Mastodawn

Spirituality & Religious Studies 14h ago

Dumah

In Hebrew & Aramaic, it means “silence.”

He’s an angel mentioned in Rabbinic & Islamic literature as an angel who has authority over the wicked dead. He’s popular in Yiddish folklore. I.B. Singer’s Short Friday (1964), a collection of stories, mentions Dumah as a “thousand-eyed angel of Death armed with a fiery rod or flaming sword.

Duma(h) or Doumah (Aramaic) is the angel of silence & the stillness of death. Dumah is also the prince of Hell, & the angel of vindication.

The Zohar speaks of him as having “tens of thousands of angels of destruction” under him & as being “Chief of demons in Gehinnom (Hell) with 12,000 myriads of attendants, all charged with the punishment of the souls of sinners.” 3 angels of destruction are appointed to him. He & his fellow angels torment the sinners every day of the week except on Shabbat. Shabbat is the Jewish Sabbath day. Like the Christian Sunday.

According to hadiths mentioned in Al-Suyuti’s al-Haba’ik, Azrael hands over the souls of the deceased unbelievers to Dumah.

Dumah is the name of the 1 of the 7 compartments of Gehenna.

In the video game Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Dumah is the name of a boss character. He’s the vampire brother of Raziel, & along with Turel is the 1 who is cast into the Abyss on Kain’s orders. In reference to the meaning of his name, when finally confronted, he is killed by vampire hunters, & his corpse is sitting silently on a throne.

Dumah shows up in the TV show & comic book The Sandman (by Neil Gaiman; DC Comics). Specifically in “The Season of Mists.” Dumah, along with Ramiel, becomes the keeper of Hell after Lucifer abandons his throne/realm.

An angel named Dumah appears in the wildly popular CW show called Supernatural (“Carry on my wayward son…” Sorry, we’ll show ourselves out…). In this show, Dumah is portrayed as a woman, played by Erica Cerra.

Make a one-time donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

Make a monthly donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate monthly

Make a yearly donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate yearly #Abyss #alHabaIk #AlSuyuti #Angel #AngelOfSilence #AngelOfVindication #Aramaic #DCComics #Dumah #Gehinnom #Hadiths #Hebrew #Hell #IBSinger #Islam #Lucifer #Ramiel #Raziel #Sabbat #Sabbath #ShortFriday #Sunday #Supernatural #TheSandman #Turel #Yiddish #Zohar

Spirituality & Religious Studies Apr 22

Punishment of the Grave

Also known as Torment of the Grave.

This is a Judeo-Islamic concept about the time between death & resurrection of the Day of Judgment. According to some hadiths, the souls of the unrighteous are punished by 2 angels in the grave. While the righteous find the grave “peaceful & blessed.”

Punishment of the grave isn’t explicitly stated in the Quran. Although it’s mentioned in the hadiths (Hadiths are the Islamic equivalent of Jewish midrashs.) & shows up as early as the 9th century, still present among the majority of Sunnis & Shias.

The Quran does mention that certain individuals, such as martyrs, are alive & not dead in 2:154. Also, that is already in Hell in 71:25.

The term Barzakh indicates that the deceased & the living are entirely separated & cannot interact with each other. Otherwise, Barzakh refers to the whole period between the Day of Resurrection & death & is used synonymously for “grave.”

Others regard barzakh as a world dividing & simultaneously connecting the realm of the dead & the living. Therefore, some Muslim traditions argue about possibilities to contact the dead by sleeping in graveyards. Despite the non-existent or, at most, the brief mentions in the Quran.

Islamic tradition discusses elaborately, almost in graphic detail, as to what exactly happens before, during, & after death, based on certain hadithic narrations.

After burial, each person is interrogated in the grave by 2 angels, called Munkar & Nakir, appointed by God to question the dead in order to test their faith. The righteous believers answer correctly & live in peace & comfort. While the sinners & disbelievers fail & punishments ensue.

In the life of Barzakh, the souls of the sinners & disbelievers are kept & punished in a place called Sijjin, which is said to be located at the lowest level of the earth (traditionally Hell, before the Day of Resurrection or underworld). The books containing the full deeds are also kept here.

On the other hand, the souls of the righteous believers are kept in a place called Illiyin. Their books of deeds are also kept here.

According to some accounts, Illiyin is located in Heaven. There is a belief that the fire which represents one’s own bad deeds can already be seen during the Punishment of the Grave, & that the spiritual pain caused by this can lead to purification of the soul.

Rabbinic literature offers many traditions about angels chastising the dead. In Jewish religious books, the souls of the wicked are punished in the hereafter by Dumah & 3 subordinated Angels of Destruction. They’re only released from their suffering on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath).

One-Time Monthly Yearly

Make a one-time donation

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

$5.00 $10.00 $15.00 $1.00 $5.00 $10.00 $5.00 $10.00 $15.00

Or enter a custom amount.

Your contribution is appreciated.