) in Judaism, John the Baptist in Armenia, and Jhulelal[15] in Sindh and Punjab in South Asia.[16][17][18][19][20][21]
Though not mentioned by name in the Quran, he is named by Islamic scholars as the figure described in Quran 18:65–82 as a servant of God who has been given "knowledge" and who is accompanied and questioned by the prophet Musa (Moses) about the many seemingly unjust or inappropriate actions he (Al-Khidr) takes (sinking a ship, killing a young man, repaying inhospitality by repairing a wall). At the end of the story Khidr explains the circumstances unknown to Moses that made each of the actions just and/or appropriate.[22]
The name "al-Khiḍr" shares exactly the same triliteral root as the Arabic "al-akhḍar" or "al-khaḍra", a root found in several Semitic languages meaning "green" or "verdant" (as in al-Qubbah al-Khaḍrā' or the Green Dome). Therefore, the meaning of the name has traditionally been taken to be "the Green One" or "the Verdant One". Some contemporary scholars have disagreed with this assessment;[23] however some others point to a possible reference to the Mesopotamian figure Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh through the Arabization of his nickname, "Hasisatra".[24] According to another view, the name Khidr is not an Arabic variant or an abbreviation of Hasisatra, but it may have been derived from the name of the Canaanite god Kothar-wa-Khasis[25][26] and later it may have been assimilated to the Arabic "al-akhḍar".[27]
Quranic narrative[edit]
In the Quran in Al-Kahf, āyat 65–82, Moses meets the Servant of God, referred to in the Quran as "one of our slaves whom We had granted mercy from Us and whom We had taught knowledge from Ourselves".[28] Muslim scholars identify him as Khiḍr, although he is not explicitly named in the Quran and there is no reference to him being immortal or being especially associated with esoteric knowledge or fertility.[29] These associations come in later scholarship on al-Khiḍr.[30]
The Quran states that they meet at the junction of the two seas (i.e., the two sources of salt and fresh water described elsewhere in the Quran) and Moses asks for permission to accompany the Servant of God so Moses can learn "right knowledge of what [he has] been taught".[31] The Servant informs him in a stern manner that their knowledge is of different nature and that "Surely you [Moses] cannot have patience with me. And how canst thou have patience about things about which thy understanding is not complete?"[32] Moses promises to be patient and obey him unquestioningly, and they set out together. After they board a ship, the Servant of God damages the vessel. Forgetting his oath, Moses says, "Have you made a hole in it to drown its inmates? Certainly you have done a grievous thing." The Servant reminds Moses of his warning, "Did I not say that you will not be able to have patience with me?" and Moses pleads not to be rebuked.
Next, the Servant of God kills a young man. Moses again cries out in astonishment and dismay, and again the Servant reminds Moses of his warning, and Moses promises that he will not violate his oath again, and that if he does he will excuse himself from the Servant's presence. They then proceed to a town where they are denied hospitality. This time, instead of harming anyone or anything, the Servant of God restores a decrepit wall in the village. Yet again Moses is amazed and violates his oath for the third and last time, asking why the Servant did not at least exact "some recompense for it."
The Servant of God replies, "This shall be separation between me and you; now I will inform you of the significance of that with which you could not have patience. Many acts which seem to be evil, malicious or somber, actually are merciful. The boat was damaged to prevent its owners from falling into the hands of a king who seized every boat by force. And as for the boy, his parents were believers and we feared lest he should make disobedience and ingratitude to come upon them. God will replace the child with one better in purity, affection and obedience. As for the restored wall, the Servant explained that underneath the wall was a treasure belonging to two helpless orphans whose father was a righteous man. As God's envoy, the Servant restored the wall, showing God's kindness by rewarding the piety of the orphans' father, and so that when the wall becomes weak again and collapses, the orphans will be older and stronger and will take the treasure that belongs to them."
Reports in the Hadith[edit]
Among the strongest transmitted proofs about the life of al-Khiḍr are two reports, one narrated by Ahmad ibn Hanbal in Al-Zuhd whereby Muhammad is said to have stated that the prophet Elijah (Ilyas) and al-Khiḍr meet every year and spend the month of Ramadan in Jerusalem[citation needed] and the other narrated by Ya'qub ibn Sufyan from Umar II whereby a man he was seen walking with was actually al-Khiḍr. Ibn Hajar declared the claim of the first fair and that of the second sound in Fath al-Bari (1959 ed. 6:435). He goes on to cite another sound report narrated by ibn Asakir from Abu Zur'a al-Razi whereby the latter met al-Khiḍr twice, once in his youth, the other in old age, but al-Khiḍr himself had not changed.
The Islamic scholar Said Nursî also contends[33] that Khidr is alive, but that there are five degrees of life; Khidr is at the second degree of life,[clarification needed] thus some religious scholars have been doubtful about it. Khidr and Ilyas are free to an extent. That is to say, they can be present in numerous places at the same time. They are not permanently restricted by the requirements of humanity like us. They can eat and drink like us when they want to, but are not compelled to be like we are. The saints are those who uncover and witness the realities of creation, and the reports of their adventures with Khidr are unanimous and elucidate and point to this level of life. There is even one degree of sainthood which is called 'the degree of Khidr.' A saint who reaches this degree receives instruction from Khidr and meets with him. But sometimes the one at that degree is mistaken to be Khidr himself.[33]
al-Khiḍr is believed to be a man who has the appearance of a young adult but a long, white beard. According to some authors like Abdul Haq Vidhyarthi, al-Khiḍr is Xerxes (a 6th-century Sasanian prince, not to be confused with Xerxes I), who disappeared after being in the lake regions of Sistan that comprise the wetlands of the Irano-Afghan border today, and after finding the fountain of life, sought to live his entire remaining life in service of God and to help those in their path/journey to Him.
Muhammad al-Bukhari reports that al-Khiḍr got his name after he was present over the surface of some ground that became green as a result of his presence there. There are reports from al-Bayhaqi that al-Khiḍr was present at the funeral of Muhammad and was recognized only by Ali from amongst the rest of the companions, and where he came to show his grief and sadness at the death of Muhammad. Al-Khiḍr's appearance at Muhammad's funeral is related as follows: A powerful-looking, fine-featured, handsome man with a white beard came leaping over the backs of the people till he reached where the sacred body lay. Weeping bitterly, he turned toward the Companions and paid his condolences. Ali said that he was Khiḍr.[34]
In another narration al-Khiḍr met with Ali by the Kaaba and instructed him about a supplication that is very meritorious when recited after the obligatory prayers. It is reported by Imam Muslim that during the time when the false Messiah appears and as he approaches at the outskirts of the city of Medina, a believer would challenge him, whom the false Messiah will slice into two pieces and rejoin, making it appear that he caused him to die and be resurrected, to which this man would proclaim the falsehood of the Dajjal who would try again to kill him (or make show of it) but would fail and thus his weakness and inability being made revealed. According to the commentators and transmitters of this narration the person who will challenge the Antichrist and humiliate him will be al-Khiḍr.
Ja'far al-Sadiq narrates in Kitab al-Kafi that after entering the sacred Mosque in Mecca, Ali, Hasan ibn Ali, and Husayn ibn Ali were visited by a good looking, well dressed man who asked them a series of questions. Hasan answered the questions and upon this, the man testified to the prophet-hood of Muhammad followed by testifying that Ali and his Ahl al-Bayt are the successors and heir to his message. Ali asked Hasan to track the whereabouts of the visitor, but when he could not, Ali revealed the identity of the man to be Khidr.[35]
Islamic perspectives[edit]
|Part of a series on
In "The History of al-Tabari"[edit]
Persian scholar, historian and exegete of the Qur'an Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, writes about Khidr in a chapter of his The History of al-Tabari, called "The Tale of al-Khiḍr and His History; and the History of Moses and His Servant Joshua." Al-Tabari describes several versions of the traditional story surrounding al-Khiḍr. At the beginning of the chapter, al-Tabari explains that in some variations, al-Khiḍr is a contemporary of the mythical Persian king AfridunFereydun, who was a contemporary of Abraham, and lived before the days of Moses.[36] Al-Khiḍr is also said to have been appointed to be over the vanguard of the king Dhul-Qarnayn the Elder, who in this version is identified as the king Afridun.[37] In this specific version, al-Khiḍr comes across the River of Life and, unaware of its properties, drinks from it and becomes immortal.[38] Al-Tabari also recounts that al-Khiḍr is said to have been the son of a man who believed in Abraham, and who emigrated with Abraham when he left Babylon.[39]
Al-Khiḍr is also commonly associated with Elijah, even equated with him, and al-Tabari makes a distinction in the next account in which al-Khiḍr is Persian and Elijah is an Israelite. According to this version of al-Khiḍr's story, al-Khiḍr and Elijah meet every year during the annual festival season.[39]
Al-Tabari seems more inclined to believe that al-Khiḍr lived during the time of Afridun before Moses, rather than traveled as Abraham's companion and drank the water of life.[40] He does not state clearly why he has this preference, but rather seems to prefer the chain of sources (the isnad) of the former story rather than the latter.
The various versions in al-Tabari's History more or less parallel each other and the account in the Quran. However, in the stories al-Tabari recounts, Moses claims to be the most knowledgeable man on earth, and God corrects him by telling him to seek out al-Khiḍr. Moses is told to bring a salted fish, and once he found the fish to be missing, he would then find al-Khiḍr. Moses sets out with a travel companion, and once they reach a certain rock, the fish comes to life, jumps into the water, and swims away. It is at this point that Moses and his companion meet al-Khiḍr.
Al-Tabari also adds to lore surrounding the origins of al-Khiḍr's name. He refers to a saying of Muhammad that al-Khiḍr ("the Green" or "the Verdant") was named because he sat on a white fur and it shimmered green with him.[41]
In Shia Islam[edit]
Many Shia Muslims believe al-Khiḍr accompanied Muhammad al-Mahdi in meeting one Sheikh Hassan ibn Muthlih Jamkarani, on 22 February 984 CE (17 Ramadan 373 A.H.) and instructing him to build Jamkaran Mosque at that site of their meeting.[42] The site, six kilometers east of Qom, Iran, has been a pilgrimage destination for the Shia for some time.[43]
In Ismailism, al-Khiḍr is considered as one of the 'permanent Imams'; that is, those who have guided people throughout history.[44]
In Sufism[edit]
To Sufis, al-Khiḍr holds a distinguished position. Although amongst the Sunni scholars there is a difference of opinion about him being still alive, amongst Sunni Sufis there is almost a consensus that al-Khiḍr is still alive, with many respected figures and shaykhs, and prominent leaders claiming having had personal encounters with him. Examples of those who have claimed this are Abdul-Qadir Gilani, al-Nawawi, Ibn Arabi, Sidi Abdul Aziz ad-Dabbagh and Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi. Ibn Ata Allah's Lata'if al-Minan (1:84-98) states that there is consensus among the Sufis that al-Khiḍr is alive. In fact there are orders that claim origin with al-Khiḍr himself, or that al-Khiḍr was part of their chain, for example some of the Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi Order, the Muhammadiyah, the Idrisiyya, and the Senussi are tariqat that had al-Khiḍr as one of the central figures connecting them to the spiritual outflow of Muhammad.
