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regard to style also the work belongs to the poorest part of the Achehnese literature.
Hikayat Abu Samaïh.Abu Samaïh (LXXIII).
Abu Shaḥmah was the name of a son of the second caliph Umar. It is told of him that the Prefect of Egypt under the latter scourged him for using wine; when he returned to Medina Umar had him scourged a second time and he died shortly afterwards[1].
In the Achehnese legend which is embroidered on this framework, Abu Samaïh is said to have been an excellent reciter of the Qurān, but to have become a prey to self-conceit. As a means to cure himself of this fault, he let himself be over-persuaded by a Jew to take strong drink, and in his cups he had an intrigue with this Jew's daughter. When the child born of this intercourse was shown to Umar, he had his son scourged to death in spite of the prayers of the faithful and the tears of the celestial nymphs.
Hikayat Sòydina Amdah.Hikayat Sòydina Amdah or Tambihōnisa (LXXIV).
This little poem borrows its name, not from its actual theme but from its opening verses. It begins with a versified list of holy places, especially at Mekka and Medina, but elsewhere as well, set down without any regard to order. Every couplet in this list is followed by another containing a prayer for welfare and blessing. The first place mentioned is the grave of Mohammads' uncle Hamzah (Ach. Amdah) on the mountain of Uhud (Ach. Ahat)[2].
Women are in the habit of chanting (meuchakri) this poem when they join in holding a ratéb Saman. It is to this custom that the poem owes its second name of Tambihōnisa ((
Arabic characters)) i. e. "Admonition of women".
Another hikayat which is often chanted in the womens' ratébs, whence
- ↑ See Nawawī's Tahḍīb al-Asmā ed, Wüstenfeld p. 385.
- ↑ The legendary story of Hamzah's deeds, so popular in these countries, may with satisfactory certainty be said to have been composed from a Persian original. (See De Roman van Amir Hamza by Dr. Ph. S. van Ronkel, Leiden 1895). So far as I have been able to ascertain, it is very well known in Acheh, but only in the Malay rendering. The subject of this romance is very popular in the form of haba, or stories transmitted by word of mouth. Persian, Afghan and Urdu versions are mentioned in the catalogues of the Fathul Kareem Press at Bombay.
