Thread by @aaolomi

In Islamic and Middle Eastern folklore the world is filled with strange and amazing beasts and monsters. Though the djinn are certainly the most famous, tales relate stories of hybrid creatures and magical beings

A thread on legendary and mythic creatures

There are many tales of dragon like beings like Falak and the much older Tannin. Drawn from the sea monster in Hebrew mythology, the Tannin is imagined as a serpentine monster with many heads

In Armenian lore the nhang is a Perso-Armenian shape-shifting serpent that lays in wait in rivers.

Capable of transforming into an alluring woman, the nhang drags unwitting humans to their deaths.

Another water-dwelling creature is Saratan, a massive crab that lives in the ocean deep. It’s from this creature the constellation Cancer draws its name in Arabic

In pre-Islamic lore, the re’ya is a familiar spirit associated with the dead. They offer their services to poets and soothsayers as muses and spies.

Their mythology continues under Islam as the familiar spirit of sahirs (sorcerers)

The dead in particular have various connections with monsters and creatures. The spirit of a murdered victim can come back as a Hama, a disembodied skull that can also take the shape of an owl

This vengeful creature follows the murderer demanding blood to satiate them

The Hama has an unending thirst demanding blood for blood

At other times the Hama appear as smoke-like or shadow beasts that haunt people

A similar creature is found in Anatolia/Turkey and in North Africa called a Bardi. It appears as a spectral jackal whose howl warns of an impending murder

Dog-like monsters appear throughout the region. The Kelb el Khela is based on an actual bush canine of redish hue associated with calamities and natural disasters

Ibn Battuta also mentions dog-headed monsters living on islands near India and in Sumatra

The Quran and Hadith also makes some allusions to monsters. The Dabbah or the Beast of the Earth is an apocalyptic creature in Islamic eschatology.

In the end of times the Beast will address unbelievers and admonish them.

It is said the Beast will carry the Seal of Solomon and is described as a composite creature with parts from a bull, stag, elephant, and others

In some artistic renderings it’s depicted with many heads

There is also the She Camel of God, a miraculous camel sent to the corrupt people of Thamud. The people demanded the prophet Salih to produce a 10 month pregnant, beautiful camel. The miraculous camel produced milk to feed scores of people

The people of Thamud killed the camel

For denying the blessing of God and for cruelty to the camel, the people of Thamud were punished

The Quran also mentions the hellish, Zaqqum, a tree growing at the bottom of Hell upon which devil heads grow as fruits.

A terrifying and grotesque sight it’s described along references to boiling oil and water

But my favorite creatures are the shapeshifters. Whole tribes are described as having this power, usually passed down from an ancestor. While in places like Sudan and Somalia it can be an ancestral trait it’s also associated with magic

The Somali Qori ismaris is a sorcerer-like being who rubs himself with special stick-like herbs and can transform into a hyena or dog.

The association here with magic in the form of sihir or buda is overt

The sorcerers who can transform into these werewolves and werehyenas are considered bestial and dangerous.

One story tells of a warrior who mocked the local talisman-maker, kicking over his stand. That night when leaving his house the warrior was beset by a rabid dog

The beast slew the warrior and ripped off his finger.

The villagers recalling the earlier altercation quickly marched to the talisman-makers house where they found him sleeping soundly covered in blood and holding the warriors finger.

They killed him in vengeance

These shape shifting animals are also found in Malay and Javanese lore. The harimau jadian are weretigers.

These are usually humans with magical ancestors that pass down the secrets of shape shifting

These were-creature can also be the product of a curse.

Whether deliberate sorcery or the result of a curse the person transforms either bodily or in their sleep their spirit leaves the human body behind to roam as a ferocious beast

The language about human-animal hybrid particularly in the compendiums of medieval scholars writing catalogs of the world reveal interesting ways they imagined difference and tried to understand ancestral inheritance

I’ll continue exploring mythic animals in future threads with separate ones exploring magic in the Islamic world