Hajji Halef Omar

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Hajji Halef Omar Ben Hajji Abul Abbas Ibn Hajji Dawuhd al Gossarah is a literary figure who appears in various adventure novels by Karl May . It is for Winnetou and Old Shatterhand one of the most famous characters from Karl May's works and occurs predominantly in the Ottoman Empire gambling Orient - novels on. Hajji Halef Omar in particular plays a role in the first six volumes of May's Collected Travel Stories , the so-called " Orient Cycle ".

person

Halef, as he is usually called, is the constant companion of the first-person narrator Kara Ben Nemsi on his perilous journeys across the Ottoman Empire . Initially just a brave servant of Kara Ben Nemsi, Halef became more and more a loyal companion and friend in the course of the various novels. At the same time, his social rise from a simple Bedouin to a respected member of the tribe to the sheik of the Haddedihn from the great tribe of the Shammar runs .

After Halef initially tried to dissuade Kara Ben Nemsi from Christianity , he succeeded through his actions to gradually convince Halef of the justification of his Christian way of thinking and acting. At the end of the trip, Halef is "only outwardly a Muslim" and later officially converts to Christianity along with his family, but without losing his status in the Haddedhin tribe.

Unlike in the American novels, in which the first-person narrator Old Shatterhand and his blood brother Winnetou are both "superheroes", Halef is a character with a number of weaknesses that make the hero Kara Ben Nemsi shine in an even brighter light. Small and skinny in stature, but all the greater bravery, often acting hastily and yet full of ingenuity and cunning, Halef is an amiable fellow whose greatest weakness is his tendency to cut open and to boast. Also altruism and anti-materialism are at Halef Omar pronounced less than his master Kara Ben Nemsi. Sometimes he does his good deeds mainly because of the prospect of a baksheesh .

An exception to this status as a brave but physically and in terms of skill fallible warrior Halef experiences in the volume "Am Jenseits". As in other volumes, Kara Ben Nemsi shows Halef several times his mistakes. However, trusting in Halef's now perfected skills, Kara Ben Nemsi has no objections even in combat when Halef volunteers for a duel against a Bedouin. In previous volumes, Kara Ben Nemsi had doubts about Halef's martial skills. In May's late work ( In the kingdom of the silver lion III / IV, Ardistan and Dschinnistan ), Halef increasingly becomes a symbolic figure for the instinctual personality component "anima", which still needs refinement.

Furthermore, Halef's love for his wife Hanneh is characteristic of him. He always describes and praises her in a very flowery way. She also gives birth to their son Kara Ben Halef , who plays a prominent role in later novels.

The term Hajji refers to a Muslim who made the pilgrimage ( Hajj ) to Mecca in the manner prescribed in the Koran . The long name also indicates that both Halef Omar himself and his father Abul Abbas and his grandfather Dawuhd al Gossarah were in Mecca. When Kara met Ben Nemsi in the band Through the Desert Halef, Halef had to admit that neither he nor his ancestors were ever in Mecca and that he was only allowed to call himself Halef Omar. In the course of the trip, however, he visits Mecca together with Kara Ben Nemsi, so that from this point on he can rightly call himself Hajji. On the occasion, Halef meets his wife Hanneh , whom he only marries on the pretense so that she can visit Mecca, which is only allowed to married women. The two then fall in love, and since Halef has in the meantime also earned services to the tribe to which Hanneh belongs, he no longer needs to give her back.

Stories and novels

In the following table, in addition to the original titles, the current numbers of the volume and the story from Karl May's Gesammelte Werken (titles may differ), the title of the corresponding reprint of the Karl May Society as well as the department and volume number of the historical-critical edition of Karl May Works (if already published) indicated.

