Draft:Islamic mythology

Islamic mythology is the body of myths associated with Islam and the Quran. Islam is a religion that is more concerned with social order and law than with religious ritual or myths. The primary focus of Islam is the practical and rational practice and application of the Islamic Law. Despite this focus, Islamic Myths do still exist. 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 with the other Abrahamic religions, as well as the distinctively Islamic story of the Kaaba.

The traditional biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who 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.

Types of Islamic Mythology

The two types of myth and legends that make up Islamic Mythology are cosmogony and eschatology. Cosmogony is a part of Cosmogonic and cosmological myths, which are myths that deal in matters of the creation and origins of the universe, and more specially, the world. A cosmology is a culture's specific story of creation, and how in that culture the universe is structured (the placement of the Earth, the stars, and the afterlife). These stores of creation explain in that specific culture the origin of people, the first "home", and the early place of people in the world.

Eschatology is a type of mythology that deals with the day of judgement, the end of the world, heaven, and hell.Translated Eschatology means the "discourse about the last things". Eschatology deals with the question and ultimate quest for what is the "ultimate purpose" of humans in this life.

Religion and Mythology

Main article: Religion and mythology

The discussion of religion in terms of mythology is a controversial topic. The word "myth" is commonly used with connotations of falsehood, reflecting a legacy of the derogatory early Christian usage of the Greek word mythos in the sense of "fable, fiction, lie" to refer to classical mythology. However, the word is also used with other meanings in academic discourse. It may refer to "a story that serves to define the fundamental worldview of a culture" or to stories which a given culture regards as true (as opposed to fables, which it recognizes as fictitious).

Biblical Stories in the Quran

Main article: Biblical and Quranic narratives

The Quran includes many biblical narratives. Central figures, such as Moses (Musa), Abraham (Ibrahim), Joseph (Yūsuf), Mary (Maryam) and Jesus (Isa), reappear throughout the Quran. However, in contrast to the Biblical narratives, the Quran only provides a summary of a certain story, and gets into the religio-moral point, rather scattered through the Quran, instead of offering such narrations in a chronological order. More extensive details about stories incorporated by the Quran were taken from extra-Islamic sources (Isra'iliyyat). Alluding that such stories were of Jewish origin, in fact, Isra'iliyyats may also derive from other religions, such as Christianity or Zoroastrianism. Many of them were stored in Qisas Al-Anbiya (Stories of the Prophets), but also integrated in Quranic exegesis (Tafsir). Although important in early Tafsir, later scholars discouraged the usage of Isra'iliyyats. Besides narrations from the canonical Bible, Islam further adapted Apocryphal and Midrashic writings.

The Islamic Myth of Creation

The Creation of the World

See also: Genesis creation narrative

While in Islam there is no single story of creation, it is made clear that Allah is the one who created the world. Four different verses in the Quran mentions that the heavens and earth (As-Samāwāt Wa Al-Ard) were created by Allah in six days, with three verse mentioning creation and numbers of days—how many days it took to create only the earth (two days); provide mountains, nutrients, etc. (four days); Allah's giving of orders to heaven and earth; and creating the seven heavens (two days). The arithmetic of adding the numbers of days can be confusing, as critics (Ali Dashti) point out that two plus four plus two "increases creation from six to eight days", but Quranic translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali argues that commentators understand the four days in verse Q.41:9 "to include the two days" in verse Q.41:10.

In Sūrah al-Anbiyāʼ, verse 21:30, the heavens and the earth were joined together ("of one piece") as one "unit of creation", after which they were "cloven asunder". Allah then created the landscape of the earth, placed the sky above it as a roof, and created the day and night cycles by appointing an orbit for both the sun and moon. The Quran states that the process of creation took sitta ayam (ستة أيام) or six days. Critics note that modern cosmology does not fit well with creation of the universe in six (or eight) days and that it would be difficult to determine days before the sun and earth had been created, but many preachers argue the word youm (plural ayam) can be translated as "era" or "period", and sometimes is in translations of the Quran.

According to the mufassirs (authors of Quranic commentary), Islam acknowledges three different types of creation:

• Ex-nihilo in time: A position especially held by most classical scholars: Allah existed alone in eternity, until Allah's command "Be", thereupon the world came into existence. This world is absolutely distinct from Allah. Accordingly, the world was neither created out of His own essence nor did Allah create the world out of a primordial matter which preceded the creation, but created by His sheer command not bound by the laws of nature.
• Emanation: Found especially among scholars such as Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina: Accordingly, the world was created out of nothing, but not in time. The world was eternal, but temporary in essence. A reflection of the belief that Allah is eternal and not constrained within time.
• Creation out of primordial matter: Maintained by scholars such as Ibn Taimiyya: God fashioned the whole world out of primordial matter, the waters and the smoke.

