Islamic Mythology - Beings, Places and Events

Beings, Places and Events

The following are unique to Islam:

• Muhammad - the prophet of Islam.
• Jinn - creatures of fire; along with angels and humans, one of the three intelligent species created by God
  • Ifrit - Infernal jinn
• Kaaba - the sacred mosque 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.

The following Islamic subjects have some elements in common with Jewish and Christian traditions:

• Angels - beings of light that serve as God's messengers; in Islam, these lack free will.
  • Jibrail - the archangel Gabriel and Jibrail is an archangel who serves as a messenger from God.
  • Michael - the angel of nature.
  • Darda'il - the angels who travel in the earth searching out assemblies where people remember God’s name. Harut and Marut are two angels mentioned in Qur'an, who were sent down to test the people at Babylon.
  • 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.
  • Azrael - the angel of death.
  • Munkar and Nakir - the angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves.
  • Israfil - the angel of doom trumpet.
  • Ridwan - the angel in charge of maintaining Jannah or Paradise.
  • Maalik - the angel who guards the Hellfire.
• Places
  • Garden of Eden - the heavenly Paradise where Adam and Eve lived before their Fall.
  • Barzakh - the state of the souls of the deceased before the Day of Judgment, when they will be assigned to Heaven or to Hell.
  • Jannat - Heaven; the abode of the righteous after the Day of Judgment; contains the Garden of Paradise.
  • Jahannam - Hell; the abode of the wicked after the Day of Judgment.
• 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 unlike Christianity, Islam does not hold that the Fall made man inherently sinful.
  • Deluge and Noah's (Nuh's) Ark- worldwide flood event with water vessel containing remains of humanity and set of all animals.
  • Qiyamat - the Day of Resurrection (and 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.