Islamic Mythology

This is a body of myths that are associated with Islam & the Quran. These include a creation myth & a vision of the afterlife. The 2 types of myth & legends that make up Islamic mythology are cosmogony & eschatology.

The creation myths are based on the Quran, & expanded on in habits, Arabic & Persian writings, histories (Qisas al-anbiya), Muslim poetry, philosophical essays, & mystical writings.

There’s no 1 single story of creation, unlike in Christianity. It’s made clear that God is the 1 who created the world. The number of days in the creation story varies between 6-8 days.

In Islam, God created the angels as inhabitants of the heavens & jinn (& humans) as inhabitants of the earth. The 1st entities who lived on earth were the jinn. However, they fought each other until God sent an army of angels headed God sent an army of angels headed by Iblis (a.k.a. Satan), against them. Adam, a representative for mankind as a whole, was created as their successor.

In the Christian bible, God says He’s going to make mankind, in the plural: “…let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” It’s not clear to whom God is speaking to. In Jewish midrashism, it’s thought God is talking to the angels, maybe.

The Quran is explicit about it: “When your Lord said to the angels…” In an exegesis of the Quran, after the angels defeated the jinn, they settled on earth. It’s these angels whom God addressed when he announced to create Adam (mankind) as a deputy of God.

The angels, either only from the angels of the earth or from all angels oppose the creation of Adam for a variety of reasons. One major reason is due to the sins Adam’s successor will commit, which is explicitly mentioned in the Quran.

Another reason is that angels consider themselves superior to Adam, in terms of knowledge. The angelic opposition derives from a faulty analogy between Adam & the jinn. The angels don’t know that from among mankind, there will be saints & prophets. Despite the sinners among them. Eventually, the angels bow down, except for Iblis. Angels who remained in opposition to Adam became devils/demons.

According to Islam, Adam isn’t only the 1st human being, & man, but also the 1st prophet. The Quran says that Adam & Eve lives in the Garden of Eden. Adam & Eve both eat from the forbidden “Tree of Eternity.” According to the Quran, as punishment God declares the earth as a dwelling place for humans.

Only due to free will, humans are able to produce good. Although Adam’s disobedience created evil, only this made it possible to create good. The disobediences of Adam & Eve were already forgiven by God during their life.

According to a common narrative, God ordered the Archangels to collect a handful of soil from earth. But every time an archangel approached earth, the Earth sought refuge in God, that it might not be distorted.

All the archangels returned empty-handed. Except for Azrael, who succeeded because he sought refuge in God before, for that he’ll not return unsuccessful.

Another common tradition pictured the body of Adam lying on the ground for 40 years, whereupon Iblis became curious about the new creation. After investigating the lifeless body, he promised that, if he’ll gain authority over it, he’ll destroy it.

In another tradition, it’s not Azrael, but Iblis, included among the archangels, who succeeded in collecting soil from the earth. Thus he later declined to prostrate/bow himself before whose creation/formation he just helped.

The heavens span in a dome-like structure over the earths (yep, plural), arranged in horizontal layers 2 upon another. At the top sits Big G’s (or in this case, Big A’s) Throne (Al-‘Arsh) separated from the 7 heavens below.

The lowest heaven is often associated with a firmly-enclosed water of a celestial ocean. Below the heavens are the 7 earths. The Earth’s are also part of the supernatural cosmos & serve as gradual stages of hell.

The surface is inhabited by humans, the lower stages are abode of destructive winds & djinn, followed by brimstones of hell, scorpions, & vipers. With the devil, eventually, at the bottom.

According to Islamic mythology, God instructed Adam to construct a building (the Kaaba) to be the earthly counterpart of the House of Heaven & that Ibrahim (Abraham) & Ismail (Ishmael) later rebuilt it on its original foundations after it was destroyed in the flood of Nuh (Noah).

According to other versions, Ibrahim & his son, Ismail, were the 1st to build the Kaaba. As Ismail was searching for a stone to mark a corner with, he met with the angel Jibrail (Gabriel). Jibrail gave Ismail the Black Stone.