The Creation of Humanity

According to Quranic creation narrative, God informed the angels, that He was going to create a khalifa (viceregent) on earth. The meaning of Khalifa holds different interpretations within Islamic exegesis:

• Successor: Adam and his descendants replace another species, who formerly inhabited and ruled the earth. Accordingly, the jinn preceded humanity, but God decided to replace them, due to their malevolence. Whereupon God sent an army of angels to annihilate the rule of jinn. Iblis, the future devil, plays a significant role in this story, either as the angel, who led his army into battle against the jinn, whereafter he declined to acknowledge the dignity of their successors, or as one of the few pious jinn, which were spared by the angels, but became an infidel, by opposing his successor.
• Deputy: Adam and his descendants are thought of as the deputy of God. Therefore, humans are obligated to maintain the earth given by God and should spiritualize God's attributes, to rule and govern it in accordance with God's will. The heavenly Adam, who has learned the names of God, functions as the prototype of Al-Insān al-Kāmil (Perfect human), which flawed humans should strive to become.

Adam is according to Islam, both the first human and the first prophet. The Quran says that he and his wife dwelled in Garden of Eden. Adam and his wife both eat from the forbidden Tree of Eternity. According to the Quran, as punishment Allah declares the earth as a dwelling place for humans. Only due to free will, humans are able to produce good. Thus, although Adam's disobedience created evil, only this made it possible to create good. The disobediences of Adam and his wife were already forgiven by Allah during their life.

Islamic traditions are more extensive, adding further details into the Quranic creation narrative. According to a common narrative, Allah 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 Azrael, who succeeded because he sought refuge in Allah before, for that he will not return unsuccessful. Another common traditions, portrayed the body of Adam lying on the ground for forty years, whereupon Iblis became curious of the new creation. After investigating the lifeless body, he promised that, if he will gain authority over it, he will destroy it. In another tradition, it is not Azrael, but Iblis, included among the archangels, who succeeded in collecting soil from the earth, thus he later declined to prostrate himself before whose formation he just assisted.

There is an extensive debate among the exegetes (muffasirun) on the creation of Eve as outlined in the foundational sources - Qur'an and Hadith. Surah an-Nisa verse one says "O people! Be mindful of your Lord who created you from a single soul (nafsin wahida) and created from it, its mate (zawjaha)..." Most Muslim exegetes have interpreted this verse as suggesting that Eve (zawjaha) is the secondary creation brought forth from Adam (nafsin wahida). Karen Bauer argues that since the nature and manner of Eve's creation in the Qur'an remains obscure, exegetes had no option but to read into the text of the Qur'an using Biblical, para-Biblical accounts and older myths. The first spouse, according to the Qur'anic narrative, was created from (min) and for man (lahu) (Q. 7:189), but the meaning of from (min) is not clear. The exegetes have understood this in two key ways: first, from the "crooked rib" and second, "of the same type (substance)" It is worth mentioning that the Bible presents both accounts - of the same type (Genesis 1:26-7) and from the rib (Genesis 2:20-4) (109). The creation of man in the Quran differed from the Bible in that man was not made like the image of God but in the best of creation and not from Earth's dust but specifically from a dried pottery-like dark red clay, and that human was afterthat made from a mixed fluid droplet that was recreated into a clinging thing, and that God made from water every living thing and that Eve was made from the person of Adam not his rib

Muqatil b. Sulayman (d. 150/767), one of the earliest interpreters of the Qur'an says Eve was created from Adam's rib and this is reflected in her name - Eve (Hawwa), from the word living being (hayy).

Another early exegete, Hud b. Muhakkam al-Hawwari (d. 3rd/9th century) presents the same reading by referring it to al-Hasan al-Basri who reported from Muhammad that "indeed, woman was created from a rib, and if you wish to straighten her you break her." Many traditionalist exegetes like al-Tabari, Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi, Maybudi, etc. have quoted these opinions. But others like Abu Ja'far Muhammad al-Baqir and Ibn Bahr argue that Eve was created "of the same type." In the modern period, the creation of Eve continues to be intensely debated. Pakistani scholar of the Qur'an, Israr Ahmed (d. 2010) was of the opinion that with the advances in our knowledge due to modern science, the notion of Eve's creation from Adam's rib is against human observation and reason. He believes the "crooked rib" hadith is using a metaphor to make a point regarding the psychological nature of women. Israr, in the evolution of the animal kingdom from a unicellular being like an amoeba, sees a clear indication that the creation was brought forth from the first unicellular being in which the characteristic of biological sex did not exist.

Islamic traditions often use figures similar to the Biblical narrative. Adam's wife is commonly named Hawa, and the serpent reappears together with a peacock as two animals, which supported Iblis to slip into Adam's abode. Many denied, that the Garden in which Adam dwelled with his wife, was identical with the Paradise in afterlife. They rather lived in paradisical conditions before their fall, while after their fall, they need to work to survive. Unlike Christian mythology, in Islamic thought, they did not simply walk out of paradise, but fell out of it. Hawa was punished with childbirth and menstruation, while Adam became bald and the serpent lost its legs.