In Sufi tradition, al-Khiḍr has come to be known as one of those who receive illumination direct from God without human mediation. He is the hidden initiator of those who walk the mystical path, like some of those from the Uwaisi tariqa. Uwaisis are those who enter the mystical path without being initiated by a living master. Instead they begin their mystical journey either by following the guiding light of the teachings of the earlier masters or by being initiated by the mysterious prophet-saint al-Khiḍr.
Al-Khiḍr has had thus gained enormous reputation and popularity in the Sufi tradition due to his role as an initiator. Through this way come several Sufi orders which claim initiation through al-Khiḍr and consider him their master. Al-Khiḍr had thus come to symbolize access to the divine mystery (ghayb) itself. In the writings of Abd al-Karim al-Jili, al-Khiḍr rules over 'the Men of the Unseen' (rijalu'l-ghayb)— the exalted saints and angels. Al-Khiḍr is also included among what in classical Sufism are called the ''abdāl'' ('those who take turns'). In Sufi hierarchy, ''abdāl'' is a mysterious rank. It is thought in Sufism that God decides who will be abdal for a decade before an abdal is born. Adbals are thought as the gainers of mysterious power that is knowing the future also called Ilm-e-ladunni. They are deployed to protect Islam from some unwanted evil activities that threaten the existence of Islam. In a divinely-instituted hierarchy of such saints, al-Khiḍr holds the rank of their spiritual head.
The Sri Lankan Sufi Bawa Muhaiyaddeen gives a unique account of al-Khiḍr. Al-Khiḍr was on a long search for God, until God, out of his mercy, sends the Archangel Gabriel to guide him. Gabriel appears to al-Khiḍr as a wise human sage, and al-Khiḍr accepts him as his teacher. Gabriel teaches al-Khiḍr much in the same way as al-Khiḍr later teaches Moses in the Quran, by carrying out seemingly unjust actions. Al-Khiḍr repeatedly breaks his oath not to speak out against Gabriel's actions, and is still unaware that the human teacher is actually Gabriel. Gabriel then explains his actions, and reveals his true angelic form to al-Khiḍr. Al-Khiḍr recognises him as the Archangel Gabriel, and then Gabriel bestows a spiritual title upon al-Khiḍr, by calling him Hayat Nabi, the Eternal Life Prophet.
The French scholar of Sufism, Henry Corbin, interprets al-Khiḍr as the mysterious prophet, the eternal wanderer. The function of al-Khiḍr as a 'person-archetype' is to reveal each disciple to himself, to lead each disciple to his own theophany, because that theophany corresponds to his own 'inner heaven,' to the form of his own being, to his eternal individuality. Accordingly, al-Khiḍr is Moses' spiritual guide, who initiates Moses into the divine sciences, and reveals to him the secret mystic truth.
In Ahmadiyya[edit]
Ahmadiyya identifies al-Khiḍr to be the symbolic representation of Muhammad himself. Ahmadis believe that the Quranic passage of Moses' encounter with the "Servant of God" is closely linked, contextually to the subject matter of surah Al Kahf in which his story or parable is cited. According to Ahmadi exegesis on al-Kahf, which draws upon external and internal, religious and historical evidence to show that Moses' journey towards, and his experience with the "servant of God" was not physical but by way of vision, similar to the Mi'raj (ascension) of Muhammad.
The righteous 'servant of God' otherwise known as al-Khiḍr is not believed to be a historical figure but rather a symbolic figure who signifies the person of Muhammad whom Moses had desired to see and whom he saw in this vision. Muhammad has been called the 'servant of God' in many places within the Quran and is believed to be the servant of God par excellence who has been called a mercy to the whole world;[45] he is also believed to have been vouchsafed divine knowledge in a very large measure.
The place of the meeting of the two seas signifies the time when the Mosaic dispensation meets the Islamic dispensation, i.e. when the Judaic dispensation will be superseded by the Islamic one.[46]
Then Moses and the "servant of God" approach a town, ask its people for food and are refused to be accepted as guests. This signifies that both Moses and Muhammad would seek co-operation from Jews and Christians but it would be denied. The two orphan boys to whom the wall belonged are Moses and Jesus and their 'righteous' father is Abraham. Their treasure was the true teaching bequeathed by them to their peoples, which was in danger of being lost due to the latter's irreligiousness. Thus the third act of the 'servant of God' (Muhammad) of rebuilding the wall signifies that the treasure or true teachings were to be safeguarded in the Quran, so that they (the people of Moses and Jesus) may accept it after having awakened to a realization of the truth of the Quranic teachings.[47]
In Zoroastrianism[edit]
There are many figures in Iran whose place Khidr took by the Islamization process. One of them is paradoxically a female figure, Anahita. The most popular shrine in Yazd is dedicated to Anahita. Among the Zoroastrians, for the pilgrims to Yazd, the most important of the six pir is Pir-e Sabz ("the green shrine"). The name of the shrine derives from the greenness of the foliage growing around the sanctuary.[48] It is still a functional temple and the holiest site for present-day Zoroastrians living in Iran.[49]
Each year from 14–18 June, many thousands of Zoroastrians from Iran, India and other countries make a pilgrimage to Yazd in Iran to worship at a hillside grotto containing the sacred spring dedicated to Pir-e Sabz. Here the worshippers pray for the fertilising rain and celebrate the greening of nature and the renewal of life.[citation needed]
As Babayan says, "Khizr is related to the Zoroastrian water goddess Anahita, and some of her former sanctuaries in Iran were rededicated to him (Pir-i Sabz)".[50][better source needed]
Contemporary theories on the origins of Khidr[edit]
A contemporary hypothesis on Khidr's prototype compares him with the Ugaritic god Kothar-wa-Khasis.[51] First of all, both figures possess wisdom and secret knowledge. According to the Quran, "Khidr" (although not named directly) has a special wisdom and esoteric knowledge (hikmah and ilm al-ladun). Kothar has also special wisdom and his name means "Skillful and Wise" or "Adroit and Perceptive" or "Deft and Clever".[52] Hasisu means wisdom, intelligence in Babylonian, also in some ancient Near Eastern languages.[53] Not only his name, but according to some scholars Kothar's epithet hyn also means wise or clever (Syrian hawna: intelligence or ability).[54] Kothar is a craftsman god and almost all blacksmiths and craftsmen are wise, clever and skillful figures in the mythology. Because people believed that they have some secret powers and wisdom to work metals;[55] for example in Greek epic, Hephaistos is praised not only for his craftsmanship, but with intellectual epithets appropriate to Odysseus.[56] He is described as klytomētis (renowned for mind) and klytotechnēs (renowned for skill) by Homeros.[57] Blacksmiths and craftsmen played a central role in ancient society. They made many tools that people needed, from agricultural tools like the reaping-hook (the sickle or scythe) to weapons like arrows, spears, axes and swords. They made musical instruments, too.[58] Therefore, the metalworkers or craftsmen were considered the lords of many social inventions like agriculture, music, writing, fire, etc.[59] As a direct result of their social status, they were seen as wise, intelligent figures in mythology, Kothar too.
Secondly, Kothar and Khidr are dragon slayers or they help some figures to kill a dragon. Kothar helps Baal to kill Yam-Nahar by making weapons for him.[60] Khidr helps Sufis or wali's like Sarı Saltuk to struggle with a dragon.[61][62] According to some other stories he plays a central role, not that of a helper, and slays the dragon himself.[63][64] For example, the people who live in Antakya (Turkey) tell a story about this feature of Khidr[65] and it originates from the story of Baal and Yam Nahar. Strabo tells the same story, but his characters are different; Zeus and Typhon.[66] Another one which mentioned Khidr himself as a dragon slayer, quoted by Flemish ambassador Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (16th century).[67][68] In some regions, especially in the frontiers of Asia Minor, Khidr is seen as a dragon slayer, because he took the place of Saint George or other warrior saints like Saint Theodore (Theodore of Amasea) who fights against the dragons.[69] However, it can't be explained only by this continuity. The myth of the dragon slayer was very popular in the ancient Near East and the divine smiths were usually assistant figures to make weapons for the chief gods of this mythological scenario, but they were also seen as a dragon slayer in some myths. In Kurdish mythology Kaveh the blacksmith (Kawa) kills an evil king Zahhak who was only a personification of the Avestan dragon Azhi Dahaka. According to a Scottish tale, from another side of the world, the blacksmith of Kirkcudbright defeated the White Snake of Mote Hill. Moreover, Kothar has fought against Behemoth and some other monstrous beings in Ugaritic mythology.[70] A Ugaritic text tells it: In the sea are Arshu and the dragon, May Kothar and Hasis drive (them) away, May Kothar-and-Hasis cut (them) off.[71]
Kothar and Khidr are known as "sailor" figures who are symbolically associated with sea, lake and rivers.[72] Chusor is an inventor of the boat and he saves sailors.[73] It believed that he was the first voyager on a boat. Khidr helps people when they need help and the most of these dangerous conditions are about seas, lakes and rivers, etc. For example, he sometimes helps children when they are drowning in the water or he helps boatmen during stormy weather. The Alevi Kurds of Dersim saw him as a savior and describe him as a "sovereign of the seas".[74] He is a patron "saint" of the rivers in India.[75] This characteristic feature of Khidr is not only from new syncretisms, it is basically connected with Kothar's characteristic features. Because Chusor (Kothar) was inventor of the boat and sailors believe that he protects them when they voyage. One of his epithets was bn ym (son of the sea).[76] Khidr often has some characteristics of a sailor, even in cultural areas which are not directly linked to the sea, like mountainous Dersim. It may be evident that Khidr originally comes from the culture of a people who inhabited the seashore. He has transformed to a wanderer by the cultural effects of darwishs and wanderer Sufis.[77]
Above their all characteristics, the status of Kothar can't be denied to show this continuity. Kothar is an assistant or "a servant god" in Ugaritic mythology. He helps Baal and builds a palace for him, but he is actually a "servant of supreme god EL".[78] Thus, he is accepted as one of the divine servants in Ugarit, because Keret, son of El, is also called a "servant of El".[79] According to the Quran, Khidr is "a servant of Allah" ('abd min 'ibādinā).[80] Besides, the names of Allah and El are very similar to each other. It is known that they come from a common root. By the similar or common elements, it can be seen as part of their continuity.[81]
Kothar and Khidr bring fertility. Kothar controls and customizes the seasons. Like some craftsmen or blacksmiths, Kothar is associated with agriculture. Among the Dogon people of Mali the heavenly smith has a role of civilizing hero; he brings down grain from heaven and reveals agriculture to mankind.[82] In the Bible Cain (meaning perhaps smith) was a farmer and 'blacksmith', although he was not the inventor of agriculture. The Welsh smith Govannon had agricultural powers as well, for it was he who cleaned the plows at the end of planting, to ensure that the tools abundance would serve another year.[83] Evidently, Kothar's profession, which is associated with agriculture among some cultures, has a good reason for him to get a new position in time. Some peoples of the Levant, especially the people of ancient Cyprus, believed that Kautar (that is Kothar) was father of Tamoza/Tammuz (deity), the god of fertility.[84] Thus, Khidr became a special figure of new syncretisms in late periods. Because Kautar (later Khidr) and his son Tamoza (Adonis)[85] have been compared with Ali[86] and his son Hussein (Husayn). In some contexts they identified with each other. Khidr and Ali have almost the same position in Islamic mystic thought and some Shiite beliefs and they can take the place of each other. In some contexts Khidr is identified with Husayn, sometimes with the last imam or Mahdi. The mythological scene show very strong syncretisms. It can be described like this: El (deity) and his son Baal,[87] Kautar (Kothar) and his son Tamoza (Adonis), Ali and his son Hussein.[88] The names of El (deity) and Ali are similar to each other and it was an onomastic invitation for some new beliefs about Ali, Husayn and Khidr. There are many other connection points like their abodes. El's abode is at the source of two rivers. According to the Quran "Khidr"s abode is majma-ul bahrayn; that is, the junction of two seas. In ancient texts El's abode is described as the stream of two seas. Kothar constructs a house from Lebanon trees for El and then burns a fire in the house for seven days. After the fire has transformed and refined the form of the palace, it is mimetically identical with its archetype on the axis mundi, where El resides.[89] Majma-ul bahrayn is also on axis mundi and may be therefore some scholars like Du Buission pointed to parallelism between El's abode and majma-ul bahrayn.[90] Arabic al-Kawthar, which means a river of the paradise, is etymologically connected with the name of the Ugaritic divine craftsman, Kothar.[91] Moreover like Ea and El, Kothar's dwelling is also associated with waters.[92]
Kothar was the lord of wise words and good speech. According to Phoenician tradition, Kothar was also inventor of magical incantations; in addition, he was believed to have been the first poet.[93] He is a soothsayer and magician, creating sacred words and spells, in part because there is an association in many cultures of metalworking deities with magic. Sanchuniathon says that Chusor invented the art of composing chants and incantations.[94] In Ugaritic texts kotharat means singer women.[95][96][97][98][99] In mythology the blacksmiths and craftsmen play an important role as a poet, musician and magician. The same associations are to be found among the Turco-Tartars and Mongols, where the smith is linked with heroes, singers and poets.[100] Like them, Khidr teaches a kind of dhikr (Arabischذکر; "remembrance (of God)", "pronouncement", "invocation") to some Sufis like Abdulhalik Gucduvani. But it seems that it was not only an echo of Kothar, it is also a strong effect of Surush (or Surosh) who was originally a Zoroastrian divinity Sraosha and Khidr took his place when Islam was introduced to Iran and became the dominant religion there.[101] By the Islamisation process in Iran, Surush (Sraosha) was accepted as a messenger angel and also identified with Jibrail (Gabriel). Because at the same time Surush was an inspirational figure to poets.[102] According to a rumor the Islamic prophet Muhammad has learned a devotion by Khidr.[103] It's more interesting that Khidr is seen as their ancestral master or pir (Sufism) among the ashiks. According to the ashiks' tradition, Khidr gives to apprentices the art of poetry and he helps them for their initiation.[104] The continuity is comprehensible, because in mythic mentality the eloquence and especially the poem is associated with the rhythm and melody of craftsmen's work. Its echo can be understood with the origins of the English word poem (and poetry). It comes from Latin poēma, from Ancient Greek ποίημα (poiēma), from ποιέω (poiēo, "I make").
