'Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa-ghara'ib al-mawjudat
Encyclopedia
ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt is an important work of cosmography
by Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Yahya al-Qazwini
who was born in Qazwin year 600 (AH
)/1203.
, al-Biruni
, Ibn al-Athir, al-Maqdisi, and al-Razi
. Notwithstanding the fact that Qazwini’s work is a compilation of known and unknown sources, it influenced later works of Islamic cosmology
and Islamic geography through its style and language. Qazwini’s cosmography is not pure science but it also was intended to entertain its readers by enriching scientific explanations with stories and poetry.
Called the “most precious cosmography of the Islamic culture” by Carl Brockelmann
, Qazwini’s cosmography was one of the most read works in the Islamic world since numerous manuscripts and translations from Arabic into Islamic languages have survived. Scholars presented excerpts of it to Western readers. As a product of Islamic thought Qazwini’s ‘Aja'ib al-Makhluqat - that resembles the cosmography of al-Tusi - is characterized by the concept of the unity of God
and the unity of creation. Universe
is the manifestation of the absolute Truth or God
. God's command "Be!" caused all things in the universe to have a place and a reciprocal relationship between themselves. Man in the Islamic tradition has the task to understand the wisdom of God's creation as much as possible. God is the ultimate goal of that cosmic structure. These spiritual concepts have their basis in the Qur'an
, hadith
and the sciences that developed in pre-Islamic times and were adopted in the Islamic world. Traditional Islamic sciences are connected with cosmology that has an essential role within the metaphysical
system. Whereas cosmology deals with the spiritual side of the universe, cosmography concerns itself with the physical aspect and its processes. Qazwini states that it is important that man should exert himself to investigate the wondrous and wisely conceived creation of God, to reflect on it in astonishment and understand it as much as is possible to him. In this way, man will gain the delights in both this world and the hereafter. Next to this Qazwini explains important terminology in his book: 1) marvels
are a phenomenon that confuses man because he is not able to grasp its cause and effects; 2) creation is everything except God, it is either essential (body, spiritual substance) or accidental (other); 3) the strange is something which is rare and differs from the known and familiar things and causes astonishment; 4) Creation is divided into several things: it has an unknown cause, man cannot grasp it and it is known in its entirety but not in its details (e.g. the celestial spheres
).
Qazwini’s cosmography consists of two parts, the first dealing with the sphere
s of the heaven
with its inhabitants (the angels) and the details of the Islamic
, Roman
and Iranian calendar
s; here the astronomical knowledge of that time is compiled together with astrological ideas. The second part discusses the four elements
, the spheres and what is on and in the earth, in addition to this Qazwini talks in detail about man, the faculties of his soul, his character, weaknesses and illnesses.
Moreover, Qazwini informs us in the introduction of his book that he left his home and family to study books because he believed that a man’s best companion on earth are books. He marvelled at the wondrous and strange things in God’s creation and how perfect a creation it is, as stated in the Qur’an (50:6). In his explanation of created things in the powerful and vast universe (51:47), he describes the orbit of the sun based on statements of scientists but also quotes a tradition in which the angel Gabriel
tells Muhammad
that the sun moves forward 500 years or farsakhs (1 farsakh = ca. 6 km) from the time Muhammad says “No” until the time he says “Yes” one after another. In Qazwini’s view wondrous things are in the heavens and the earth, as the Qur’an informs (10:101), and in the seas and at their shores since it was their beginning and end where not clarified; it was part of the unknown world, inhabited with wondrous and strange creatures. Following the Judeo-Islamic tradition, Qazwini confirms that in the beginning God created one substance, then He melted it and from the smoke became the heaven and the sediments were formed to earth; heaven and earth were first together and God divided them (Qur’an 21:31) and He completed his creation in seven days. Altogether God made seven heavens and seven earths (Qur’an 65:12).