Regarding the creation of Muhammad, Islam developed the belief in the pre-existence of Muhammad. This posits that Allah created the spiritual nature of Muhammad before Allah created the universe or Adam. Following this belief, Muhammad was the first prophet created, but the last one sent to mankind. When Adam walked in heaven, he once read the Shahada inscripted in the Throne of Allah , a belief attested by Al-Bayhaqi, who attributes it to Umar. In a Shia version, the inscription also mentions Ali.

Spiritual creatures

In the Quran, fire (nar) makes up the basic substance for spiritual entities, in contrast to humans created from clay (tin). Islamic traditions state more precisely, how different spiritual creatures were created. Islamic mythology commonly acknowledges three different types of spiritual entities:

Islamic drawing of an angel blowing a nafir trumpet, probably Israfel.

Persian literature of Depiction of Iblis with turban, refusing to prostrate

Angels

Angels, created from light (nur) or fire (nar): the heavenly hosts, and servants of Allah. In the Quran angels are described as winged beings of no specific gender, who wholly worship and are devoted servants of Allah. Each angel has a specially defied role, consisting of various duties, however only Allah knows all of the roles and duties of the angels. In Islam angels sever the purpose of teaching the importance of specialization, specifically the importance of specializing in a variety of subjects so that a society is well balanced.

Some of the angels mentioned in the Quran are Jibreel, Mika'el, Munkar and Nakeer, Ridwan and Malik, The Recorders, and The Guardians. There are great angels in Islam, Jibril, who bestowed revelations to prophets, Israfel, who's trumpet will bring the end of days as well as its resurrection, Mikail, who is responsible for the natural events, the weather, and the sustinance of living things.

Jinn

Jinn, created from a mixture of fire and air or smokeless fire (marigin min nar): that exist between both visible and invisible realms of life. Jinn are creatures who have existed in Arabia before the establishment of Islam , and are believed to be capable of great mystical powers. In Islam Jinn are intellectual creatures who, like humans, have received the Revealed Law, and will be accounted for on the Day of Judgement. Jinn, like humans, have the capability and choice of both good and evil, and according to the Koran, will be judged by Allah for such choices come judgment day. Jann is usually perceived as an ancestor of the jinn.

Iblīs

In Islam Iblis is the name of the devil. He is the enemy of Allah (Aduw Allāh), and is without him. There seems to be various stories as to the origin and role of Iblis in Islam, but he is often portrayed as the head of shaitan, and in direct opposition to Allah.

Shaitan (Shayatin), created from smoke or fire (Samūm): comparable to Christian demons or devils, usually regarded as the offspring of Iblis. They tempt humans (and jinn) into sin. In Islamic folklore, Ifrit and Marid are usually two powerful classes of shayatin.

Other prominent creatures within Islamic mythological traditions are Buraq, Ghaddar, Hinn, Houris and Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog). Later, spiritual entities from other cultures were identified with those of the Quran and assimilated to Islamic lore, such as Peri of Persian- Ghoul of Arabian- and İye of Turkic origin.

Structure of the Universe

Map of the world according to Zakariya al-Qazwini. The world carried by a fish, a bull and an angel.

According to popular ideas derived from cultural beliefs during the Classical Islamic period, the earth is flat, surrounded by water, which is veiled in darkness, with Mount Qaf at the edge of the visible world. Despite being flat, there is no trace of a disc-shaped earth within cosmological treatises. The heavenly dome ends at a world-serpent or agon. Studies from Suyuti's works often give the description of the first heaven, consisting of waters enclosing the earth. The world is carried by different creatures: an angel, a bull and a fish. Zakariya al-Qazwini identified the bull and the fish with the biblical monsters, Behemoth and Leviathan.

Both heaven and hell coexist with the temporary world. The seven layers of hell are identified with the seven earths. Sijjin is one of the lowest layers of hell, while Illiyin the highest layer of heaven. Hell is portrayed with the imageries of seas of fire, dungeons, thorny shrubs, the tree of Zaqqum, but also immense cold at bottom, inhabited by scorpions, serpents, zabaniyya and shayatin. The imageries heavens are described with different colors, seas of light, the tree of heaven, inhabited by angels and houris, as a Garden with sprawling meadows and flowing rivers. The inhabitants can rest on couches bedecked with silk and visit the other deads if they wish.

Islamic scholars knew the world was not flat. Islamic astronomy was developed on the basis of a spherical earth inherited from Hellenistic astronomy. The Islamic theoretical framework largely relied on the fundamental contributions of Aristotle (De caelo) and Ptolemy (Almagest), both of whom worked from the premise that the Earth was spherical and at the centre of the universe (geocentric model).

The 11th-century scholar Ibn Hazm stated: "Evidence shows that the Earth is a sphere but public people say the opposite." He added: "None of those who deserve being Imams for Muslims has denied that Earth is round. And we have not received anything indicates a denial, not even a single word."