Islamic mythology
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Islamic mythology is the body of myths associated with Islam. Islam is a religion that is more concerned with social order and law than with religious myths. The Oxford Companion to World Mythology identifies a number of traditional narratives as "Islamic myths". These include a creation myth and a vision of afterlife, which Islam shares to some extent with the other Abrahamic religions, as well as the distinctively Islamic story of the Kaaba. The traditional biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which plays a central role in Islamic teachings, is generally recognized as being largely historical in nature, and Islam depends less on mythology than Judaism and Christianity. However, the canonical narrative includes two key supernatural events: the divine revelation of the Quran and the Isra and Mi'raj — the night journey to Jerusalem followed by the ascension to the Seventh Heaven. In addition, Islamic scriptures contain a number of legendary narratives about biblical characters, which diverge from Jewish and Christian traditions in some details.
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Beings
- Azrael - the angel of death
- Buraq - a winged steed with a very wide stride: it could place its hooves at the farthest boundary of its gaze. It transported prophet Muhammad to the heavens.
- Darda'il - the angels who travel in the earth searching out assemblies where people remember God’s name. The Qur'an tells of two angels, Harut and Marut, sent down to test the people at Babylon.
- Israfil - the angel of the trumpet of doom
- Jibrail - the archangel Gabriel, an archangel who serves as a messenger from God
- Jinn - refers to invisible creatures, often inhabiting the earth together with humans. Can also designate a tribe of angels created from fire with free will, often considered to be banished to earth.
- Ifrit - Infernal jinn
- Kiraman Katibin - the two angels who record a person's good and bad deeds
- Mu'aqqibat - a class of guardian angels who keep people from death until its decreed time
- Maalik - the angel who guards the Hellfire
- Munkar and Nakir - the angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves
- Ridwan - the angel in charge of maintaining Jannah or Paradise
- Iblis - corrupter of the humans and leader of the devils, who was cast out of the heavens
Places
- Barzakh - barrier between the deceased and the living.
- Garden of Eden - A Paradise where Adam and Eve lived before their Fall
- Jahannam - Hell; the abode of the wicked after the Day of Judgment
- Jannah - Heaven; the abode of the righteous after the Day of Judgment; contains the Garden of Paradise
- Kaaba - the sacred building that Muslims visit while on the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). In Islamic mythology, Abraham (Abraham) and Ishmael built the Kaaba at God's command, to serve as the earthly counterpart of Jannah (Heaven). Adam built the original earthly Kaaba, but Abraham and his son had to rebuild it.
Events
- Creation - a six-stages creative act by God
- Fall of man - the loss of Paradise that resulted from eating the forbidden fruit; like Judaism, and Orthodox Christianity, but unlike Western Christianity, Islam does not hold that the Fall made man inherently sinful.
- Deluge and Noah's (Nuh's) Ark- worldwide flood-event with a water vessel containing the remains of humanity and a set of all animals
- Qiyamah - the Day of Resurrection (and of the reward and punishment of the good and the wicked); a fundamental element of Islamic eschatology that incorporates much from the Jewish and Christian traditions
See also