God created many things that are unknown to the people (Qur’an 16:8), and a fundamental part of this, with central importance, is God’s Throne
, His footstool
, the angels and the jinn
(demons, evil/good spirit
s). Whether known or unknown, every created thing has a sign of divine wisdom within itself and represents the unity of God. Based on Ptolemy’s design of the universe, Qazwini talks about 9 spheres in the heaven: the earth
, the Moon
, Mercury
, Venus
, the Sun
, Mars
, Jupiter
, Saturn
and the Sphere of spheres, which embraces all other spheres and causes day and night; they all have their own orbit
. Whereas on the one hand to these and other star
s Qazwini refers to the spheres or plants in scientific terms, on the other hand he supports the effects of the Moon, the North Pole
and South Pole
on man
and animal
, such as having the power to cure illnesses, with sayings among people.
For some Muslims the footstool is the eighth and the Throne the ninth sphere. Furthermore the Throne of God
is the point of adoration for the inhabitants of the celestial spheres
, as is the Kaaba
the qibla
for people on earth. As concerns the inhabitants of the celestial spheres, that is to say the angels and the jinn/devil
s, the angels are good perfect beings without negative feelings or passion, they are obedient and most importantly, they keep the order of the creation and govern everything on earth; the jinn and devils are bad and imperfect creatures who possess passion and wrath and are disobedient. Qazwini’s work contains moreover angelology that has roots partly in the Qur’an and hadith. There are two types of angels in the Qur’an, the one being the guards of hell
(96:18) and angels that nearest to God (4:170, 83:21). Qazwini also mentions the angels who carry the Throne of God (the idea goes back to the Jahiliyya): they are four in number in the form of a man, bull, eagle and lion. On the Day of Resurrection
the Throne will be carried by “eight” (Qur’an 69:17), and this traditionally refers to eight angels. Next to these is the angel ar-Ruh or the Spirit
, who is actually first in order and the greatest. His breath quickens the creatures and he knows the order of the spheres, planets, elements, minerals etc. He is the one who decides the movement and stillness of things by the will of God. This angel is followed by Israfil; he transmits the orders of God and blows the horn. He is not mentioned in the Qur’an but in hadith and linked to the Day of Resurrection. Israfil carries the “tablet” (lawh) and the “pen” (qalam). Whether the abovementioned angels or Gabriel, Michael
or others all of them have a role in keeping the order of the creation. It is also believed that angels have about seventy wings each.
When discussing time, Qazwini links the days of the week to the sacred history of Judaism
, Christianity
, and Islam
, e.g. the holy days Friday (Islamic day of congregational prayer/salat
), Saturday (Jewish sabbath
) and Sunday (Christian day of rest) and how they became to be regarded as holy. The days are also linked to lawful and unlawful things and acts.
The earth, being part of the lower spheres, brings forth minerals, plants and living creatures such animals and man. In Qazwini’s classification there are seven types of living creatures – man, jinn, animals used for riding, animals that graze, beasts, birds and insects – and creatures that look strange or are hybrids. Man has the highest rank in the order of God’s creation (macrocosm): he is its quintessence (microcosm
) and can be both the embodiment of the angels and Satan
. Man with his rational soul has the capacity to think and talk and the choice to ascend to the highest or lowest stations in life. Man’s soul is immortal and he is created for immortality; he changes his place of living from the womb to the earth, and from there to paradise
or hell
fire (Qur’an 20:57). In sum, man’s purpose on earth is to achieve perfection and eschew bad habits and acts. The good character outweighs in this life and the next; bad character is a sin that can not be forgiven and through it man descends to the lowest of the low in hell. A man with a good character is thus angel-like and bad character is the feature of the despised Satan. Qazwini’s concern here, so to speak, anthropology
.
