Adventures of Amir Hamza (07 Edition)

Here is the first unabridged English translation of a major Indo-Persian epic: a panoramic tale of magic and passion, a classic hero’s odyssey that has captivated much of the world. It is the spellbinding story of Amir Hamza, the adventurer who in the service of the Persian emperor defeats many enemies, loves many women, and converts hundreds of infidels to the True Faith before finding his way back to his first love. In Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s faithful rendition, this masterwork is captured with all its colorful action and fantastic elements intact. Appreciated as the seminal Islamic epic or enjoyed as a sweeping tale as rich and inventive as Homer’s epic sagas, The Adventures of Amir Hamza is a true literary treasure.

Praise for The Adventures of Amir Hamza:

“The Iliad and Odyssey of medieval Persia, a rollicking, magic-filled heroic saga... in an interpretation so fluent that it is a pleasure to sit down and lose oneself in it.”

–The New York Times Book Review

“A marvelous dovetailing of fantasy, history and religion . . . This sensitive new translation by Musharraf Ali Farooqi is filled with lyrical resonance. . . . [Readers] will love losing themselves in this complex yet ancient world of the imagination.”

–The Washington Post Book World

“It’s hard to think of an epic more dazzlingly splendid . . . Farooqi has given world literature a gift.”

–Time

“With prose as embroidered as the tales themselves, the book should be savored under the covers like a secret lover.”

–The Austin Chronicle

“[A] revelatory translation of a masterpiece of world literature . . . unequivocally an amazing piece of publishing history.”

–The Buffalo News

Ghalib Lakhnavi was a writer and poet who worked in India in the nineteenth century. His only known work is the one-volume Dastan-e Amir Hamza (1855).

Abdullah Bilgrami taught Arabic in Kanpur, India. His only known work is his enlargement of Ghalib Lakhnavis Dastan-e Amir Hamza (1871).

Musharraf Ali Farooqi is an author and translator. He has translated works by the contemporary Urdu poet Afzal Ahmed Syed and is currently working on the Urdu Project (www.urduproject.com), an online resource for the study of Urdu language and literature.

Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a prolific author and editor.

From the Hardcover edition.