Juhah

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Dschuha (also Djuha , Arabic جحا, DMG Ǧuḥā ) was supposedly born in the 10th century. His real name was Abu-l-Gusn Dudschain from the Fazara tribe. According to the prevailing opinion in the Arab cultural area, the anecdotes about Nasru-d-Din ( Nasreddin ) can also be traced back to Juha.

Folk literature

The anecdotes about him have been part of Arabic folk literature for around 300 years . They do not come from Juha himself, but rather revolve around his person and his actions.

After a Turkish collection of 125 anecdotes about Nasreddin had appeared in 1832 , the stories returned to the Arabs as Juhah stories in the 19th century. There are now more than 500 stories in Arabic folk literature. About 100 of these stories should be authentic.

Dschuha and Molla Nasreddin

Stories about “Juha” ( Arabic ) or “Nasrettin Hoca” ( Turkish ) or “ Molla Nasreddin ” ( Persian ) are known and widespread in all Islamic countries from Pakistan to Morocco. One can say without exaggeration that there is nobody there who does not know one story or another.

However, while in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan (and probably in the Central Asian Islamic countries) the Turkish origin of “ Molla Nasreddin ” is recognized and can therefore be equated with “Nasrettin Hoca”, the Arab Juha is definitely a different figure. Even if some of the stories about Juha are rooted in the Sufi tradition, the term “rascal” often best applies to him.

example

The nail of Djuha

Djuha sold his house - with the exception of a single nail. Djuha stipulated that he could visit his nail in the house at any time because he liked it very much. The buyer accepted this condition without hesitation. In the morning Djuha went to see his nail. The man invited him to breakfast. At noon, Djuha went to visit his nail again, and the man invited him to lunch. In the evening Djuha repeated the visit, and the man invited him to dinner. Djuha's visits were repeated every day until the buyer got angry and ran out of patience. But he couldn't forbid Djuha from visiting the nail because the sales contract did not forbid Djuha from visiting. Months and years passed, and Djuha repeated his annoying visits until the buyer solved his problem: he gave up the house for good and left it and nail to Djuha again.

literature

  • Nabil Osman: Usrati Arabic reading book for beginners and advanced. The anecdotes of the jester Djuha . Munich 1999, ISBN 3-9805043-9-5 .
  • Djafar Mehrgani: Stories about Molla . Wuppertal 1982 (selected, translated and edited by Djafar Mehrgani).
  • Franz Rosenthal : Humor in early Islam , Leiden 1956.