Next to man are the jinn who were created from smokeless fire and can be in different forms. It is also believed that the jinn represent the rebellious among men or that angels were created from the light of the fire and the devils or jinn from its smoke. According to a legend the jinn were created before Adam and lived on the land, sea, plains and mountains and that God’s mercy for them was boundless. They had a government, prophets, religion and laws but they became disobedient and stubborn and broke the rules of the prophets which culminated in chaos on earth. Then God sent angels who inhabited the earth and persecuted and imprisoned many of the jinn and exiled them to the shores of the seas and the islands. Among them was the young Azazil whom the angels educated; he acquired their knowledge and became like them and even their leader. But he fell into disgrace because he disobeyed God to prostrate himself before Adam as the vicegerent of God on earth. Azazil goes back to Judaism and is mentioned in the Qur’an (2:32 etc.) as Iblis, the fallen angel
. In Volksislam it is believed that Iblis is present in baths, bazaars, crossroads, intoxicating drinks, and is associated with flutes, poetry, tattoos, lies, women, and illnesses. Jinn and devils live in caves, mountains, hills, valleys, deserts, and swamps. However disobedient the jinn are, Solomon
is depicted as having been their lord whom they obeyed. Jinn and strange creatures live at seashores or on islands and they are agents of chaos or the evil. Another category of evil creatures are the Ya’juj and Ma’juj (Gog and Magog
) who are also mentioned in the Qur’an.
Some stones
are associated to jinn or are a remedy against ailments: the smaragd
(zabarjad or zumrud) cures illnesses and repels devils; a stone called talk is used for talismans
and magic
drinks; the amberstone was first discovered by Satan; Alexander
used the faylaq stone to protect his men from devils, or the manâtas, according to Aristotle
from whose “Book of Stones” Qazwini often quotes, nullifies the influence of magicians and devils and protects from jinn. One stone (bahtah) is described as being found at the edge of the utmost darkness where the sun has no effect, near the world ocean.
After God created the angels and the jinn that fly from one climate
to another, He created the birds because He knew that many people would deny the existence of flying creatures, especially the angels. Furthermore Qazwini adds as proves that God created birds with three wings, as He did the unicorn, the Indian ass with a horn or the bat without wings; why not angels? Among the birds Qazwini classifies the Anqa or Simurgh
(Phoenix
) as the most known bird and the kin of birds that lived alone on Mount Qaf. This idea goes as back as to the time of Zoroaster
. In more recent traditions the Anqa is a wise bird with experience gained throughout many ages and gives admonitions and moral advices. Long before Adam was created this bird lived without procreation; he was single and the first and most powerful bird. The “golden age
” of the Simurgh was the time of Solomon in which not only ministers were near his throne but also animals and birds with whom Solomon could speak; the Anqa also talked to him and was the most respected. The second bird that is also recurring in classical Persian literature
and mentioned by Qazwini is the Homa (paradise bird). When it lands on someone's head, that person becomes the king of his land. Being also a bird used in Iranian mystical symbolism is the salamander or “fire bird”, which was not seen since the time of Muhammad. Qazwini talks about the hoopoe
(hudhud) that has a central role in Iranian mysticism too, only in passing; here it is described as being able to see water from afar but not the mesh that in front of its eyes. So the hoopoe symbolizes fate: when it comes, the eyes of man are blinded, i.e. man is not able to predict his fate. Another exceptional bird in Qazwini’s list is the eagle
because lion
s feared it and from his wings fire appears. Birds that were conceived as strange hybrids by Qazwini are the vulture
, having the claws of the rooster
, or the ostrich
with the feet of a camel and the body of a bird; this bird eats stones and flames and can live in fire for ten years. He is also able to digest legs of a horse and birds but not date pits. The ostrich fears his own shadow and always walks against the sun. There are also other rare and strange birds, for example a big bird in Khuzistan that attacks camels and elephant
s and has eggs similar to crystal
; the “purple bird”, a white bird that sits on a rock in the Chinese Sea and the person that looks at that rock must laugh to death, except that this bird lands on the rock; or a bird in Tabaristan which is seen in spring and carries one hundred sparrows on its tail and eats one each day.
reworked Qazwini’s cosmology in the year 1453, providing his Turkish readership with a much abridged
version (reduced to ca. one fifth of the original) in plain Turkish prose, with some new materials added. Bicans rendering was later included by Donado in his Della Letteratura de Turchi, Venice
(1688), in a shortlist of Turkish works he felt merited translation into Italian.