On the other hand, the craftsmen or blacksmiths were seen the lord of writing and it is interesting that the master calligraphers of Ottoman Turkey were sure that their talent was the gift of otherworldly powers; they were initiated by Khidr or Hazret 'Ali.[105] In ancient times the people thoughts that the writing was a magic work and it's often regarded at first as an instrument of the secret and magic power. Therefore, it might be created by craftsmen and blacksmiths who have same power. Besides, the cuneiform was a craft. First of all; it was not easy to write on a clay tablet and to produce a good clay tablet must have been one of the first tasks of an apprentice scribe.[106][107] Kothar were indirectly associated with the art of writing. Although Kothar was not a patron of scribes, it is very important that Nabu [grandchild of Babylonian god Ea (god)] was known as a patron of the scribes, because some scholars think that Ea is a prototype of Kothar. According to another opinion, Kothar's prototype is Egyptian god Ptah. Ptah's son Imhotep was known as a patron of the scribes.[108] It points that the divine craftsmen and blacksmiths who were also gods of good speech or wise words in mythology, have been transformed to lords of the writing in time. It can be seen in some mythologies that the lord of eloquence is inventor of the writing, too. For example, Irish god Ogma was the lord of eloquence, poetry, and rhetoric. But he had a truly remarkable skill as a poet and he invented the earliest system of writing used in Ireland: Ogham.[109] Another one, Sigurd who was one of the most famous mythological German heroes, had learned the skill of the rune writing by the smith Regin.[110]
The another characteristic continuity between Kothar and Khidr is their soft and skilled hands. In Ugaritic texts, Kothar is mentioned as a skilled hand (hrsh yd).[111] Actually, most blacksmiths in mythology were described with such attributions. One of the epithets of the Greek blacksmith Hephaistos, which was used less frequently, was "skilled with both hands" or "all-skilled hands".[112] There are many linguistic remainders which show a symbolic connection between the smithy, skillfulness and hand. For example, in the Ethiopian language, äğāma or äğamma means blacksmith, skillful and it comes from äğ which means hand. In Ethiopian language, äğä wāxe and äğä wārq means also blacksmith, but literally of good or golden hand.[113] In Igbo language the word for arts and craft is nka which derives from another Igbo word aka and aka means hand.[114] In this context it is very important that Khidr can be recognize by his soft hands among the people. Because the people of Levant and Asia Minor believe that he has boneless hands. Some Sufis teach that we will all meet Khidr at least once in our lifetime, that you will recognize him when you shake hands with a white bearded man with no bone in his thumb.[115] Actually hand or soft hands metaphorically refers skillfulness, generosity and abundance. There is a term in Arabic for skilled men and women which derived from Arabic hand (yad).[116][117] On the other hand, Arabic semahat used in Islamic mysticism for to be generous and to be soft.
Like some blacksmiths and craftsmen, Kothar indirectly, Khidr is directly associated with immortality. In mythology blacksmiths and craftsmen have secret power to get immortality and the healing powers were often attributed to them.[118] In many countries the smith is seen as a medicine man. Vedic craftsman Tvastar is the former of the bodies of men and animals and invoked when desiring offspring, called garbha-pati or the lord of the womb. He is also the guardian of Soma that conveys the experience of immortality, is a healer and gives absolution. He made of the goblet for Soma drink.[119][120] In Welsh beliefs Govannon (Gofannon) yeasted a kind of immortality beer. In Yakut mythology K'daai Maksin (Kıdaai) is the divine blacksmith and he repairs the broken or amputated limbs of heroes. According to another Yakut belief their ancestor Elliei was the first blacksmith and he has been seen as a healer. Because they believe that smiths have the power to cure by natural means without the assistance of spirits, as do the Shamans. According to an Acanti myth a blacksmith sent by the God to Earth to make a dozen men and animals. Mircea Eliade shows in his work The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy that the divine blacksmith of mythology makes elixir of immortality as an alchemist. In Irish mythology, Cú Chulainn (Culain) made a new dog for himself after his savior dog was dead. Mcleish thinks that Ugaritic craftsman Kothar has also same feature. Khidr is described as a holding a cup/goblet in some Alevi divine songs. The cup or goblet symbolize the immortality. On the other hand, the Nusayris of Antakya (Turkey) believe that Khidr can operate men like a surgeon.[121] According to some Islamic epic romances he repairs the broken limbs of warriors. It's told in Danishmendname that Khidr has repaired the broken hand of Artuhi who was a friend of Melik Danishmend Gazi.[122] He heals also mental illness. For example, the shrine of Beit Jala (near Bethlehem) is associated with Khidr by Muslims who believe it's miraculous cures of mental illness. Even more importantly Khidr known everywhere as an immortal figure, from Balkans to India.
Hıdırellez and Khidr[edit]
A new hypothesis about the cultural origins of the figure of Khidr points to another common element relating to a religious tradition in Near East, the traditional celebration of Hıdırellez.[51] Like Alevis, people make flour of roasted wheat on the day before the festival for Khidr. They keep it somewhere in the kitchen to see later for Khidr's traces. Next day in the morning if they see some signs on the flour, it means that Khidr came there to bring abundance and blessing for them. Later they bake some kind of cake which is called Qāvut, Kavut, Köme or Göme.[10][123] Thus, it takes different names among variously ethnic groups.[124]
The tradition for Khidr originated from the mythico-rituals of Ancient Near Eastern dying gods like Osiris, Adonis (also Dionysos, Melqart and Mithra) and the process which shows the transformation of the grain to flour symbolizes cremation (death) of the god.[125] Frazer's opinion about Adonis and Osiris rites indirectly clarifies this ritualistic acts. He writes: "The women bewail him (Adonis), because his lord slew him so cruelly, ground his bones in a mill, and then scattered them to the wind. The women (during this festival) eat nothing which has been ground in a mill, but limit their diet to steeped wheat, sweet vetches, dates, raisins, and the like".[126] It is actually associated with shamanistic initiations and also with smith's world. Eliade completes this analogy in his important work The Forge and the Crucible: "The identification of shamanism with the art of smith likewise appears in the ceremonial spectacles of certain shamanic initiations. In their dreams or initiatory hallucinations the future shamans watch themselves being torn to pieces by the 'demon'-masters of the initiation. Now these traditional spectacles entail, directly or otherwise, gestures, tools and symbols belonging to the sphere of the smith..."[127]
In Serbian tradition the blacksmith gives the water mill to people.[128] This symbolic and cultural association between the smith and mill is remarkable for the continuity between Kothar and Khidr.