According to the Hadith, the Black Stone is reported to have milky white after being descended from Heaven but was made black due to the sins of the people, who had touched it. The Black Stone itself isn’t worshipped by Muslims.

The Kaaba was originally intended as a symbolic house for the 1 monotheistic God. After Ibrahim’s death, people started to fill the Kaaba with “pagan idols.” When Muhammad conquered Mecca after his exile, he removed the idols from the Kaaba.

The inside of the Kaaba is empty. It’s now an important pilgrimage site. All Muslims are supposed to visit at least 1 time, if they are able to (called the Hajj). Muslims are supposed to pray 5x a day while facing the Kaaba/Mecca’s direction.

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#Adam #AlArsh #Arabic #Archangel #BlackStone #ChristianBible #Djinn #Eve #Gabriel #GardenOfEden #Hajj #Iblis #Ibrahim #Ishmael #Islam #IslamicMythology #Ismail #Jibrail #Jinn #Kaaba #Midrash #Muslim #Noah #Nuh #Persian #QisasAlAnbiya #Quran #Satan #SevenHeavens #TreeOfEternity

Jinntaker

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/1579711/jinntaker

When I started writing microstories I started with the idea of a "word of the day". After a few months they started getting longer and doing them daily became untenable.
In January 2020 I had the idea of doing hammock 3 days in a row.
#lamia #naga #snake #spider #jinn #djinn #genie #hypnokink #hypnosis
https://cloudycuckoocosmos.com/hypnosisnakerotica/january-2020-microstory-collection/#hammock

You have no idea how long you’ve been trudging through the hot jungle, but you’re exhausted. Your legs are jelly, your back is sore, and you just need to find someplace to rest.
You spy a curve hanging from a tree and would jump if your legs could–a hammock! Someone set up a green hammock between the trees. Well, it’s maybe for them, but they probably won’t mind if you take a quick break on it.
A bit of a strange hammock, though. It’s kind of inversed, the center is risen up, but it’s good on your back. It’s cool, too, and quite firm for a hammock, though soft at the same time.
The ends are hung rather high, though, and you can’t see where they end. It’s a weird hammock–wait, is it moving? It’s vibrating! It’s a vibrating hammock, moving under you. It’s so relaxing, you don’t even notice it rising until branches pass by you.
By then you’re face-to-face with a lamia who twists the scaly hammock under you and wraps you tight in their tail.

You’ve been slogging for hours! Days! Well, a while, anyway. You’re probably getting more lost in the jungle with each step. You need a break.
You smile at the lucky appearance of–wait a minute. That hammock is a snake tail. You’re not falling for that again!
But wait, from another tree is a real hammock! You hurry over and see–it’s definitely made of some sort of fibers, not scales and muscles. You hop on and relax, resting your sore legs and back.
You shift in the hammock but find it sticking to you. You weren’t that sweaty, were you? Wait, this hammock is rising, too! At the canopy a pair of stiff, dark, segmented legs border you, followed by a second pair. Two pairs of dark arms hug you and you stare into the eight eyes of a fanged-grinning spider lady.

Okay, so the two hammocks didn’t work out. But you found some old ruins to rest in the shade, at least. Not very comfortable, but…
You spy a glint in the dust and debris. You push it aside and see what looks like an ancient oil lamp. You brush off the dirt to look closer and klink-klonk-kablammo a jinn pops out! You stare at the apparition; she smiles as she places her fingers under your chin, her jewels sparkling. Her hair is tied at the top, making two tails that fall to her sides, while past her waist her body becomes a smoky tail that trails into the lamp.
For releasing her she says she’ll grant you any wish you desire. You wish for a real hammock.
Because of course.
In a flash you find yourself reclining in the softest of tightly-stretched fabric, gravity sinking you into the compact threads. You relax back, resting your weary body, and the jinn bumps her hips against the hammock, sending it rocking back and forth, back and forth. She places her hand on the side to keep it rocking, her shiny gems glittering, and she hums you a lullaby. Did you wish for that? She’s doing it so you must have. You doze, relaxed, as the jinn’s misty tail circles around you and the hammock and settles over you like a cozy blanket. You feel so tranquil, so nice, you wish you could hold onto this feeling… you wish you could keep this feeling… with the jinn… forever…

Shedim

Romanized name: Sedim; singular: Sed.