Cosmography
Cosmography is the science that maps the general features of the universe, describing both heaven and Earth...
by Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Yahya al-Qazwini
Zakariya al-Qazwini
Abu Yahya Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini , was a Persian physician, astronomer, geographer and proto-science fiction writer....
who was born in Qazwin year 600 (AH
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
)/1203.
Background to the work
Qazwini mentions fifty names as his sources, the most important of whom are old geographers and historians such as al-Istakhri, Ibn Fadlan, al-Mas‘udi, Ibn HawqalIbn Hawqal
Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal was a 10th century Muslim writer, geographer, and chronicler. His famous work, written in 977, is called Ṣūrat al-’Arḍ ....
, al-Biruni
Al-Biruni
Abū al-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-BīrūnīArabic spelling. . The intermediate form Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī is often used in academic literature...
, Ibn al-Athir, al-Maqdisi, and al-Razi
Al-Razi
Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian polymath,a prominent figure in Islamic Golden Age, physician, alchemist and chemist, philosopher, and scholar....
. Notwithstanding the fact that Qazwini’s work is a compilation of known and unknown sources, it influenced later works of Islamic cosmology
Islamic cosmology
Islamic cosmology refers to cosmology in Islamic societies. It is mainly derived from the Qur'an, Hadith, Sunnah, and current Islamic as well as other pre-Islamic sources...
and Islamic geography through its style and language. Qazwini’s cosmography is not pure science but it also was intended to entertain its readers by enriching scientific explanations with stories and poetry.
Cosmography
Carl Brockelmann
Carl Brockelmann , German Semiticist, was the foremost orientalist of his generation. He was a professor at the universities in Breslau, Berlin and, from 1903, Königsberg...
, Qazwini’s cosmography was one of the most read works in the Islamic world since numerous manuscripts and translations from Arabic into Islamic languages have survived. Scholars presented excerpts of it to Western readers. As a product of Islamic thought Qazwini’s ‘Aja'ib al-Makhluqat - that resembles the cosmography of al-Tusi - is characterized by the concept of the unity of God
Tawhid
Tawhid is the concept of monotheism in Islam. It is the religion's most fundamental concept and holds God is one and unique ....
and the unity of creation. Universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
is the manifestation of the absolute Truth or God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. God's command "Be!" caused all things in the universe to have a place and a reciprocal relationship between themselves. Man in the Islamic tradition has the task to understand the wisdom of God's creation as much as possible. God is the ultimate goal of that cosmic structure. These spiritual concepts have their basis in the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
and the sciences that developed in pre-Islamic times and were adopted in the Islamic world. Traditional Islamic sciences are connected with cosmology that has an essential role within the metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
system. Whereas cosmology deals with the spiritual side of the universe, cosmography concerns itself with the physical aspect and its processes. Qazwini states that it is important that man should exert himself to investigate the wondrous and wisely conceived creation of God, to reflect on it in astonishment and understand it as much as is possible to him. In this way, man will gain the delights in both this world and the hereafter. Next to this Qazwini explains important terminology in his book: 1) marvels
Marvels
Marvels is a four-issue comic book limited series written by Kurt Busiek, painted by Alex Ross and edited by Marcus McLaurin, and published by Marvel Comics in 1994....
are a phenomenon that confuses man because he is not able to grasp its cause and effects; 2) creation is everything except God, it is either essential (body, spiritual substance) or accidental (other); 3) the strange is something which is rare and differs from the known and familiar things and causes astonishment; 4) Creation is divided into several things: it has an unknown cause, man cannot grasp it and it is known in its entirety but not in its details (e.g. the celestial spheres
Celestial spheres
The celestial spheres, or celestial orbs, were the fundamental entities of the cosmological models developed by Plato, Eudoxus, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus and others...