Khidr in astrology[edit]
Astrologically, the planet Mercury represents the principals of communication, intelligence and elegance. Therefore, Khidr refers directly to Mercury in astrology.[129][130] He is a typical Mercurial character, like Kothar wa Hasis, Nabu, Hermes, Odin etc. Firstly, he is lord of wisdom, he has hikmah and also a kind of esoteric knowledge.[131] According to the Quran, he is more intelligent than Moses (18: 65-82). In ancient Greece, Hermes was Mercurial type and he has capacity to explain (hermeneus) the secret (sacred) doctrines. He inspires the poets as oneiropompos (the guide of dreams). Same function is familiar among the other Mercurial divinities. Like them, Khidr inspires the poets (for example Hafez Shirazi) and teaches dhikr to some Sufis.[132] Khidr who is different in folk religions than the Quran, moves very fast, like other Mercurial types; Nabu, Hermes, Odin and even Zoroastrian yazata Sraosha. This feature is originated from the rhythm of the planet Mercury. Because Mercury is known with his swiftness. In mythology, Mercury is the messenger of the gods, noted for his speed and swiftness. It symbolizes the conjunction between the material and spiritual world. Therefore, Mercurial gods are psychopomp, like Hermes. They bring some messages also in dreams. The position of Khidr is same in the folk beliefs. For example, according two different stories from Dersim Alevis, he introduces to dream of hero and says to the person what he must do.[133] Mercurial type of mythology is regarded as guide of travelers and the souls, like Hermes. Khidr is also known as a guide (murshid) among the Sufis and he saves the travelers in danger. Like Hermes, Khidr is mostly described with his staff. In some cultures, the people believes that his staff can sometimes turn to a snake, specially during the ritual. Caduceus is Hermes's staff and it's always described with two snakes. They are symbols of the healthy and the medicine.[134] Mercurial gods fight to dragons or evil spirits. They use their staff as a weapon. In some religious contexts, Khidr fights also to dragons or helps some Sufis for their struggle with the dragons. The most of the gods which symbolize Mercury, are not only lords of the sacred or magic words, they are also related with the writing. This feature corresponds to the belief of Islamic calligraphers that Khidr is their patron. Khidr brings luck to the people, like Hermes as Mercurial.[134]
The story of Quran about Moses and Khidr has some astrological representations. The fish which has been lost on a rock is symbol of the Pisces (astrology). Pisces, which is the twelfth sign of the zodiac, is described with two fish. One of them symbolizes the mortality and the other symbolizes immortality. Therefore, Pisces is not only the heavenly sign of the dead, it is also the sign of resurrection. Thus it refers to the place of immortal Khidr. Besides, Mercury is the ruler of the third and twelfth house in astrology. Twelfth house is a disappearance region and it can be its mythological echoes in the myths of twelve (gayb) imam of Shiites and the twelve (lost) tribe of Jews.[133] The story of Dhul-Qarnayn in the Quran refers also astral beings and movements. In this point, Solomon Gadz as a follower of R.N. Nicholson suggested in his article 'The Zodiacal Light in Semitic Mythology' (1943) that Dhul' Qarnayn is a personification of the zodiacal light and he is the old Semitic deity Athtar.[135] According to the some scholars, the myths of Heracles and Gilgamesh is an astral model of the story of Dhul Qarnayn and there are some common elements between these myths and the Quranic story; like two mountainous and darkness lands (Zulumat).[133] The Quranic story of Moses is related to astrology and it is based on astral symbols. The twelfth house and Neptune have also role in its astral scenario.[136]
Comparative mythology[edit]
In various accounts al-Khidr has been linked to the figure of Dhu al-Qarnayn, who is either identified as Cyrus the Great or the Himyarite King Ṣaʿb.[137] In one version, al-Khiḍr and Dhul-Qarnayn cross the Land of Darkness to find the Water of Life. Dhul-Qarnayn gets lost looking for the spring but al-Khiḍr finds it and gains eternal life. According to Wahb ibn Munabbih, quoted by Ibn Hisham, King Ṣaʿb was given the epithet Dhu al-Qarnayn by al-Khidr after meeting him in Jerusalem.[137] There are also several versions of the Alexander romance in which al-Khiḍr figures as a servant of Alexander the Great. In the Iskandarnamah by an anonymous author, al-Khiḍr is asked by Dhul-Qarnayn to lead him and his armies to the Water of Life.[138] Al-Khiḍr agrees, and eventually stumbles upon the Water of Life on his own.[139]
Some scholars suggest that al-Khiḍr is also represented in the Arthurian tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as the Green Knight.[140] In the story, the Green Knight tempts the faith of Sir Gawain three times. The character of al-Khiḍr may have come into European literature through the mixing of cultures during the Crusades.[141] It is also possible that the story derives from an Irish myth which predates the Crusades in which Cú Chulainn and two other heroes compete for the curadmír, the select portion given to champions, at feasts; ultimately, Cú Chulainn is the only one willing to let a giant — actually a king who has magically disguised himself — cut off his head, as per their agreement.
The story is also similar to one told by Rabbi Nissim ben Jacob in the eleventh century of a journey made by Elijah and Rabbi Joshua ben Levi.[142][143] The first house where they stay the night belongs to a pious old couple who give the prophet and the rabbi the best of their food and beds. However, the couple's cow dies in the night. Elijah later explains that the Angel of Death came and he persuaded the angel to take the cow instead of the wife. The next house, as in the al-Khiḍr story, is that of a rich miser, and Elijah repairs his wall so that he will not, in having it repaired, find the treasure hidden under it.
A third potential parallel to the legend surrounding al-Khiḍr is the Epic of Gilgamesh.[144] The episode in question takes place after the death of king Gilgamesh's closest friend Enkidu. Gilgamesh goes on a journey to find his ancestor Utnapishtim, a wise figure who was granted immortal life and who lives at the mouth of rivers.[144] Ultimately, although Gilgamesh finds Utnapishtim, he is not able to attain immortality. Although the parallel is not exact, the story shares several major themes with both Surah 18 in the Quran and the Alexander romance, namely, the presence of a wise figure in all three stories, and the quest and ultimate failure to attain immortality in the epic of Gilgamesh and the Alexander romance.[145]
In certain parts of India, al-Khiḍr is also known as Khawaja Khidr, a river spirit of wells and streams.[146] He is mentioned in the Sikandar-nama as the saint who presides over the well of immortality, and is revered by both Hindus and Muslims Name of the Supreme God Worshipped by both Hindu & Muslim in Asia is Kabir, Kabir Saheb, Allah-Kabir, Allah hu Akabir.[146] He is sometimes pictured as an old man dressed in green, and is believed to ride upon a fish.[146] His principal shrine is on an island of the Indus River by Bhakkar in Punjab, Pakistan.[146]
In The Unreasoning Mask by famed science fiction writer Philip José Farmer, while Ramstan, captain of the al-Buraq, a rare model spaceship capable of instantaneous travel between two points, attempts to stop an unidentified creature that is annihilating intelligent life on planets throughout the universe, he is haunted by repeating vision of meeting al-Khiḍr.
See also[edit]
- ^ [Quran 18:60–82]
- ^ "Dersim Alevi Halk Dindarlığında Xızır'ın Tanrılaştırılması ve Bunun Zerdüşti Kökleri Üzerine (The Deification of Khizr in the Folk Religiosity of Alevis in Dersim and on it's [sic] Zoroastrian Roots) | Gürdal Aksoy". Academia.edu. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ Brannon Wheeler Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis A&C Black 2002 ISBN 978-0-826-44956-6 page 225
- ^ Bruce Privratsky Muslim Turkistan: Kazak Religion and Collective Memory Routledge, 19 Nov 2013 ISBN 9781136838170 p. 121
- ^ John P. Brown The Darvishes: Or Oriental Spiritualism Routledge 2013 ISBN 978-1-135-02990-6 page 100
- ^ M. C. Lyons The Arabian Epic: Volume 1, Introduction: Heroic and Oral Story-telling Cambridge University Press 2005 ISBN 9780521017381 p. 46
- ^ Reynolds, Gabriel Said, "Angels", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Consulted online on 14 November 2019 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_23204> First published online: 2009 First print edition: 9789004181304, 2009, 2009-3
- ^ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/duraosa
- ^ Gürdal Aksoy, Dersim: Alevilik, Ermenilik, Kürtlük, Ankara, 2012, p. 65-80, Dipnot yayınevi (in Turkish), ISBN 9786054412501; Anna Krasnowolska, ḴEZR, Encyclopedia Iranica, 2009
- ^ a b "ḴEŻR – Encyclopaedia Iranica". Iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ For more information about Sorūsh-Khidr syncretism, see Gürdal Aksoy, "Hızır versus Hızır: Kültür Tarihi, Din Sosyolojisi ve Astroloji Bağlamında Dersim Aleviliğinde Xızır", in Kızılbaşlık, Alevilik, Bektaşilik (Tarih-Kimlik-İnanç-Ritüel), Derleyenler: Yalçın Çakmak – İmran Gürtaş, İstanbul, 2015: İletişim
- ^ ""Hızır versus Hızır: Kültür Tarihi, Din Sosyolojisi ve Astroloji Bağlamında Dersim Aleviliğinde Xızır", in Kızılbaşlık, Alevilik, Bektaşilik (Tarih-Kimlik-İnanç-Ritüel), Derleyenler: Yalçın Çakmak - İmran Gürtaş, İstanbul, 2015: İletişim | Gürdal Aksoy". Academia.edu. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ Aksoy 2012, p. 65-80; Elizabeth Key Fowden, The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran, Berkeley, 1999, University of California Press; F.W. Hasluck, 'Ambiguous Sanctuaries and Bektashi Propaganda', The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 20 (1913/1914), p. 101-2
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-28. Retrieved 2014-09-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Kumar, P. Pratap (2014-09-11). "Contemporary Hinduism in North India". Sindhi Hindus. Contemporary Hinduism. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 9781317546368. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ^ Jatt, Zahida Rehman. "Jhulay Lal's cradle of tolerance". Dawn News. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
- ^ Theo Maarten van Lint, "The Gift of Poetry: Khidr and John the Baptist as Patron Saints of Muslim and Armenian šīqs – Ašułs", Van Ginkel J.J., Murre-van den Berg H.L., Van Lint T.M. (eds.), Redefining Christian Identity. Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam, Leuven-Paris-Dudley, Peeters, 2005 (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 134), p. 335-378 ISBN 90-42914181
- ^ H.S. Haddad, "Georgic" Cults and Saints of the Levant, Numen, Vol. 16, Fasc. 1, Apr. 1969, p. 21-39, see JSTOR 3269569; J. Mackley, "St. George: patron saint of England?", paper presented to: Staff Researches Seminar, University of Northapmton, 05 May 2011
- ^ Mackley, J. (5 May 2011). "St George: patron saint of England?" (PDF). Nectar.northampton.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ Josef W. Meri, "Re-Appropriating Sacred Space: Medieval Jews and Muslims Seeking Elijah and al-Khidr", Medieval Encounters 5, no. 3, (1999): 237-264; Heather A. Badamo, Image and Community: Representations of Military Saints in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean, A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History of Art) in The University of Michigan 2011
- ^ "Image and Community: Representations of Military Saints in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean". hdl:2027.42/89747. Cite journal requires
- ^ Cyril Glasse (2001). The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Altamira. p. 257.
- ^ Gürdal Aksoy, Dersim Alevi Kürt Mitolojisi, İstanbul, 2006, Komal yayınevi, ISBN 975710213X
- ^ see A. J. Wensinck, "al-Khaḍir," in The Encyclopedia of Islam, IV, pp. 902-5
- ^ Dalley defends traditional opinion: "The name or epithet of Atrahasis is used for the skillful god of craftmanship Kothar-wa-hasis in Ugaritic mythology, and is abbreviated to Chousor in the Greek account of Syrian origins related by Philo of Byblos. A similar abbreviation is used in the name of the Islamic sage Al-khidr..." Stephanie Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, Oxford, revised edition 2000, p. 2 ISBN 0-19-283589-0
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2014-08-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Gürdal Aksoy, 2006
- ^ [Quran 18:65]
- ^ Wheeler, Brannon M. (2002). Moses in the Quran and Islamic Exegesis. London: Routledge Curzon. p. 23.
- ^ Wheeler, Brannon M. (2002). Moses in the Quran and Islamic Exegesis. London: Routledge Curzon. pp. 23–24.
- ^ [Quran 18:66]
- ^ [Quran 18:68]
- ^ a b Nursi, S., & Vahide, S. (2001). Letters. İstanbul: Sözler Neşriyat.
- ^ Ibn al-Jazari, 1994, p. 228
- ^ Al-Kulayni, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ya'qub (2015). Kitab al-Kafi. South Huntington, NY: The Islamic Seminary Inc. ISBN 9780991430864.
- ^ Al-Tabari (1991). The History of al-Tabari. Albany: State University of New York. pp. 1–2.
- ^ al-Tabari (1991). The History of al-Tabari. Albany: State University of New York. p. 2.
- ^ al-Tabari (1991). The History of al-Tabari. Albany: State University of New York. pp. 2–3.
