Abdul Alhazred

An Arabic poet and mystic. More properly, his name was Abd al-Azrad. It is said that, as a young man, he spent ten years alone in the desert, studied under wizards, and visited Irem, the Nameless City, and a dangerous-sounding shrine called the Black Mosque.

He traveled throughout much of the Middle East, sometimes following masters both human and otherwise, and sometimes leading followers of his own. He isn't known to have ever taken a wife and is said to have lived as a holy man, though he didn't live a particularly holy life. In fact, it was said that he was responsible for the deaths of at least a hundred people who he sacrificed to various evil gods, and it was said that he raised so many demons and consorted with so many horrors that even the most powerful of the djinn feared him.

Later in his life, he wrote a book on magic called "Kitab al-Azif", which was retitled "Necronomicon" when it was eventually translated into Greek. It is solely for his work with the Necronomicon that his reputation as the world's greatest chronicler of the supernatural -- and as a madman -- is based.

According to his 12th century biographer, Ibn Khallikan, he worshipped Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth and died in 738 AD when he was mysteriously torn apart in broad daylight before a marketplace crowd in Damascus.

"History of the Necronomicon" by H.P. Lovecraft
"The Nameless City" by Lovecraft
"The Doom of Yakthoob" by Lin Carter
Encyclopedia Cthuliana by Daniel Harms, p. 1

Alhazred, Abdul (655-738) - Poet and mystic of Sanna in Yemen, best know for his Kitab Al-Azif or Necronomicon. He's said to have been a descendant of the mythical tribe of Ad, and is a legend in the Middle East. Alhazred is known for his many travels to forgotten and unholy places across the Middle East. The first of these led him to Egypt, where he studied under the wizard Yakthoob. After his master's death, he led the wizard's disciples to Memphis and then Irem, where many of them were destroyed in a freak accident. He spent some time at the Nameless City, then rejoined his followers in Alexandria. There, he failed to dispel the evil from the Black Mosque and was forced to leave the city. He returned to the Nameless City and from there went to the Valley of Tombs and the Black Mountain in Turkey before settling in Damascus. During a pilgrimage to Chorazin on the Sea of Galilee, Alhazred fell into a trance-like state. This lasted for eight years, and during this time he wrote the Necronomicon. He wrote about his dimensional travels in this book and probably worshiped both Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth. Ibn Khallikan, his 12th-century biographer, tells of the mad poet being devoured in the marketplace of Damascus in broad daylight by an invisible monster. Others claim that his death was illusory and that he was borne off to the Nameless City to be tortured and killed.

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