).
Qazwini’s cosmography consists of two parts, the first dealing with the sphere
Sphere
A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
s of the heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
with its inhabitants (the angels) and the details of the Islamic
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
, Roman
Roman calendar
The Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between the founding of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. This article generally discusses the early Roman or pre-Julian calendars...
and Iranian calendar
Iranian calendar
The Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
s; here the astronomical knowledge of that time is compiled together with astrological ideas. The second part discusses the four elements
Classical element
Many philosophies and worldviews have a set of classical elements believed to reflect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything consists or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of anything are based. Most frequently, classical elements refer to ancient beliefs...
, the spheres and what is on and in the earth, in addition to this Qazwini talks in detail about man, the faculties of his soul, his character, weaknesses and illnesses.
Moreover, Qazwini informs us in the introduction of his book that he left his home and family to study books because he believed that a man’s best companion on earth are books. He marvelled at the wondrous and strange things in God’s creation and how perfect a creation it is, as stated in the Qur’an (50:6). In his explanation of created things in the powerful and vast universe (51:47), he describes the orbit of the sun based on statements of scientists but also quotes a tradition in which the angel Gabriel
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretells the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus...
tells Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
that the sun moves forward 500 years or farsakhs (1 farsakh = ca. 6 km) from the time Muhammad says “No” until the time he says “Yes” one after another. In Qazwini’s view wondrous things are in the heavens and the earth, as the Qur’an informs (10:101), and in the seas and at their shores since it was their beginning and end where not clarified; it was part of the unknown world, inhabited with wondrous and strange creatures. Following the Judeo-Islamic tradition, Qazwini confirms that in the beginning God created one substance, then He melted it and from the smoke became the heaven and the sediments were formed to earth; heaven and earth were first together and God divided them (Qur’an 21:31) and He completed his creation in seven days. Altogether God made seven heavens and seven earths (Qur’an 65:12).
Throne
A throne is the official chair or seat upon which a monarch is seated on state or ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, an instance of metonymy, and is also used in many expressions such as "the power behind the...
, His footstool
Footstool
A footstool is a piece of furniture, the purpose of which is to support one's feet. There are two main types of footstools, which can be loosely categorized into two categories, those designed for comfort and those designed for function....
, the angels and the jinn
Jinn
Jinn are supernatural beings in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings.Jinn may also refer to:* Jinn , a Japanese band* Qui-Gon Jinn, a character in the Star Wars universe...
(demons, evil/good spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
s). Whether known or unknown, every created thing has a sign of divine wisdom within itself and represents the unity of God. Based on Ptolemy’s design of the universe, Qazwini talks about 9 spheres in the heaven: the earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
, Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
, the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
, Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
and the Sphere of spheres, which embraces all other spheres and causes day and night; they all have their own orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
. Whereas on the one hand to these and other star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s Qazwini refers to the spheres or plants in scientific terms, on the other hand he supports the effects of the Moon, the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
and South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
on man
Man
The term man is used for an adult human male . However, man is sometimes used to refer to humanity as a whole...
and animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
, such as having the power to cure illnesses, with sayings among people.
For some Muslims the footstool is the eighth and the Throne the ninth sphere. Furthermore the Throne of God
Throne of God
The Throne of God is the reigning centre of the chief deity of the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The throne is said by various holy books to reside above the Seventh Heaven called Araboth in Judaism.-Judaism:...
is the point of adoration for the inhabitants of the celestial spheres
Celestial spheres
The celestial spheres, or celestial orbs, were the fundamental entities of the cosmological models developed by Plato, Eudoxus, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus and others...