- ^ a b Al-Tabari (1991). The History of al-Tabari. Albany: State University of New York. p. 3.
- ^ Al-Tabari (1991). The History of al-Tabari. Albany: State University of New York. pp. 4–5.
- ^ Al-Tabari (1991). The History of al-Tabari. Albany: State University of New York. p. 17.
- ^ "History of Jamkaran Mosque". Jafariya News. Archived from the original on 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
- ^ Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival, (Norton, 2006), p.220
- ^ Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, C. Glasse, Ismailis: "[Ismailis believe in] a 'permanent Imam'."
- ^ Quran 21:108
- ^ "The Holy Quran". Alislam.org. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
- ^ "The Holy Quran". Alislam.org. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
- ^ Jenny Rose, Zoroastrianism: An Introduction, India, 2010: I.B. Tauris, p. 123.
- ^ Michael Strausberg, Zoroastrian Rituals in Context, Leiden, 2004: Brill, p. 563; Payam Nabarz, The Mysteries of Mithras. The Pagan Belief That Shaped the Christian World, foreword C. Matthews, CANADA, 2005, p. 99-100.
- ^ Kathryn Babayan (2002). Mystics, Monarchs and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran. Harvard University Press. p. 368. ISBN 0-932885-28-4. Babayan cites Mary Boyce (1967). "Bibi Sharbahnu and the Lady of Pars". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (30): 32. Babayan also cites something listed only as "Mīrshokrā'i, Tahlīl az Rasm-i Sunni-yi Chihilum-i Bahār, Kirmanshenasi, Kirman (1982), 365–374."
- ^ a b Gürdal Aksoy 2006, p. 215–93
- ^ Michael W. Ford, Dragon of the Two Flames. Demonic Magick & the Gods of Canaan, Houston, 2012, Succubus Productions, p. 271-2, ISBN 978-1-105-71034-6
- ^ A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, ed. by J. Black, A. George, N. Postgate, second (corrected) printing, 2000, Harrasowitz verlag, p. 110
- ^ Ayali-Darshan points that hyn is connected with the name of Mesopotamian god Ea and the terms derived from the Akkadian form ḫasīsu, frequently occurs in Hurrian and Hurro-Hittite material as a customary epithet for Ea (Noga Ayali-Darshan, 'The Meaning of Hyn dḥrš ydm in Light of a Parallel from Emar', Ugarit-Forschungen, Band 43, 2011, p. 1-6). This connection makes strong the continuity between Kothar and Khidr. Because Ea is almost same type god with Kothar. He is wise figure among the gods and at least he has more than twenty epithets which mean wise, clever, intelligent etc (for some epithets, see Samuel Noah Kramer, Sümerlerin Kurnaz Tanrısı Enki, çev. H. Koyukan, İstanbul, 2000: Kabalcı, p. 417 ISBN 975-8240-33-1).
- ^ for details see Aksoy 2006, p. 237-9; about blacksmiths and craftsmen, see Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy, Chicago, 1978: University of Chicago Press
- ^ Sarah P. Morris, Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art, New Jersey, 1992, Princeton Univ. Press, p. 85-6
- ^ Theodor H. Gaster, Thespis; Ritual, Myth and Drama in the Ancient Near East, foreword by G. Murray, New York, 1950, Henry Schuman, p. 155
- ^ James Blades, Percussion Instruments and Their History, London, 2005, The Bold Strummer, p. 81-2, ISBN 0-933224-61-3
- ^ see Eliade 1978.
- ^ Michael Ford, Dragon of the Two Flames, Demonic Magick and the Gods of Canaan, Houston, 2012, Succubus, ISBN 978-1-105-71034-6, p. 272
- ^ Helga Anetshofer, "Legends of Sarı Saltık in the Seyahatnâme and the Bektashi Oral Tradition", Evliyâ Çelebi: Studies and Essays Commemorating the 400th Anniversary of his Birth, editors Nuran Tezcan, et al. Istanbul, 2012, p. 296-7 footnote 456
- ^ "Legends of Sarı Saltık in the Seyahatnâme and the Bektashi Oral Tradition | Helga Anetshofer". Academia.edu. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ F.W. Hasluck, Christianity and Islam under the Sultans, 2 vols. Oxford University Press, 1929, pp. 319-336
- ^ "El Khiḍr in the Popular Religion of Turkey". Khidr.org. 2003-05-14. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 236
- ^ The myth of Khidr and the dragon which, mentioned by the people of Antakya, can be traced to ancient times. This myth tells a story about the origin of the Orontes river. About its origin, see Ulf Oldenburg, The Conflict between El and Ba'al in Canaanite Religion, Leiden, 1969, E.J. Brill, p. 32-3
- ^ Oya Pancaroglu, "The Itinerant Dragon-Slayer: Forging Paths of Image and Identity in Medieval Anatolia", GESTA XLIII/2, 2004, pp. 151-158
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-08-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Ethel Sara Wolper, "Khidr, Elwan Çelebi and the Conversion of Sacred Sanctuaries in Anatolia", The Muslim World, Vol. 90, issue 3-4, 2000, p. 309-322; Pancaroglu 2004; see also Christopher Walter, The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition, Great Britain, 2003: Ashgate ISBN 184014694X
- ^ 'BEHEMOTH was a terrifying monster of Hebrew mythology, the dry-land equivalent of the monstrous sea serpent LEVIATHAN' (Arthur Cotterell-Rachel Storm, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, London, 1999, Lorenz Books, p. 272 ISBN 0-7548-0091-1).
- ^ B.F. Batto, 'Behemoth', in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, ed. by K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, Pieter W. van der Horst, second extensively revised edition, Leiden, Boston, Köln, 1999, Brill, p. 168 ISBN 90-04-11119-0; John Day, God's Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea: Echoes of a Canaanite Myth in the Old Testament, Cambridge, Univ. Press, 1985, ISBN 0-521-25600-3, p. 45
- ^ Noel Robertson, Religion and Reconciliation in Greek Cities: The Sacred Laws of Selinus and Cyrene, Oxford, 2010, Oxford Univ. Prees, ISBN 978-0-19-539400-9, p. 192
- ^ Albert I. Baumgarten, The Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos: A Commentary, Leiden, 1981, Brill, p. 168
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 223
- ^ Longworth Dames, M. "Khwadja Khidr", Encyclopedia of Islam, second edition, retrieved 21 April 2012
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 223-25, 236
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 239-40 and Pertev Naili Boratav, "Hızır (Türklerde)", İslâm Ansiklopedisi, V/l, 1967, p. 465–66 (in Turkish)
- ^ Arthur Cotterell-Rachel Storm, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, An A-Z Guide To The Myths And Legends Of The Ancient World, 1999, p. 293, Lorenz Books, ISBN 0-7548-0091-1
- ^ for the divine servants, see Mark Smith-Wayne T. Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cyle, Vol. II, Leiden, 2009, p.50-1, 452, 577: Brill ISBN 9789004153486; for Keret, see T. Kleven, "Kingship in Ugarit", in Ascribe to the Lord, Biblical and Other Studies in Memory of Peter C. Craigie, ed. by Lyle Eslinger-Glen Taylor, 1988: Sheffield Academic Press, ISBN 1-85075-189-7.
- ^ In Arabic 'abd min 'ibādinā means "one of our servants/worshippers". The Arabic word for worship, ibadah, comes from the Arabic word abd which means "servant or slave".
- ^ F. W. Bussell, "The Persistence of Primitive Beliefs of Theology: A Study of Syrian Syncretism: 'Ali, Elyun, El, Helioss and Eliyah", Folklore 28, No. 3, 1917
- ^ "All the entire mass of palaeo-Nigritian culture bears witness to a whole complex of religious activities concerning the smith, whose ideological foundations are to be found in the myth of the Celestial Smith and the Civilizing Hero. It would nevertheless be an error to explain this ritual significance of the smith solely on the basis of his role in the making of agricultural tools. Neither iron itself nor the smithy is necessarily exalted in agricultural civilizations..." Eliade 1978, p. 30, 94
- ^ Patricia Monaghan, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore, New York, 2004, p. 225 ISBN 0-8160-4524-0
- ^ Kothar is the Phoenician Chusor mentioned by Sanchuniathon and by Mochos of Sidon. According to Albright, he is also Kautar said by Melito of Sardis to have been the father of Tammuz (Gaster, p. 154 fn).
- ^ The epithet of Tammuz is from adon which means lord in Semitic languages.
- ^ cousin of Mohammad.
- ^ Baal means lord like adon.
- ^ His epithet al-Sayyid also means lord in Arabic, as Adonis in Syriac. Moreover, Adonis is known as a handsome god and Husayn is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "handsome" or "beautiful". Gürdal Aksoy writes that it could be an easy way to mythologize Husayn by this common elements (also about the origins of Ta'zieh ritual, see Aksoy 2009, p. 222).
- ^ Christine C. Schnusenberg, The Mythological Traditions of Liturgical Drama: The Eucharist as Theater, foreword by L.E. Sullivan, New Jersey, 2010, Paulist Press, p. 87
- ^ Aksoy 2006; for Ta'zieh ceremony and its origins, see Aksoy 2009, p. 212-22; Robert Du Mesnil Du Buission, Nouvelles Etudes sur les Dieux et les Mythes de Canaan, Leiden, 1973, p. 4, E. J. Brill
- ^ John Pairman Brown, "Kothar, Kinyras and Kythereia", Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. X, ed. by C.F. Beckingham, 1965, p. 199-200 and D. Pardee, "Kothar", Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, edited by Karel Van Der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem Van Der Horst, 1995, p. 914, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 9789004111196
- ^ Mark S. Smith, God in Translation: Deities in Cross-cultural Discourse in the Biblical World, Michigan, 2010, p. 46, ISBN 978-0-8028-6433-8
- ^ Wendy Doniger (consulting editor), Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, 1999, Merriam-Webster, ISBN p. 646
- ^ Baumgarten 1981
- ^ In Ugaritic texts the knr which was a type of lyre, appears with the other names of musical instruments. In an Ugaritic text, the knr is listed first among an ensemble of instruments which seem to be described as the 'beloved companions' of Kothar. The knr (Hebrew kinnôr), once divinized, itself becomes a god, Kinyras (Cinyras). He was a priest-king, lover of Aphrodite and also father of Adonis. By this characteristic he seems like Kothar. Because Kothar is accepted as father of Tamoza (Tammuz/Adonis). Besides, its translation is kithara in the Septuagint and some scholars think that it come from ktr, that is Kothar (see J. C. Franklin, "Lyre Gods of Bronze Age Musical Koine", JANER 6, nr. 1, 2006, p. 39-70
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Vyacheslav V. Ivanov, An Ancient Name of the Lyre, ArOr 67/4, 1999, pp. 585-600
- ^ Vyacheslav V. Ivanov. "An Ancient Name of the Lyre" (PDF). Pies.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ Eliade 1978: 98–99
- ^ The silence dhikr is associated with Zoroastrian baj. It is a silence prayer. Srosh-baj is one of the daily prayers of Parsees.