These are spirits or demons in Tanakh & Jewish mythology. Shedim weren’t considered evil demigods. But the gods of foreigners. They were envisaged as evil only in the sense that they weren’t THE Hebrew god.

They show up 2x in the Tanakh (Psalm 106:37 & Deuteronomy 32:17). In both passages, the text deals with child or animal sacrifices. With the translation of Hebrew texts into Greek, with the influence of Zoroastrian dualism, shedim was translated into Greek as daimonia with negative connotations. Later, in Judeo-Islamic culture, shedim became the Hebrew word for jinn.

According to 1 legends, the shedim are descendants of serpents, or of demons in serpent form. This may be an allusion to the story of the serpent in Eden as told in Genesis. Another view is that they’re the offspring of Lilith. This is from her union with Adam or with other men.

While a 3rd version says that God created them on the 6th day, starting to fashion their bodies but failed to finish the job because he was observing the Sabbath. Even after the Sabbath, He left them as they were to show that when the Sabbath comes, all work still unfinished at the beginning of the Sabbath must afterward be viewed as complete.

As a result, the shedim have souls like humans, but don’t have bodies to contain them. Yet a 4th story says that the shedim have their origins with the builders of the Tower of Babel. In this 4th story, these beings were divided by their motivations into 3 groups of which the 3rd & worst comprised of those who sought actively to wage war against God & were punished for their sacrilegious hubris by transforming into the shedim. Finally, the Zohar describes them as offspring of the demons Azazel & Naamah.

According to Rashi, shedim like lillin (We mentioned these entities in our post about Lilith.), has a human form. Although no human body. They eat & drink as mortals do. They can cause sickness & misfortune, follow the dead, & fly around graves.

1 is admonished not to do anything that could invoke the shedim, such as whistling or even saying the word: shedim. The shedim aren’t always malicious creatures. They can be helpful. Some are said to be even able to live according to the Torah, like Asmodeus.

Conjuring shedim isn’t necessarily forbidden. Depending on whether the theologian discusses the topic views such as summoning to constitute sorcery. Even if summoning shedim is an act of sorcery & thus forbidden, consulting shedim conjured by a non-Jew would be permissible.

In early midrashim, shedim are corporeal beings. They take the form of men, but have no shadow, 7-headed dragons. If a man could see them, he would see them he would lack the strength to face them.

Although he can see them by throwing the ashes of the fetus of a black cat around his eyes, or by scattering ashes around his bed he can trace their footprints similar to those of roosters in the morning.

To see if the shedim were present, ashes were thrown to the ground or floor, which rendered their footsteps visible. Shedim can shape shift. Sometimes assuming a human form, the Talmud tells how Asmodeus assumed King Solomon’s form & ruled in his place for a time.

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#Adam #Asmodeus #Azazel #Demons #Deuteronomy3217 #Dualism #Eden #Genesis #Greek #Hebrew #Jewish #Jinn #JudeoIslamic #KingSolomon #Lilith #Midrashim #Naamah #Psalm10637 #Rashi #Sabbath #Sed #Sedim #Serpents #Shedim #Talmud #Tanakh #Torah #TowerOfBabel #Zohar #Zoroastrian

Denk immer daran: deine #Wahrnehmung bestimmt deine #Realität.
(Qui-Gon #Jinn)
#psychotHHerapie #Zitat #Zitate #QuiGonJinn

https://www.jangoeritz.de/zitate

@stevencudahy #CreativeWriting

#WritingChallenge #MastoPrompt #Challenge #Poem #Poetry
#Prompt: #Roll
#RockAndRoll #Rock #Blues #BackToTheFuture #Jinn

Marty McFly learnt Rock and Roll from Chuck Berry,
Travelled back in time and played Johnny B Goode.
Chuck's cousin Marvin hears and rang Chuck,
Chuck learnt Rock and Roll from Marty McFly.
So it's an impossible circle.
It's like rock and roll inserted itself into the zeitgeist,
Like a Jinn spirit carrying the blues up from the deep south.