Hamzah's best-praised work, readings have generally focused on religious themes – mainly from an Islamic perspective, although Christian influences have been suggested.
[3] The time was one of great emotional turmoil for Hamzah, who was required to marry the daughter of the Sultan of Langkat, who had funded his studies in Java.
[10] Documentarian HB Jassin writes that critics, such as Bakri Siregar, have seen an influence of the Christian God, as depicted in the Bible.
[11] "Padamu Jua" was first published in the November 1937 issue of Poedjangga Baroe, a literary magazine which Hamzah had helped establish, together with the rest of Nyanyi Sunyi.
[11] Dutch scholar of Indonesian literature A. Teeuw described the poem as most valuable, with "the most direct, most powerful, most exact, and most period-appropriate formulation of the relationship between God and humans".