- ^ J.-Christoph Bürgel, 'Nizāmī's World Order', in A Key to the Treasure of the Hakim, Artistic and Humanistic Aspects of Nizāmī Ganjavi's Khamsa, Johann-Christoph Bürgel-Christine van Ruymbeke (eds.), Leiden, 2011, Leiden Univ. Press, p. 41, see www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=401764
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 218, n. 1
- ^ Pertev Naili Boratav, Türk Mitolojisi (Oğuzların, Anadolu, Azerbaycan ve Türkmenistan Türklerinin Mitolojisi), 1. baski, Ankara, 2012, p. 71 ISBN 978-9944-795-41-8; Theo Maarten van Lint, p. 335-378; Aksoy 2012, p. 76-9
- ^ Annemarie Schimmel, 'Calligraphy and Sufism in Ottoman Turkey', Raymond Lifchez (ed.), The Dervish Lodge, Architecture, Art and Sufism in Ottoman Turkey, Oxford, 1992, University of California Press, p. 245 ISBN 0-520-07060-7
- ^ Andrew Robinson, The Story of Writing, London, 2007, new edition, p. 82, Thames and Hudson ISBN 978-0-500-28660-9, ISBN 0-500-28660-4 and Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy, London and New York, 2002, p. 91, Routledge
- ^ [3] Archived 2013-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 230-5
- ^ "Rhetoric of Myth, Magic, and Conversion: Ancient Irish Rhetoric" (PDF). Web.ics.purdue.edu. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ C. Scott Littleton, Gods, Goddesses and Mythology, Vol. 10, China, 2005, p. 1300, Marschall Cavendish, ISBN 0-7614-7569-9
- ^ J.C.L. Gibson, Canaanite Myhts and Legends, second edition, London, 2004, T&T Clark International, p. 107
- ^ S. Morris, 1992, p. 46
- ^ Wolf Leslau, Etymological Dictionary of Gurage (Ethiopic), Vol. I, Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz, p. 265-6
- ^ Michael Okoh, Fostering Christian Faith in Schools and Christian Communities through Igbo Traditional Values. Towards a Holistic Approach to Christian Religious Education and Catechesis in Igboland (Nigeria), Bonn, 2012, p. 117 ISBN 978-3-643-90168-2
- ^ "thesoundjournal.org". Thesoundjournal.org. Archived from the original on 2016-02-24. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ Hasan Taşdelen, Arap Deyim ve Atasözlerinde 'El' Motifi, Uludağ Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakultesi Dergisi 18, sayı 2, 2009, p. 212 (in Turkish)
- ^ Hasan Taúdelen. "Arap Deyim ve Atasözlerinde 'El' Motifi" (PDF). Ucmaz.home.uludag.edu. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ Littleton 2005, p. 1426
- ^ About Soma or Haoma, see David Stophlet Flattery and Martin Schwartz, Haoma and Harmaline: The Botanical Identity of the Indo-Iranian SacredHallucinogen "Soma" and its Legacy in Religion, Language, and Middle Eastern Folklore, 1989
- ^ "Read Online: Haoma And Harmaline : The Botanical Identity Of The Indo-Iranian Sacred Hallucinogen "soma" And Its Legacy In Religion, Language, And Middle-Eastern Folklore -eBookDB-Download & Read Free eBooks". Ebookdb.org. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 240-5; Eliade 1978 and Kenneth Macleish, Myth: Myths and Legends of the World Explored, London, 1996, p. 570, Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-0-8160-3237-2
- ^ Ahmet Yaşar Ocak, İslam-Türk Inançlarında Hızır yahut Hızır-İlyas Kültü, İstanbul, 2012, p. 199-200 ISBN 978-605-5272-05-0 (in Turkish)
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 288-292; for qāvut, see Anna Krasnowolska, ḴEZR, Encyclopædia Iranica, 2009
- ^ "qavut: 'toasted grain enriched with fat and sweetened". Alan Davidson/editor, Food in Motion: The Migration of Foodstuffs and Cookery Techniques, Proceedings, Oxford Symposium 1983, Volume 1, Oxford Univ. Press, 1983, p. 13
- ^ Aksoy 2006, p. 288
- ^ J.G. Frazer, The Golden Bough. A Study in Magic and Religion, Part IV, Adonis Attis Osiris, third edition, The Macmillan Co. p. 189-91.
- ^ for more information, see Eliade 1978, p. 83–84.
- ^ Radomir Ristic, 'Blacksmith as Magus', The Crocked Path, A Journal of the Nameless Art, Issue 1, No. 1, Spring 2008, p. 28
- ^ Ariel Guttman- Kenneth Johnson, Mythic Astrology Applied: Personal Healing Through the Planets, 2004, USA: Llewellyn Publications, p. 112; Gürdal Aksoy, Khidr and Dhu'l Qarnayn in Astral Mythology/Astral Mitolojide Hızır ve Zülkarneyn, 2015, p. 1-59
- ^ "Khidr and Dhu'l Qarnayn in Astral Mythology/Astral Mitolojide Hızır ve Zülkarneyn | Gürdal Aksoy". Academia.edu. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-01-04. Retrieved 2015-01-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Mohammad, Khwaja Shamsuddin (2005) The Rubaiyat of Hafiz, New York: Cosimo, p. 8-9
- ^ a b c Aksoy 2015, p. 1-59
- ^ a b Aksoy, 2015, p. 1-59
- ^ Solomon Gandz, 'The Zodiacal Light in Semitic Mythology', Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 13, 1943, p. 1-39 JSTOR 3622289
- ^ G. Aksoy, Surat al-Kahf in the Context of Hellenistic and Enochic Judaism, for more detailles see https://www.academia.edu/39659229/Surat_al-Kahf_in_the_Context_of_the_Hellenistic_and_Enochic_Judaism; see also https://www.academia.edu/39767937/Helenistik_ve_Enoh%C3%A7u_Yahudilik_Ba%C4%9Flam%C4%B1nda_Kehf_Suresi_Musa_H%C4%B1z%C4%B1r_ve_Z%C3%BClkarneyn_Bir_Revizyon_Surat_al-Kahf_in_the_Context_of_the_Hellenistic_and_Enochic_Judaism_Moses_Khidr_and_Dhul-Qarnayn_A_Revision_
- ^ a b Wheeler, Brannon M. (1998). "Moses or Alexander? Early Islamic Exegesis of Qurʾān 18:60-65". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 57 (3): 200. doi:10.1086/468638.
- ^ Anonymous (1978). Iskandarnamah. New York: Columbia University. p. 55.
- ^ Anonymous (1978). Iskandarnamah. New York: Columbia University. p. 57.
- ^ Lasater, Alice E. (1974). Spain to England: A Comparative Study of Arabic, European, and English Literature of the Middle Ages. University Press of Mississippi.
- ^ Ahmad, Hadhrat al-Hajj Mirza Bashirudeen Mahmood -Khalifatul Masih II. Tafsir e Kabir iv. (10 Volumes. Rabwah, 1962).
- ^ Nissim ben Jacob ibn Shahin, Sefer Ma'asiyyot ha-Hakhamim wehu Ḥibbur Yafeh meha-Yeshu'ah, (Judeo-Arabic, 11th century);
modern translation by William M. Brinner as An Elegant Composition concerning Relief after Adversity: Yale 1977 (Yale Judaica Series vol 20), ISBN 978-0-300-01952-0; pbk 1996, ISBN 1-56821-984-9
extracted in Polano, H. (1876). The Talmud: Selections.
- ^ Brannon M. Wheeler, The Jewish origins of Qur An 18:65-82? Reexamining Arent Jan Wensick's theory, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 118, 153–171, April–June 1998 (via findarticles.com)
- ^ a b "al-Khadir (al-Khidr)". Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ^ "al-Khidar (al-Khidr)". Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ^ a b c d Longworth Dames, M. "Khwadja Khidr". Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- Mark S. Smith, Kothar wa Hasis, The Ugaritic Craftsman God, Yale University PH.D. 1985, Univ. Microfilm International, 1987
- Michael Astour C. Hellenosemitica. An Ethnic and Cultural Study in West Semitic Impact on Mycenaen Greece, with a foreword by Cyrus H. Gordon, Leiden: Brill
- Michelangelo Chasseur: Oriental Elements in Surat al Kahf. Annali di Scienze Religiose 1, Brepols Publishers 2008, ISSN 2031-5929, p. 255-289 (Brepols Journals Online)
- Oliver Leaman: The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis 2006, ISBN 0-415-32639-7, p. 343-345 ([4], p. 343, at Google Books)
External links[edit]
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Khidr.


text:
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text:
by nicolecallihan
Well, it seems I went and wrote a novella. Actually, three summers ago several of my colleagues and I decided to have a friendly novel writing challenge. We cranked out pages day after day and met up on Thursdays in a dark little bar on Smith Street to share what we had done. It had been years since I had written much fiction, but I loved it. The pacing, the dialogue, getting to dream up a bunch of imaginary interactions among a whole slew of characters.
The next summer, summer of 2017, I received an NYU Faculty-in-Residence position in Prague. There for ten days, I ate a lot of meat, walked to Kafka's grave, and finished the last fifteen or so pages of the book. Everything raveling and unraveling.
This past December, while I was in Abu Dhabi celebrating the release of Translucence, I received the dreamy news that Mason Jar Press would publish The Couples alongside novellas from Jaime Fountaine and Tomas Moniz. Since then, I've gone through so many edits. I had the sudden realization that I had abruptly switched to present tense around page twenty-five. I also had to come to terms with my overuse of exclamation marks (Imagine!!!) and my tendency to look "up" at the sky. The editing process has been intense and rewarding. I rewrote the penultimate paragraph about forty times and would probably have kept rewriting it if the editors hadn't put the kibosh on it!
Anyway, I'm really proud of this thing I made; it feels good. I hope you will buy it; I also hope you might be able to make one of the many events for launching it. Here's an excerpt. And I promise the whole thing isn't written in second person (that would probably be painful!), but it gives a little taste for the feel of the book.
Tuesday, July 16
"The Couples" Book Tour
w/ Jaime Fountaine & Tomas Moniz
Tattooed Mom
Philadelphia, PA; 7 pm
Wednesday, July 17
"The Couples" Book Tour
w/ Jaime Fountaine & Tomas Moniz
Center for Fiction
Brooklyn, New York; 7 pm
Thursday, July 18
"The Couples" Book party!!!
w/ Jaime Fountaine & Tomas Moniz
KGB Red Room
New York, NY; 6-8 pm
Friday, July 19
"The Couples" Book Tour
w/ Jaime Fountaine & Tomas Moniz
RJ Julia Bookstore
Middletown, CT; 7 pm
Saturday, July 20
"The Couples" Book Tour
w/ Jaime Fountaine & Tomas Moniz
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Washington, D.C.; 4 pm
Sunday, July 21
"The Couples" Book Tour
w/ Jaime Fountaine & Tomas Moniz
Bird in Hand
Baltimore, MD; 6 pm


text:
Conference 934: From access to healthcare in France to global health - a distinctive approach
The dominance of English as the language of science and, increasingly, global health too often closes the door on the history and experiences of others. In France's case, careful study of the nation's struggle to achieve universal health coverage, together with its distinctive approach to global health, has much to offer those who seek to understand the diversity of paths to achieve better health at home and abroad. The two Lancet Series papers on France's contribution to health, along with comments from French or Francophone leaders, aim to correct this imbalance.
Conferences 934 is a series of monthly conferences organized by the Consulate General of France that brings leading experts who share their analyses on international issues.
More information about the Conferences 934 on this page or on
Find all the photos of the events on Flickr.


