Wednesday, March 29, 2023

2023: Hidayat - Hissou

 


Hidayat
Hidayat (Sadiq Hidayat) (February 17, 1903 - April 9, 1951).  Revolutionary writer of modern Iran.  His daring experiments in technique and in thought have exercised a powerful influence on the development of modern Persian fiction.

Sadiq Hidayat is considered the father of modern Persian fiction. Although his works show a variety of literary forms, he was essentially a short-story writer.

Only since the beginning of the 20th century, because of the development of journalism and the influence of the West, has Persian prose been given the same status as poetry. Sadiq Hidayat contributed greatly to this literary revolution.

Hidayat was born in Tehran, Persia, to an aristocratic family of great landowners from the northern province of Mazandaran. His ancestors gave Persia (especially in the 19th century) many prominent statesmen and men of letters, and his family played an important role during the constitutional revolution of 1906, in this period of confrontation of the past with the new.

Very little is known about Hidayat as an individual, as he preferred to live modestly and in solitude. However, it is known that he cared for the underprivileged and the humble people of his country and that he was a patriot, but at the same time he was obsessed with an idea of self-destruction, of suicide.

In his 20s Hidayat went to France to study dentistry but soon changed to engineering. His engineering studies did not last long as he got interested in the study of pre-Islamic Persia. He turned to writing and in 1927 published The Advantages of Vegetarianism, a second attempt (the first was a short book, Man and Animals, an unsuccessful literary debut) to show man's cruelty to animals. The first sign of his new, simple style is seen in his short play, The Legend of Creation.

Hidayat returned to Persia in 1930, and his first collection of short stories, Buried Alive, was published that year. The Blind Owl (1937), his masterpiece, is his self-analysis. Through Kafka-like dream technique, Hidayat brings about unreality. The hero of the book seeks an escape from his misery and poverty in alcohol and opium, which cause his dream life. The atmosphere of The Blind Owl reminds one of the grimmest passages of E. A. Poe, F. Kafka, F. Dostoevsky, C. Dickens, and E. Zola. The recurring motif in Hidayat's stories is the vanity of human existence and its uselessness and absurdity.

During the 1930s Hidayat not only published eight other important works but was engaged with other progressive artists and writers in the movement against the old-fashioned bombastic style. His interest in Persian studies can be seen in the writing of this period as he tried to show the continuity of long Persian civilization and its glorious past. At the same time Hidayat was one of the pioneers in bringing folklore into his literary works. He was still under the influence of the famous Persian writer Omar Khayyam. Hidayat devoted three books to Khayyam and his philosophy, which touches on the everlasting puzzles of humanity.

The characters in Hidayat's short stories are mostly small people with their problems, sorrows, hates, and weak-nesses - sympathetic yet repulsive. But as Henry D. G. Law writes: "Hidayat does not write objectively; with his reckless soaring genius he infuses into each of his tales his own personality, his own mood of pity, indignation, or tenderness, so that you may enter fully into the mind and thoughts of his characters, whoever they may be - seeing them as he sees them. They live and they haunt you long after you have closed the book."

In his stories Hidayat paints the abnormalities of human characters, who in most cases suffer from suicidal temptations. The satirical tone in some of his short stories in indirect criticism of the society which obstructs the education and advancement of the masses. Hidayat is particularly sympathetic toward the position of women, and the women in his stories are symbols of revolt against backwardness.

Hidayat's search for the glorious past of Persia led him to India, where he studied with Parsee scholars. But India did not cure him of his melancholy and gloomy pessimism. After returning to Persia, he published new collections of his grimmest short stories, The Stray Dog and The Dead End, which show his belief that man cannot liberate himself from his fate. Hidayat committed suicide in Paris on April 9, 1951.

