Thread by @aaolomi

Stories, travelogues, and encyclopedias from the Islamic world recount tales of strange beasts of the sea. Mysterious and deep, the world’s waters were believed to be home to great monsters terrifying in manner.

A thread on sea monsters-

The most famous mentioned by al-Qazwini is Bahamut, a mighty fish or whale of the deep. So massive in bulk it is considered one of the layers of the earth upon which the whole world rests.

As it shifts and moves it causes earthquakes.

One time, Iblis sought to entice the great whale into shaking the very foundations of the Earth, but God intervened by captivating Bahamut and keeping the destruction at bay.

Even deeper than Bahamut lies, Falak, a mighty serpent coiled in the darkness. Falak is occasionally depicted as having multiple heads or torsos attached together.

In the Arabian Nights, Falak is similar to Bahamut and carries the cosmic ox and angel who hold up the earth.

Falak is likely related to older Hebrew, Tannin a mighty serpent or monster not unlike Tiamat or Leviathan.

In several depictions from al-Qazwini’s work, Tannin is shows with a human face, coiled and writhing.

Qazwini’s text in particular lists many such unusual creatures like a mighty turtle as massive as an island with vegetation and life growing on its shell.

Others depict fish with cat-like faces or even those of a human all living hidden in our oceans. (From BnF 2051).

Tales of the great monsters of the deep were also drawn from various local cultures.

The Javanese Nyai Roro Kidul, originally a sea goddess, was reimagined as a mermaid-like jinn of untold beauty.

She was linked to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Ibn Battuta records the legend of Rannamaari, a Maldivian sea monster described as a demon who was appeased through sacrifices.

The king would select a virgin girl every month to be sent to the dwelling of the creature as tribute.

The next day the victim’s body would be buried.

Ibn Battuta claims a Muslim hafiz, al-Barbari, intervened and was asked to be sent in the stead of the victims.

Upon arriving to the place, he recited the Qur’an and banished the beast.

Cross-cultural belief in sea monsters is not unusual.

In Tanzania, Muslim and Christians both share a belief in Mazomba a giant fish from pre-Islamic and pre-Christian cosmology.

Finally, there are several jinn linked to the oceans and seas.

In some accounts, Marids are those jinn who were cast out of heaven for attempting to eavesdrop on the angels.

Later stories claim these Marids, driven away by fiery missiles, crashed into the oceans where they sunk deep and remained as fiery monsters bubbling just beneath the surface until they violently burst forth.

There is also Bidukh, reputed to be the daughter of Iblis, a jinn queen who is a mistress of magic and resides on a throne upon the foamy seas.

The legends and stories of sea monsters are a testimony to the expansive fascination of medieval Muslims with the natural world around them.

They are part not just of a literary tradition, but the encyclopedic and scientific endeavor to catalogue the strange and wondrous.

They also attest to the way in which Islam was localized by co-opting various regional creatures and monsters into its cosmology.

What are some of your favorite sea monsters?

I’ll continue into the wonderous and strange in the Islamic world with future threads