text: Every new Volvo comes with comprehensive protection. From 2010 Model year, our warranty covers the first thirty six months or 100000 kilometres. There's an identical warranty on the paintwork, and a full 8 or 12 years [depending on model] against rust perforation. If a component fails due to a defect or material fault, your dealer will swiftly rectify the problem, free of charge.


text:
1977, circa 1659, circa 1665, Francis Bacon, Jorge Lewinski, Leaf from book Rembrandt's Selbsbildnisse, Rembrandt van Rijn, Self Portrait, Two Studies For a Self Portrait, Wilhelm Pinder
Francis Bacon, Two Studies For a Self Portrait, 1977. Est. £13-18m. Photo: Sotheby's.
LONDON.- Francis Bacon's (1909-1992) haunting self-portraits have become inseparable from how we remember the turbulent life of one of the great painters of the 20th-Century. On 10 February 2015, as part of its flagship auction of Contemporary Art, Sotheby's London will offer Bacon's hugely rare Two Studies for Self-Portrait, 1977, (est. £13-18m) one of only three self-portraits in this dual format to have been painted by the artist.
In the years that followed the tragic suicide of his lover George Dyer in 1971, Bacon's work became increasingly concerned with the dark psychological depths of his own psyche. Painted in 1977, on an almost 1:1 scale, Two Studies for Self-Portrait is a profoundly intimate portrait, starkly evoking the artist's inner turmoil at a moment when he was at the height of critical acclaim during his lifetime.
Oliver Barker, Sotheby's Deputy Chairman, Europe, said: « Of all the subjects he depicted, it is the self-portraits – painted with an almost obsessive intensity – that bring us closest to the artist. It's this extraordinary intimacy and power, together with their rarity, that make Bacon's self-portraits so irresistible to collectors. »
Unparalleled Self-Portraiture
Self-portraiture played a role of unparalleled importance in the work of Francis Bacon. "He was never more brilliant, more incisive or more ferocious when it came to depicting himself. In this he helped revive a genre, and Bacon's Self-Portraits can now be seen as among the most pictorially inventive and psychologically revealing portraits of the Twentieth Century", wrote the renowned art historian Michael Peppiatt in 2009. For this reason, they are the most sought after of the artist's works among collectors; regularly achieving prices well in advance of their estimates when they make a rare appearance at auction. A 1978 self-portrait, estimated at £812m, more the doubled its low estimate when it sold for £21.6m at Sotheby's London in 2007, while a 1969 example, offered at Sotheby's New York, also in 2007, fetched $33.1m.
More so than any artist since Rembrandt, Bacon's self-portrayals tell of the existential ups and downs of an extraordinarily dramatic life, starkly punctuated by tragedy. From the suicide of his friend John Minton in 1957 to the death of his decade-long lover Peter Lacy in 1962; the tragic suicide of his lover George Dyer in 1971 and the death of his mother, Winnie Bacon, in the same year. Summoning a lifetime's worth of memories, Two Studies for Self-Portrait, 1977, shows Bacon at his most self-reflective and at the peak of his of his powers as a painter.
In one of his celebrated interviews with the art critic David Sylvester, Bacon was brutally honest about his increasing propensity toward self-portraiture: « People have been dying around me like flies and I've had nobody else to paint but myself… I loathe my own face. One of the nicest things that Cocteau said was 'Each day in the mirror I watch death at work.' This is what one does to oneself."
Seeing Double
Bacon only ever made three self-portrait diptychs in this format (35.5cm by 30cm), of which this is the only example to have ever appeared at auction. The immediacy and intimacy of Bacon's smaller scale (almost 1:1) portraits ensures that they are hugely coveted by collectors. This was most recently in evidence when a new record for any small-scale portrait by Bacon was set in June 2014. The triptych, Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer, sold at Sotheby's London for £26.7m, well in excess of its high estimate of £20m.
Francis Bacon, Two Studies For a Self Portrait, 1977. Est. £13-18m. Photo: Sotheby's.
left panel: signed, dated 1977 and inscribed Self portrait, Diptych, Front left Panel on the reverse – right panel: signed, dated 1977 and inscribed Self portrait, diptych, Front right panel on the reverse – oil on canvas, in two parts – each: 35.5 by 30.5cm.; 14 by 12in.
AUTHENTICATION: This work will be included as number (77-02) in the forthcoming Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonné, being prepared by the Estate of Francis Bacon and edited by Martin Harrison.
PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired directly from the artist)
Sale: Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art: Part I, 2 December 1993, Lot 32
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
EXHIBITED: Madrid, Fundación Juan March; and Barcelona, Fundació Joan Miró, Francis Bacon, 1978, n.p., no. 13, illustrated in colour
Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art; Kyoto, The National Museum of Modern Art; and Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, Francis Bacon, Paintings: 1945-1982, 1983, p. 69, no. 36, illustrated in colour
London, Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., Francis Bacon, 1985, p. 29, no. 12, illustrated in colour
London, Ordovas, Irrational Marks: Bacon and Rembrandt, 2011, pp. 45, 69 and 82, illustrated in colour
LITERATURE: Michael Leiris, Francis Bacon: Full Face and in Profile, Oxford 1983, n.p., no. 111, illustrated in colour
Milan Kundera, Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, London 1996, pp. 74-75, illustrated in colour
NOTE: Francis Bacon lived with the deepest commitment to seizing the vulnerable, vital and violent conditions of human existence; he was an artist for whom painful reality was itself life's purpose. Nowhere is this more forcefully evident than in the haunting opus of self-portraits that weave an autobiographical thread through a lifetime enlivened by drama and blighted by tragedy. Executed in 1977 when Bacon was 68 and at a height of critical repute and international acclaim, Two Studies for Self-Portrait evinces both mournful rumination and fierce effacement. Following the unexpected (though unsurprising) suicide of George Dyer in 1971 – on the very eve of his retrospective opening at the Grand Palais – Bacon launched into a period of production that would become the most emotionally fraught, inventive, self-flagellating and ambitious of his career. In 1977 Bacon's tremendous outpouring of pain and melancholia, fused with grand poetic and painterly ambition, culminated in the hugely successful one-man-show at Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris. Providing the introverted counterpart to the cycle of extroverted and elaborate triptychs executed during this period and exhibited in the '77 exhibition, are the small portrait studies. Operating on an almost 1:1 scale, these works represent the most immediate and all-too-human aspect of Bacon's practice: drama and brutality are enacted within the vicissitudes of an existential physiognomy. In this regard, the self-portraits can be viewed as the most revealing and ruthless of Bacon's oeuvre, prepared as he was to masochistically inflict more violence upon his own likeness than to 'insult' anyone else. Scuffed, scraped, contorted and dissolving in confused movement, the present work forms an enigmatic and rare doubling of Bacon's photo-booth styled headshots. Indeed, only two other self-portraits in this dual format were created in comparison to the 14 single panels and 11 triptych self-portrait studies in the 14 by 12inch canvases. Exhibited widely across Europe and Asia during Bacon's lifetime, this striking dual image bears the signature features of the artist's famous face: the carefully arranged forelock of hair and plump rounded features are idiosyncratically present. Plagued by death, guilt, bereavement and excruciating self-analysis, the self-portraits form the most enduring and imaginative exercise of Bacon's later practice.
Portrait of Francis Bacon by unknown photographer, circa 1972. The Estate of Francis Bacon Collection © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.
In Two Studies for Self-Portrait Bacon appears as a double death mask of translucent and scumbled marks; air-like apparitions of an ephemeral spirit dissolving into the black ether of an enveloping void. The pink and purple colouration and effervescence of paint handling somewhat recall the artist's much earlier animations of William Blake's life mask from 1955. Appearing to wear a turtleneck jumper in these portraits, Bacon's head and neck are similarly disembodied, with heavy eyelids and unseeing eyes closed shut by the corrugated scrape of textured fabric. Intriguingly the left panel seems to echo the earlier Self-Portrait with Injured Eye from 1972 in which Bacon's battered eye socket is portrayed as triumphantly swollen, purple and enlarged. Herein this bruised palette is in keeping with the very best works from this decade, in which pink, purple and accents of orange, yellow and blue feature heavily. In both portraits the mouths are the site of further violence and incredible painterly invention. The ellipses and circular outlines telescope our attention on the elongated and mangled jaw-line in both pictures, with heightened confusion occurring in the right panel. Oval voids and shadows eat away at painted flesh whilst circular windows reveal a jumble of blurred masticatory movement. Whether tooth-bearing and screaming as in his earlier work (most notably the corpus after Velazquez's Pope Innocent X) or as a muddle and mess of lips as in the present self-portraits, Bacon maintained an abiding obsession with mouths throughout his lifetime. Prior to the execution of Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion in 1944, Bacon had studied a nineteenth-century book on diseases of the mouth for its explicit and viscerally colourful hand-painted illustrations. In the present work, the lasting influence of this book, paired with Bacon's erotic fascination with the mouth, is formalised by compositional elements that echo the diagrams in K.C. Clark's Positioning in Radiography (London 1939) – another highly influential source for Bacon owing to its encyclopedic illustration of X-ray photography. These medical and biological fascinations paired with a revelling of the moribund and violent all form a part of how Bacon existentially dissects what it is to be human, that existence is purely flesh and physicality; in his paintings he flays and undoes corporeal boundaries and pokes at our fleshy make-up with his brush, transcribing, dissecting and pinning it back in place. In full consciousness of the waning years Bacon here paints himself in the dim-light of inexorable transience: "I myself want to go on living as long as I can… After all, there's nothing else… we can just go on living, even though we know something terrible will happen" (Francis Bacon quoted in: Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma, London 2008, p. 309). Nihilistic and resolved to the inevitable oblivion of mortal flesh, Bacon stoically transcribed the psychological wounds of his life through his extraordinary opus of self-portrait studies.
Francis Bacon, Self-Portrait, 1969. Private Collection. Artwork: © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015
The very first self-portrait created in this intimate 14 by 12 inch format was painted in 1962 directly in response to the death of Peter Lacy, the object of Bacon's first major love affair. A former RAF pilot with a self-destructive nature prone to furious outbursts, Lacy embodied a magnetic force for Bacon whose finely-tuned and masochistic proclivity for violence drove all aspects of his life. By the mid-1950s the tempestuous relationship had ended and Lacy and moved to Tangier, where he began to slowly and surely drink himself into oblivion. Upon hearing of Lacy's death the grief-stricken Bacon painted his own self-portrait flanked by Lacy's emanation as a commemorative act of resuscitation and atonement. The triptych, Study for Three Heads (1962) powerfully lays bare the harrowing introspective quality intrinsic to the intimately scaled canvases: struggling to the surface of the outer panels, Bacon's phantasmal memory of Lacy is here comingled and conjoined with the artist's own self-image in the central canvas. Indeed, it was this first major tragedy in Bacon's life that precipitated the first acknowledged self-portraits. That tragedy had the power to induce a mode of self-reflection in Bacon's work was made emphatically clear following the artist's second profound trauma: the death of George Dyer. Ten years following Lacy's demise, and on the eve of Bacon's retrospective opening at the Grand Palais in 1971, George Dyer – Bacon's companion, lover and principle artistic subject since 1964 – was found dead. Marred by progressive alcoholism, suicidal desperation and a waning sense of purpose in Bacon's shadow, Dyer's eight-year relationship with the artist was as fractured as it was passionate. A compelling force in life, in death, Dyer's absent-presence took on the weight of Bacon's loss and melancholic regret; a profound grief that resonates throughout Bacon's post-1971 opus and specifically the elegiac late paintings of himself. As evinced in the present work, Bacon's searching and intensely haunting self-images at once exorcise accusatory demons whilst offering deeply mournful inquiries in the face of profound bereavement: today the suite of heart-rending self-images executed following Dyer's death stand among his very best works. These harrowing epic eulogies powerfully speak of the intense loss and guilt that eternally remained with the artist.