Sadiq Hidayat see Hidayat


Hikmet
Hikmet (Nazim Hikmet) (Nâzım Hikmet Ran) (January 15, 1902 – June 2, 1963).  Turkish radical poet and dramatist.  Nazim Hikmet was born in Salonika to a family of Ottoman officials.  Nazim Hikmet became a cadet in the Turkish navy and began to write poems, the first being published when Nazim was 15.

In 1921, Nazim Hikmet went to Moscow.  He would remain in the Soviet Union until 1928.  While in the Soviet Union, Hikmet adopted Marxist ideas and became greatly influenced by the futurist poetry of Vladimir Mayakovsky.  In 1928, Hikmet returned to Turkey, having joined the Turkish Communist Party in 1924. 

Nazim Hikmet published books of verse seeking to free Turkish poetry from the hitherto dominant stylized classical metres.  With lively eloquence, vigor and vivid, satiric humor, Hikmet tackled many social problems of the Kemalist Turkey of his day, though he also wrote love and nature poems. 

Among Hikmet’s early books of verse are 835 Satir (“835 Lines”), which was published in 1929; 1+1=1, which was published in 1930; Gece Gelen Telgraf (“Night Wire”), which was published in 1932; Benerci kendini nicin oldurdu? (“Why did Benerci Kill Himself?”), which was also published in 1932; and The Lay of Simavneli Kadtoglu Bedrettin, which was published in 1936.

In 1938, Hikmet was arrested on charges of sedition and sentenced to 28 years imprisonment.  Hikmet was released in 1950 as a result of an international campaign of protest against this treatment.  Hikmet soon escaped to the Soviet Union, where many of his poems and plays have been published in Russian and Azerbaijani translations.  Some of his verse has also been translated into Greek and French.

Hikmet’s last important work was a powerful semi-autobiographical novel, first published in Russian at Moscow in 1962, and then in a French version, by Munevver Andac under the title Les romantiques.
Nazim Hikmet see Hikmet


Hilal
Hilal (Banu Hilal).  Tribe of Arabia who, in the eighth century, emigrated to Egypt, joined the Carmathians in the tenth century and were given Ifriqiya by the Fatimids in the eleventh century to invade.  Their movement into North Africa and the battles they fought there form the historical basis for the saga known as Sirat Bani Hilal. 

The Banu Hilal were a confederation of Bedouin tribes that migrated from Upper Egypt into North Africa in the 11th century, having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism. Other authors suggest that the tribes left the grasslands on the upper Nile because of environmental degradation accompanying the Medieval Warm Period. The Banu Hilal quickly defeated the Zirids and deeply weakened the neighboring Hammadids. Their influx was a major factor in the linguistic and cultural Arabization of the Maghreb, and in the spread of nomadism in areas where agriculture had previously been dominant. Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.


Banu Hilal see Hilal


Hilli
Hilli (‘Allamah ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hilli) (Jamal ad-Din Hasan ibn Yusuf ibn 'Ali ibn Muthahhar al-Hilli)  (al-Allamah al-Hilli) (December 15, 1250 - December 18, 1325). Scholar and jurist of the Imami (or Ithna ‘Ashari) Shi‘a.  Hasan ibn Yusuf ibn Mutahhar al-Hilli, known as ‘Allamah (“most learned”), was born in Hilla in Iraq.  His lifetime saw the Mongol capture of Baghdad (in 1258) and the foundation of the Il-khanid dynasty.  The Mongols, contrary to their reputation, permitted, even encouraged, intellectual activity.  Hulegu, for example, founded the observatory and informal academy at Maragha in 1259.  ‘Allamah benefited from this freedom.  He probably studied at Maragha with Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1274), but primarily found his teachers and colleagues in Baghdad, where also he became involved with the Il-khanid court during the reign of Oljeitu (r. 1304-1316).  His education covered the usual curriculum, in its Shi‘a version, but included significant input from Sunni thinkers.

