Amir Hamzah wrote in the 1930s. His poem confronts God, calling Him ‘savage’, ‘jealous’, as though holding prey in His claws. An unusual metaphor, but the poem spread. The poet was not mobbed. He was not suspected of defaming religion, nor accused of being an unbeliever. He was read: the most religious of writers, whose works were the most beautful of his times—with poetry that has thrilled people fro