CHAPTER 9 Some Comments on the Probable Sources of Ibn Ḥusām’s Khāvarān-nāma and the Oral Transmission of Epic Materials

Raya Shani

The Outline of the Story

The Khāvarān-nāma by Ibn Ḥusām, an epic poem in the mutaqārib metre completed ca. 830/1427, celebrates the heroic deeds of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and his four companions in the far-off land of Khāvarān, which gives the poem its title. The frame-story of Ibn Ḥusām’s narrative starts at Medina: the Prophet, seated in the mosque surrounded by his companions, announces his desire to go on pilgrimage to the tombs of those who fell in battle. A heated discussion about who is the most valued of all heroes erupts between four of Muḥammad’s companions; at the height of the quarrel, two of them, Saʿd-i Vaqqāṣ and Abū al-Miḥjan, leave Medina in anger. The Prophet, anxious about the two missing heroes, sends ʿAlī to look for them and, after a few days without any news, he dispatches Mālik-i Azhdar and ʿAmr-i Umayya to aid in the search.1 Thus begins an adventurous voyage of the five, whose goal soon changes from that of a search party to that of obliterating paganism in the far-off land of Khāvarān and replacing it by Islam. The narrative, which started in Medina, now moves to the lands of Khāvarān, where it evolves in the dominions of the allied pagan kings, through a series of battles interspersed with sub-plots of alternating mischief and bravery involving the various participants. Although certain events recall those experienced by ʿAlī and his four companions during

1 Murādī 1382/2003: 68–72, 79ff. The four companions of ʿAlī are all historically recognizable: Saʿd-i Vaqqāṣ is identified with Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ, the Muslim commander at the battle of al-Qādisiyya (Calasso 1973–74: 161, n. 1); ʿAbd Allāh Abū al-Miḥjan was an Arab poet of the Thaqīf tribe, who converted in 10–11/631–2 and took part in the same battle (ibid.); Mālik-i Azhdar is the distorted name of Mālik al-Ashtar (ibid.); ʿAmr-i Umayya is ʿAmr b. Umayya al-Ḍamrī, traditionally considered a companion of the Prophet (which cannot be backed historically), but in legendary materials is closely associated with ʿAlī. In the story, he rep- resents the true ʿayyār; he is a faithful helper of ʿAlī, and especially an astute deceiver, often disguising his identity (ibid.: 161–62, n. 4). For a careful examination of the roles of each of the characters in the narrative, see Calasso 1973–74: 160–62; eadem 1979: 437–55.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.��63/9789004291973_011 242 Shani the early battles of Islam, many fictional elements have crept into them, embel- lishing the epic with fantastic fairy-tale motifs, describing ʿAlī’s extraordinary feats of courage in the face of wicked wizards, lions, dragons, and a whole troop of dīvs, jinns, and other legendary creatures. In this way, most of the nar- rative is entirely removed from historic fact and is a complete fabrication. The adventure element assumes prime importance so that we find ourselves in a whirlpool of extraordinary battles and combats with mythical creatures in a clearly binary world of Good and Evil. The heroic deeds of ʿAlī and his companions lead to the conquest of all the cities and fortresses of the pagan kings and their citizens; some pagans are slain in battle, some are converted to Islam. The conquered fortresses, seven in number, are all described as made of metals of various sorts. The main charac- ters among the pagan rulers are Jamshīd, the king of Khāvar-zamīn; Tahmās, the king of Sāḥil-zamīn, and Ṣalṣāl, the king of Qām, who also controls the approach to the Golden City, or Shahr-i zarrīn. The Golden City is in fact the conceptual focus of the poem. It is here that a narrative of a cyclic kind of kingship is revealed to ʿAlī. The revelation is voiced by Shamāma, the widowed queen of the Golden City, who tells ʿAlī about the original cycle of Justice that governed the city during the reign of her late husband, king Dāl, of a Kayanid (i.e., Iranian) origin, and how it was replaced by the present cycle of unjust rule under Ṣalṣāl, Dāl’s brother. Ṣalṣāl’s sudden passion for Shamāma led to his murdering his brother, and violently destroyed the state of perfection. As one would expect, ʿAlī’s mission is to re-establish justice in the Golden City. This involves, first, the very complicated task of decoding charms and breaking the spells of powerful talismans which Dāl had planted along the road in order to render the Golden City inaccessible to others; then, his killing of Dāl’s usurper, Ṣalṣāl, and finally, his establishing a new cycle of Justice under Islam (Calasso 1973–74: 163–64; eadem 1979: 466, 480–81). The conquest of the Golden City is thus the climax of the story, representing the ultimate triumph over the Land of Khāvarān.2 After the conquest of the Golden City, the heroes begin their way back to Medina. Every fortress or city conquered on their outward journey is now bestowed by ʿAlī on a Muslim ruler who will govern justly and in accordance

2 Earlier, the Fortress of Steel was taken by Abū al-Miḥjan; the Fortress of Minerals – by Saʿd-i Vaqqāṣ, and the Fortresses of Magnet, Silver, Copper and Gems were all subdued by ʿAlī, sometimes with the help of others (see Murādī 1382/2003: 89–92, 154–62, 172–74, 242–50).