BTS 79
2000. 642 pp. german text, several illustr.
The character of Khidr – “the green one” – is well established within the Muslim religious imagination as a cipher for vegetation, the circle of life and the personification of good. According to the myth, Khidr attained eternal life and roams the lands and holy sites eternally until his death at the end of time. The belief in Khidr’s existence is still widely spread in many parts of the Islamic world. This piece of research aims at depicting the process of thought that lead to the development of the Khidr figure and at the same time designing a historical phenomenology of the piousness towards him. The main sources of this work are reports and accounts of people meeting with this mystical figure in Arabic, Persian and Turkish literature from manuscripts ranging from the 9th until the 20th century.
Patrick Franke studied Islamic and Semitic Studies and Theology at the University of Bonn and spent time in Aleppo during a study visit. Since 1999 he has been an assistant at the Department for Oriental Studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg and obtained his Ph.D. in the same year.