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In Arab folklore, Nasnas (Arabic : نسناس, romanized: nasnās, plural nisānis) is a monstrous creature. According to Edward Lane, the 19th-century translator of One Thousand and One Nights , a nasnas is "half a human being; having half a head, half a body, one arm, one leg, with which it hops with much agility".
In Somali folklore there is a similar creature called xunguruuf (Somali pronunciation: [ħunguruːf] ). It is believed it can kill a person by just touching them and the person would be fleshless in mere seconds.
It was believed to be the offspring of a jinn called shiqq (الشق) and a human being.
Although the Nasnas have not been found in any Sunni interpretation of the Quran, they are sometimes mentioned in Shia sources. [1] The mentioning of the Nasnas revolves around Surah 2:30 when God announces to the angels to create humans as a successor on earth.
Accordingly, while the angels lived in heaven, the Jinn and the Nasnas lived on earth. After 70,000 years, God lifted the veil between heaven and earth, and the angels saw the injustice and bloodshed done by Jinn and Nasnas. The angels complained that such destruction could not be tolerated on God's creation, whereupon God decides to replace them. [2] Although similar stories exist in Sunni sources, they do not mention the Nasnas, but only Jinn.
The Nasnas in Shia sources are often portrayed as a prototype of Shia opponents, while the jinn are believed to be obedient to the Imams. [3]
A character in "The Story of the Sage and the Scholar", a tale from the collection, is turned into a nasnas after a magician applies kohl to one of his eyes. The nasnas is mentioned in Gustave Flaubert's The Temptation of Saint Anthony.
Jinn, also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies, are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabia and later in Islamic culture and beliefs. Like humans, they are accountable for their deeds and can be either believers (Muslims) or disbelievers (kafir), depending on whether they accept God's guidance.
Iblis, alternatively known as Eblīs, is the leader of the devils in Islam. According to the Quran, Iblis was thrown out of heaven after refusing to prostrate himself before Adam. He is often compared to the Christian Satan, since both figures were cast out of heaven according to their respective religious narratives. Similar to Mastema, a satanic figure in the Book of Jubilees, he makes a request to God in order to put mankind to test and receives command over the demons in order to do so. In his role as the master of cosmic illusion in Sufi cosmology, he functions similar to the Buddhist concept of Mara. As such, Iblis embodies the cosmic veil supposedly separating the immanent aspect of God's love from the transcendent aspect of God's wrath. He entangles the unworthy in the material web hiding the underlying all-pervading spiritual reality.
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims, and simultaneously the largest religious denomination in the world. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagreement over the succession to Muhammad and subsequently acquired broader political significance, as well as theological and juridical dimensions. According to Sunni traditions, Muhammad left no successor and the participants of the Saqifah event appointed Abu Bakr as the next-in-line. This contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad appointed his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor.
Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven or angels who sinned. Such angels often tempt humans to sin.
In Islam, Jannah is the final and permanent abode of the righteous. According to one count, the word appears 147 times in the Qur'an. Belief in the afterlife is one of the six articles of faith in Sunni and Twelver Shi'ism and is a place in which "believers" (Mumin) will enjoy pleasure, while the unbelievers (Kafir) will suffer in Jahannam. Both Jannah and Jahannam are believed to have several levels. In the case of Jannah, the higher levels are more desirable, and in the case of Jahannam, the lower levels have a higher level of punishments. — in Jannah the higher the prestige and pleasure, in Jahannam the severity of the suffering. The afterlife experiences are described as physical, psychic and spiritual.
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.
Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used the relationships between different myths to trace the development of religions and cultures, to propose common origins for myths from different cultures, and to support various psychoanalytical theories.
A Marid is a type of powerful shaitan in Islamic traditions. The Arabic word meaning rebellious is applied to such supernatural beings.
In Islam, angels are believed to be heavenly beings, created from a luminous origin by God. The Quran is the principal source for the Islamic concept of angels, but more extensive features of angels appear in hadith literature, Mi'raj literature, Islamic exegesis, theology, philosophy, and mysticism.
Esoteric interpretation of the Quran is the allegorical interpretation of the Quran or the quest for its hidden, inner meanings. The Arabic word taʾwīl was synonymous with conventional interpretation in its earliest use, but it came to mean a process of discerning its most fundamental understandings. "Esoteric" interpretations do not usually contradict the conventional interpretations; instead, they discuss the inner levels of meaning of the Quran.
A Qareen is a spiritual double of a human, either part of the human himself or a complementary creature in a parallel dimension.
Aqidah is an Islamic term of Arabic origin that literally means "creed". It is also called Islamic creed or Islamic theology.
Adam, in Islamic theology, is believed to have been the first human being on Earth and the first prophet of Islam. Adam's role as the father of the human race is looked upon by Muslims with reverence. Muslims also refer to his wife, Ḥawwāʾ, as the "mother of mankind". Muslims see Adam as the first Muslim, as the Quran states that all the Prophets preached the same faith of Islam.
Twelver Shīʿism, also known as Imāmiyya, is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85% of all Shīas. The term Twelver refers to its adherents' belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as the Twelve Imams, and their belief that the last Imam, Imam al-Mahdi, lives in Occultation and will reappear as the promised Mahdi.
A shaitan or shaytan is an evil spirit in Islam, inciting humans and jinn to sin by whispering in their hearts. According to Islamic tradition, though invisible to humans, shayatin are imagined to be ugly and grotesque creatures created from "Hellfire".
Shafa'a(h) (Arabic: شفاعة, "intercession") in Islam is the act of pleading to God by an intimate friend of God (a Muslim saint) for forgiveness of a believing sinner.
Hinn are both a kind of supernatural creature in Arabian lore—along with jinn and various kinds of devils (shaitan)—as well as a pre-Adamitic race in Islam-related beliefs. Their existence, along with that of binn, timm, and rimm, is accepted by the Druze.
Jann are the ancestor of the jinn in Islam. They are said to have inhabited the earth before Adam, ruled by a king called Jann ibn Jann. In folklore however, many consider them to be punished and turned into the weakest class of jinn, comparable to the way in which apes are seen as transformed humans. The father of the jinn is also called Abu Al-Jann.