‘Allamah’s writings included works on grammar, logic, hadith, tafsir (Qur’anic commentary), and biography, but his constructive achievement was in the areas of jurisprudence, theology, and polemics.  His polemical works (defending the existence, necessity, and historical evolution of the imamate and exemplified in the Minhaj al-karamah) are probably associated with his time at the court of Oljeitu, whose religious vacillation encouraged sectarian debate.  In the field of theology (kalam), ‘Allamah was one of the most distinguished thinkers in the later Mu‘tazili tradition, which had been accepted into Imami Shi‘ism in the Buyid period (945-1055).  The Kashf al-Murad, ‘Allamah’s commentary on al-Tusi’s creedal statement, the Tajrid al-i‘tiqad, is a representative work.  Its technical scholasticism remained a part of the tradition, but was not a key to its significant development.  The great achievement of later Shi ‘a theology is associated with Mulla Sadra al-Shirazi (d. 1641), who drew rather on the philosophical tradition of Ibn Sina (d. 1037) and on the illuminationist theories of Suhrawardi (d. 1190).

In the field of jurisprudence, ‘Allamah produced works of positive law (furu‘) and of hermeneutical theory (usul).  In the former area, he continued the work of his teacher Ja ‘far ibn al-Hasan al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli (d. 1277).  This work was a reformulation of the tradition established by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tusi, Shaykh al-Ta’ifah (d. 1068), and reconciled some of the damaging disputes that had emerged in the intervening centuries.  ‘Allamah refined and expanded the Shi ‘a corpus of furu‘ al-figh, notably exploring the range of dispute within the tradition in his Mukhtalaf al-Shi‘ah.   He perceived that justification and reconciliation within the tradition required a theoretical foundation achievable only within the discipline of usul.  His great achievement there, and of his scholarship as a whole, was to integrate the theory of ijtihad into the structures of Imami Shi‘a jurisprudence.  ‘Allamah perceived that ijtihad and its implications (previously rejected by the Shi‘is) were not irreconcilable with the reality of interpretative development within Shiism.  The theory of ijtihad explained dispute, permitted creative interpretation with the tradition, and justified the authority of the jurists.  All subsequent Shi‘a thinking in this area can be seen as either a development of or a reaction to ‘Allamah’s ideas.

Reaction to this thinking is associated with Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi (d. 1627), who fought against ‘Allamah’s innovations and inspired the Akhbari movement, which was opposed by the Usuli movement.  The Akhbari-Usuli controversy may reflect literalist and rationalist tensions of earlier periods, but it was articulated solely in relation to aspects of the theory of ijtihad.  It dominated juristic thinking throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was finally resolved in favor of the Usulis, whose thinking prevailed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 
‘Allamah ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hilli see Hilli
Hasan ibn Yusuf ibn Mutahhar al-Hilli see Hilli
“most learned" see Hilli
‘Allamah  see Hilli
Jamal ad-Din Hasan ibn Yusuf ibn 'Ali ibn Muthahhar al-Hilli see Hilli
al-Allamah al-Hilli see Hilli


Hintata
Hintata.  Berber confederation in the central Moroccan High Atlas.  They were the first to support the Mahdi Ibn Tumart, the founder of the Almohads.


Hisham I
Hisham I (Hisham I Abu’l-Walid al-Rida) (b. 757).  Umayyad ruler of Muslim Spain (r.788-796).  During his reign, expeditions were sent regularly against the Christians and Narbonne was attacked in 793. 
Hisham I Abu’l-Walid al-Rida see Hisham I

Hisham II
Hisham II (al-Mu’ayyad bi-‘llah Hisham II) (b. 966).  Umayyad caliph of Cordoba  (r.976-1009 and 1010- 1013).  He was held under permanent tutelage of the vizier Almanzor.  {See also Almanzor; Caliphs; Umayyads; and Vizier.}

Hisham II was the third Caliph of Cordoba, of the Umayyad dynasty. He ruled 976-1009, and 1010-1013 in the Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia).