Francis Bacon, Two Studies for a Self-Portrait, 1970. Private Collection. Image/Artwork: © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
"I loathe this old pudding face of mine… but it's all I've got left to paint now" (Francis Bacon quoted in: ibid., p. 307). From the suicide of his friend John Minton in 1957, the aforementioned deaths of Peter Lacy and George Dyer, the death of his mother, Winnie Bacon, in 1971, through to the demise of his longstanding friend John Deakin in 1972, by 1977 Bacon's life had been starkly punctuated and beset by loss. Echoing the narrative traits of a Greek Tragedy, this trend would continue for the rest of his life: in 1979 Bacon witnessed the death of his good friend and owner of the beloved Colony Room drinking den, Muriel Belcher, while his youngest sister, Winifred, died in 1981 following a long battle with Multiple Sclerosis. Though he had suffered with chronic asthma since childhood and having been a dedicated drinker and lover of excess, Bacon lived into his ninth decade until he died in 1992. Feeling as if death had stripped him of all his friends, during the 1970s Bacon increasingly turned the brush on himself; in these works his visage can be viewed as a ghostly sentinel to the misfortune and loss of those closest to him.
Francis Bacon Two Studies for a Self-Portrait, 1970. Private Collection. Image/Artwork: © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
While the intensity of Bacon's self-portrait practice undoubtedly deepened following the death of George Dyer, Bacon had maintained an abiding fascination with his own appearance throughout his life and knew his own features intimately. He wore make-up and was a keen subject of the photographers lens; indeed, the artist had quickly learned the nuances of re-invention and self-presentation from a young age, spending hours scrutinising and tracing the particulars of his own appearance in the mirror. Such is the power of the small portrait studies; to quote William Feaver: "this is how we see what we feel like in the morning, examining the image in the mirror that corresponds so remotely with the sense we have of ourselves. This is the face that gets worse (more 'lived in') over the years, the face that betrays. These heads are what we are stuck with: unsentimentally ours. Bacon dealt with his… knowing that the best he could do was to effect a phantom, a rasping whoosh of characteristics" (William Feaver, 'That's It', in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., Francis Bacon 1909 – 1992 Small Portrait Studies, 1993, p. 6). Two Studies for Self-Portrait witnesses Bacon conjure the traits of his own appearance with facility and aplomb: the wide moon-like face and the deeply set yet extraordinarily round eye sockets are here framed by the quintessential fringe of hair swept across his forehead. Moving from one image to the next Bacon's visage begins to waste and disappear; in the second canvas the idiosyncratic roundness is replaced by a wraith-like apparition, as wispy emanations cipher matter into the encroaching darkness that consumes the right-hand side of the artist's face.
Francis Bacon, Two Studies for Self-Portrait, 1972. Private Collection. Image/Artwork: © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
When asked by David Sylvester in 1979 why there are so many self-portraits, Bacon explained: "People have been dying around me like flies and I've had nobody else to paint but myself… I loathe my own face and I've done self-portraits because I've had nothing else to do" (Francis Bacon quoted in: David Sylvester, Looking Back at Francis Bacon, London 2000, p. 129). Although somewhat true, Bacon's purported reluctance to paint his own image is largely trivialising. The artist had very rarely painted from life and did not require the presence of sitters to translate a likeness in paint, instead relying upon memory and the detritus of photographs and books famously strewn across his South Kensington studio as aesthetic triggers. Alongside the countless pictures of friends taken by John Deakin, hundreds of photographs of himself comprised a core visual compost for his pictorial imagination.
Francis Bacon, Two Studies for Self-Portrait, 1972. Private Collection. Image/Artwork: © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
The subject of major international retrospectives and studies across the globe by the 1970s, Bacon was all too aware of his prominent status. When added to the cumulative impact of time on his own appearance, these factors clearly compounded a desire to not only indelibly inscribe his own likeness within the annals of art history but also to challenge its champions. Successor to a genre perfected by revered masters from Rembrandt to Picasso, Bacon was undoubtedly driven by an incessant compulsion to forge a personal mythology for the experience of his time. As a genre, self-portraiture purportedly reveals the private side of a public profession; nowhere can this be understood with such forthright candour than in Bacon's oeuvre as viewed in the light of Rembrandt's legacy. Rembrandt was the very touchstone of Bacon's inventiveness in these small scale canvases; the endless variety and successive permutations of his own visage, which meld into almost abstract dissolving matter towards the end of his life cast Rembrandt's late self-portraits as a striking parallel to, and even art historical blue-print for, the present work. Bacon believed Rembrandt's self-portraits to be "formally the most extraordinary paintings. He altered painting in a way by the method by which he dealt with himself and perhaps he felt freer to deal with himself in this totally liberal way" (Ibid., p. 241). He would undoubtedly have intimately known the two self-portraits in the National Gallery's collection and was familiar with the most ambitious self portrait of Rembrandt's career Self Portrait with Two Circles (1665-69) in the collection of Kenwood House in North London – an interesting visual comparison to the present work for its prominence of circular elements – while his own celebration of the Aix-en-Provence self-portrait speaks for itself: "… if you think of the great Rembrandt self-portrait in Aix-en-Provence, for instance, and if you analyse it, you will see that there are hardly any sockets to the eyes, that it is almost completely anti-illustrational. I think that the mystery of fact is conveyed by an image being made out of non-rational marks… what can happen sometimes, as it happened in this Rembrandt self-portrait in Aix-en-Provence, is that there is a coagulation of non-representational marks which have led to making up this very great image. Well, of course, only part of this is accidental. Behind all that is Rembrandt's profound sensibility, which was able to hold onto one irrational mark rather than onto another" (Francis Bacon quoted in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Marlborough Gallery, Francis Bacon: Recent Paintings, 1967, p. 28). In this description of the Aix-en-Provence Self-Portrait with Beret (1659), it is almost as though he is describing the very nuances, subtleties and techniques employed in the execution of the present work. When viewed up close Rembrandt's heads seemingly disband into a mass of non-representational marks that were doubtless an inspiration to Bacon's own savage expressivity. Like Rembrandt tallying his aged, lined and weary features with a congruent painterly treatment of disbanded corporeality, in the present work the vaporous dissolution of Bacon's likeness tempers exigent facture with an intense yet reposed response to the concrete fact of mortality.
Francis Bacon, 1971. Photo: Jorge Lewinski. Private Collection. Image: © The Lewinski Archive at Chatsworth / Bridgeman Images
Bacon once mentioned to David Sylvester: "Life is all we have. I mean we are here for a moment" (Francis Bacon quoted in: David Sylvester, op. cit., p. 231). Indeed, where Bacon translates this eschatological communion most powerfully is in the astounding body of self-portraiture that punctuates the most exceptional moments of his oeuvre. As outlined by Michael Peppiatt: "…he was never more brilliant, more incisive or more ferocious when it came to depicting himself. In this he helped revive a genre, and Bacon's Self-Portraits can now be seen as among the most pictorially inventive and psychologically revealing portraits of the Twentieth Century" (Michael Peppiatt in: Exhibition Catalogue, Rome, Galleria Borghese, Caravaggio Bacon, 2009-10, p. 210). Ethereally effervescent and partly enshrouded in shadow, de-formulation and re-formulation of likeness moves between these two remarkable visages; these depictions glow like votive icons of an artist who is today considered an icon of his age.
Francis Bacon, Self-Portrait, 1973 Private Collection © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Leaf from book Rembrandt's Selbsbildnisse, by Wilhelm Pinder. RM98F108:33. Collection: Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. ©The Estate of Francis Bacon All rights reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Rembrandt van Rijn, Self Portrait, circa 1659. Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence
Rembrandt van Rijn, Self Portrait, circa 1665. Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood House, London Image: © English Heritage Photo Library / Bridgeman Images


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D H and I are getting anxious for our next cruise in July. D H is researching the Ports of Call for specific amusements. We are going to be on the Holland America "Maasdam" which will leave from Boston. We will travel up the East Coast to Newfoundland with a stop in Cornerbrook. We have actually been to this wonderful city and are looking forward to meeting with a former neighbour.
The next port will be Red bay, Labrador which will be new to us. We also have stops in Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Amsterdam, England, Ireland, and Faroe Islands. We have seen some beautiful pictures of the scenery especially the fjords of Norway. D H expects to make me a camera widow as he captures the beauty around us.
We expect to do a lot of walking so we are in training for uphill and downhill treks to see the incredible sights.
I hope you are getting as excited as we are. You can check out our "Voyage of the Vikings" on the Holland America website.


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Napolitano's signing letter for House Bill 2677; REAL ID Act; Implementation Prohibited
June 17, 2008
The Honorable Jim Weiers
Speaker of the House
Arizona House of Representatives
1700 West Washington
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Re: House Bill 2677; REAL ID Act; Implementation Prohibited
Dear Speaker Weiers:
I am signing House Bill 2677, through which Arizona joins 13 other states in their formal refusal to implement the federal government's REAL ID Act of 2005.
From its inception, the REAL ID Act has been riddled with problems, both technical and policy-oriented. Accordingly, it took the U.S. Department of Homeland Security until January 11, 2008, over two years after the Act's enactment, to issue final rules on the drivers' license provisions of the REAL ID Act. As acknowledgement of the scope of the problems with the REAL ID Act, the rules include another potential delay of the Act's implementation date to 2011 and, under some circumstances, as late as 2017. In the meantime, Congress and the Administration have consistently refused to fund the states' high costs of implementing the REAL ID Act. The White House's own budget staff estimates the cost to implement the Act to be at least $4 billion. To date, the federal government has appropriated only $90 million for those purposes and those funds have not yet been released. My support of the REAL, ID Act is, and has always been, contingent upon adequate federal funding. Absent that, the REAL ID Act becomes just another unfunded federal mandate.
My resistance to an unfunded REAL ID Act should not be confused with my proposed "3-in-1" Enhanced Driver License Program. The "3-in-1" Enhanced Driver License Program is an Arizona program to make available, at the applicant's option, a driver's license that will:
(1) serve in lieu of a passport for travel between the United States, Canada and Mexico;
(2) act as verification of the holder's legal immigration status; and
(3) continue as a driver's license in Arizona.
While the "3-in-1" Enhanced Driver License proposal referenced the REAL ID Act, it did so only insofar as implementation of the REAL ID Act was Absent federal funding, implementation of the REAL ID Act is not "practicable" and, thus, the "'3-in-1" Enhanced Driver License Program must proceed on its own. For Arizonans who must travel back and forth to Mexico and Canada, the "3-in-1" Enhanced Driver License remains an excellent option. I urge the legislature to revisit this proposal.
For all of the reasons described in this letter, and primarily because the federal government has not met the financial burden associated with the REAL ID Act, I am signing House Bill 2677 into law.