, as is the Kaaba
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
the qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...
for people on earth. As concerns the inhabitants of the celestial spheres, that is to say the angels and the jinn/devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
s, the angels are good perfect beings without negative feelings or passion, they are obedient and most importantly, they keep the order of the creation and govern everything on earth; the jinn and devils are bad and imperfect creatures who possess passion and wrath and are disobedient. Qazwini’s work contains moreover angelology that has roots partly in the Qur’an and hadith. There are two types of angels in the Qur’an, the one being the guards of hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
(96:18) and angels that nearest to God (4:170, 83:21). Qazwini also mentions the angels who carry the Throne of God (the idea goes back to the Jahiliyya): they are four in number in the form of a man, bull, eagle and lion. On the Day of Resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
the Throne will be carried by “eight” (Qur’an 69:17), and this traditionally refers to eight angels. Next to these is the angel ar-Ruh or the Spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
, who is actually first in order and the greatest. His breath quickens the creatures and he knows the order of the spheres, planets, elements, minerals etc. He is the one who decides the movement and stillness of things by the will of God. This angel is followed by Israfil; he transmits the orders of God and blows the horn. He is not mentioned in the Qur’an but in hadith and linked to the Day of Resurrection. Israfil carries the “tablet” (lawh) and the “pen” (qalam). Whether the abovementioned angels or Gabriel, Michael
Michael
Michael is a given name that comes from the , derived from the Hebrew question מי כמו אלוהים? meaning "Who is like God?" In English, it is sometimes shortened to Mike, Mikey, or, especially in Ireland, Mick...
or others all of them have a role in keeping the order of the creation. It is also believed that angels have about seventy wings each.
When discussing time, Qazwini links the days of the week to the sacred history of Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, e.g. the holy days Friday (Islamic day of congregational prayer/salat
Salat
Salah is the practice of formal prayer in Islam. Its importance for Muslims is indicated by its status as one of the Five Pillars of Sunni Islam, of the Ten Practices of the Religion of Twelver Islam and of the 7 pillars of Musta'lī Ismailis...
), Saturday (Jewish sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
) and Sunday (Christian day of rest) and how they became to be regarded as holy. The days are also linked to lawful and unlawful things and acts.
The earth, being part of the lower spheres, brings forth minerals, plants and living creatures such animals and man. In Qazwini’s classification there are seven types of living creatures – man, jinn, animals used for riding, animals that graze, beasts, birds and insects – and creatures that look strange or are hybrids. Man has the highest rank in the order of God’s creation (macrocosm): he is its quintessence (microcosm
Macrocosm and microcosm
Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale all the way down to the smallest scale...
) and can be both the embodiment of the angels and Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. Man with his rational soul has the capacity to think and talk and the choice to ascend to the highest or lowest stations in life. Man’s soul is immortal and he is created for immortality; he changes his place of living from the womb to the earth, and from there to paradise
Paradise
Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...
or hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
fire (Qur’an 20:57). In sum, man’s purpose on earth is to achieve perfection and eschew bad habits and acts. The good character outweighs in this life and the next; bad character is a sin that can not be forgiven and through it man descends to the lowest of the low in hell. A man with a good character is thus angel-like and bad character is the feature of the despised Satan. Qazwini’s concern here, so to speak, anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
.
Next to man are the jinn who were created from smokeless fire and can be in different forms. It is also believed that the jinn represent the rebellious among men or that angels were created from the light of the fire and the devils or jinn from its smoke. According to a legend the jinn were created before Adam and lived on the land, sea, plains and mountains and that God’s mercy for them was boundless. They had a government, prophets, religion and laws but they became disobedient and stubborn and broke the rules of the prophets which culminated in chaos on earth. Then God sent angels who inhabited the earth and persecuted and imprisoned many of the jinn and exiled them to the shores of the seas and the islands. Among them was the young Azazil whom the angels educated; he acquired their knowledge and became like them and even their leader. But he fell into disgrace because he disobeyed God to prostrate himself before Adam as the vicegerent of God on earth. Azazil goes back to Judaism and is mentioned in the Qur’an (2:32 etc.) as Iblis, the fallen angel
Fallen angel
Fallen angel is a concept developed in Jewish mythology from interpretation of the Book of Enoch. The actual term fallen angel is not found in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. Christians adopted the concept of fallen angels mainly based on their interpretations of the Book of...