Hisham II succeeded his father Al-Hakam II as Caliph of Cordoba in 976 at the age of 10, with his mother Subh and the first minister Jafar al-Mushafi acting as regents. General Ghalib and Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir (Almansor) managed to prevent the eunuchs from placing a brother of al-Hakam II on the throne. Subh advanced Al-Mansur and appointed him to the treasury of the Caliphate. Hisham II himself was kept from government and exercised no political influence, and in 997 he was even forced to officially hand over sole control of the government to Al-Mansur, under whom the Caliphate reached its greatest extent and attained its greatest success over the Christian states.

After Al-Mansur's death in 1002 his son Abd al-Malik (1002-1008) came to power and secured his position in the Caliphate with successful campaigns against Navarre and Barcelona before being murdered by Abd ur-Rahman Sangul (1008-1009). In 1009 a popular uprising led by Muhammad II al-Mahdi deposed both Sangul and Hisham II, the latter being kept imprisoned in Cordoba under the new regime.

The next few years saw rapid changes of leadership as a result of wars between Berber and Arab armies, as well as of Slavic mercenaries, with al-Mahdi losing out to Sulaiman al-Mustain in 1009 before regaining power in 1010. Finally the Slavic troops of the Caliphate under al-Wahdid restored Hisham II as Caliph (1010-1013).

Hisham II came under the influence of al-Wahdid, who was nevertheless unable to gain control of the Berber troops which still supported Sulaiman, and the civil war continued. In 1013 the Berbers took Cordoba with much plundering and destruction. What happened to Hisham after that is uncertain. Supposedly he was killed on April 19, 1013 by the Berbers. In any case, Sulaiman al-Mustain (1013-1016) became Caliph.


al-Mu’ayyad bi-‘llah Hisham II see Hisham II


Hisham III
Hisham III (al-Mu‘tadd bi-‘llah Hisham III) (974-1036).  Last of the Umayyads caliphs of Cordoba.  He ruled from 1027 to 1031.  He was deposed in 1031, after which followed the period of the Muluk al-Tawa’if. 

Hisham III was the last Umayyad ruler in the Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia) (1026-1031), and the last person to hold the title Caliph of Cordoba.

Hisham III, the brother of Abd ar-Rahman IV, was chosen as Caliph after long negotiations between the governors of the border regions and the people of Cordoba. He could not enter Cordoba until 1029 as the city was occupied by the Berber armies of the Hammudids.

Although he tried to consolidate the Caliphate, the raising of taxes (to pay for mosques amongst other things) led to heavy opposition from the Muslim clerics. After the murder of his Visir al-Hakam by a conspiracy of Cordoban Patricians, Hisham was imprisoned. He managed to escape, but died in exile in 1036 in Lerida.

After the Caliphate fell with the overthrow of Hisham III in 1031 , the Caliphate's land holdings — already much diminished from its height in power just 100 years before — devolved into a number of militarily weak but culturally advanced taifas.

al-Mu‘tadd bi-‘llah Hisham III see Hisham III


Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik (b. 691).  Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty (r.724-743).  His reign marks the final period of prosperity and splendor of the Umayyad caliphate. 


Hisham ibn al-Hakam
Hisham ibn al-Hakam (d.795).  Most prominent Imami theologian in the times of the Imams Ja‘far al-Sadiq and Musa al-Kazim.  The theory of the imamate which he elaborated has remained at the basis of Imami doctrine.


Hissou
Hissou ( Salah Hissou) (b. January 16, 1972 in Ait Taghia).  Moroccan runner who was the 1999 world champion at 5,000 meters.

Salah Hissou was a long-distance runner from Morocco, who won the gold medal over 5000 meters at the 1999 World Championships in Seville. With a time of 26:38.08, he also set a world record over 10,000 meters in Brussels in 1996 and won a bronze medal over 10,000 meters at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Salah Hissou see Hissou

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