title year Remarks Karl May’s
Collected Works
Reprints of the
Karl May Society
Historical-critical
edition
Through the desert and the harem 1892 since 1895 under the title
Through the Desert
1 Giölgeda padiśhanün -
travel adventure in Kurdistan
IV.1
Through wild Kurdistan 1892 2 Giölgeda padiśhanün -
travel adventure in Kurdistan
IV.2
From Baghdad to Stambul 1892 3 The death caravan - In Damascus and Baalbeck - Stambul - The last ride IV.3
In the gorges of the Balkans 1892 4th The death caravan - In Damascus and Baalbeck - Stambul - The last ride
and through the land of the Skipetaren
IV.4
Through the land of the Skipetars 1892 5 Through the land of the Skipetars IV.5
The Schut 1892 6th Through the land of the Skipetars
Oranges and dates 1893
  •   A Ghasuah 10 , 05 Christ or Muhammad IV.24
  •   Nûr es Semâ - heavenly light 48 , 11 Christ or Muhammad IV.24
  •   Christ's blood and righteousness 48.08 Christ or Muhammad IV.24
  •   Mater dolorosa 48.07 Christ or Muhammad IV.24
In the land of Mahdi III 1896 18th
On foreign paths 1897
  •   Blood revenge 23 , 03 Christ or Muhammad
  •   The Kys-Kapchiji 23.05 Christ or Muhammad
  •   Mary or Fatima 23.06 Christ or Muhammad
In the realm of the silver lion I. 1898 26th In the realm of the silver lion
The "Umm ed Jamahl" 1898 later heavily reworked into
the realm of the Silver Lion II
integrated
48.13 Christ or Muhammad
In the realm of the silver lion II 1898 27 In the realm of the silver lion
On the afterlife 1899 25th
In the realm of the silver lion III 1902 28 At death
In the realm of the silver lion IV 1903 29
With the lepers 1907 81 , 04 Christ or Muhammad
Abdahn Effendi 1908 81.01 The Krumir
Merhameh 1909 Title illustration
incorrectly reads Marhameh
81.02 Christ or Muhammad
Ardistan and Jinnistan I 1909 31 , chapters 1-14 The Mir of Jinnistan V.5
Ardistan and Jinnistan II 1909 31, chapters 15-16
and 32
The Mir of Jinnistan V.6

As part of the Collected Works , Hajji Halef Omar appears in two other volumes:

In the youth story Die Sklavenkarawane (1893) it does not appear, in contrast to the film of the same name .

Karl May films and series

The figure of Hajji Halef Omar appears in many cinema or television productions, some of which are only loosely based on stories by Karl May.

Halef also has a say in radio plays. a. in the 1964 production Der Schut , in which he was spoken by the actor Joseph Offenbach .

Stage adaptations

The open-air play Hadschi Halef Omar based on models by Karl May was written by Roland Schmid and Wulf Leisner as a play for open-air stages:

An open-air play based on Karl May's travel stories "Through the Desert" and "Allah il Allah" by Wulf Leisner and Roland Schmid for 3 women, 18 men. Stat.

The open-air play is based on the May texts:

The open-air play was premiered in 1955 as part of the Karl May Festival in the Kalkberg Stadium in Bad Segeberg , making it the first ever oriental production after Karl May. Further performances:

  • Hajji Halef Omar (Bad Segeberg 1959)
  • Hajji Halef Omar (Elspe 1964)

In 2012, the Jonsdorf open-air theater dramatized this selection as The Great Journey to the Orient .

Trivia

  • In the children's book adaptation Die Wilden Kerle 3 : The Attack of the Beasts Beasts there is a secondary character. This is called "Hajji Ben Hajji" and builds crazy devices for the wild guys.

music

  • In 1979 the group Dschinghis Khan had a song called Hajji Halef Omar , which moved up to number 3 in the Swiss charts and to number 7 in the German charts.
  • The group Die Doofen had a song called Hatschi Halef Omar in their 1995 album Songs the World Doesn't Need .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/Hadschi_Halef_Omar_(Bad_Segeberg_1955)
  2. http://www.karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/Hadschi_Halef_Omar_(Bad_Segeberg_1959)
  3. http://www.karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/Hadschi_Halef_Omar_(Elspe_1964)
  4. http://www.karl-may-wiki.de/index.php/Die_große_Orientreise_(Jonsdorf_2012)