. In Volksislam it is believed that Iblis is present in baths, bazaars, crossroads, intoxicating drinks, and is associated with flutes, poetry, tattoos, lies, women, and illnesses. Jinn and devils live in caves, mountains, hills, valleys, deserts, and swamps. However disobedient the jinn are, Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
is depicted as having been their lord whom they obeyed. Jinn and strange creatures live at seashores or on islands and they are agents of chaos or the evil. Another category of evil creatures are the Ya’juj and Ma’juj (Gog and Magog
Gog and Magog
Gog and Magog are names that appear primarily in various Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures, as well as numerous subsequent references in other works. Their context can be either genealogical or eschatological and apocalyptic, as in Ezekiel and Revelation...
) who are also mentioned in the Qur’an.
Some stones
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
are associated to jinn or are a remedy against ailments: the smaragd
Emerald
Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
(zabarjad or zumrud) cures illnesses and repels devils; a stone called talk is used for talismans
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
and magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
drinks; the amberstone was first discovered by Satan; Alexander
Alexander
Alexander is a common male first name, and less common surname. The most famous is Alexander the Great, the King of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.- Origin :...
used the faylaq stone to protect his men from devils, or the manâtas, according to Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
from whose “Book of Stones” Qazwini often quotes, nullifies the influence of magicians and devils and protects from jinn. One stone (bahtah) is described as being found at the edge of the utmost darkness where the sun has no effect, near the world ocean.
After God created the angels and the jinn that fly from one climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
to another, He created the birds because He knew that many people would deny the existence of flying creatures, especially the angels. Furthermore Qazwini adds as proves that God created birds with three wings, as He did the unicorn, the Indian ass with a horn or the bat without wings; why not angels? Among the birds Qazwini classifies the Anqa or Simurgh
Simurgh
Simurgh , also spelled simorgh, simurg, simoorg or simourv, also known as Angha , is the modern Persian name for a benevolent, mythical flying creature...
(Phoenix
Phoenix (mythology)
The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....
) as the most known bird and the kin of birds that lived alone on Mount Qaf. This idea goes as back as to the time of Zoroaster
Zoroaster
Zoroaster , also known as Zarathustra , was a prophet and the founder of Zoroastrianism who was either born in North Western or Eastern Iran. He is credited with the authorship of the Yasna Haptanghaiti as well as the Gathas, hymns which are at the liturgical core of Zoroastrianism...
. In more recent traditions the Anqa is a wise bird with experience gained throughout many ages and gives admonitions and moral advices. Long before Adam was created this bird lived without procreation; he was single and the first and most powerful bird. The “golden age
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
” of the Simurgh was the time of Solomon in which not only ministers were near his throne but also animals and birds with whom Solomon could speak; the Anqa also talked to him and was the most respected. The second bird that is also recurring in classical Persian literature
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
and mentioned by Qazwini is the Homa (paradise bird). When it lands on someone's head, that person becomes the king of his land. Being also a bird used in Iranian mystical symbolism is the salamander or “fire bird”, which was not seen since the time of Muhammad. Qazwini talks about the hoopoe
Hoopoe
The Hoopoe is a colourful bird that is found across Afro-Eurasia, notable for its distinctive 'crown' of feathers. It is the only extant species in the family Upupidae. One insular species, the Giant Hoopoe of Saint Helena, is extinct, and the Madagascar subspecies of the Hoopoe is sometimes...
(hudhud) that has a central role in Iranian mysticism too, only in passing; here it is described as being able to see water from afar but not the mesh that in front of its eyes. So the hoopoe symbolizes fate: when it comes, the eyes of man are blinded, i.e. man is not able to predict his fate. Another exceptional bird in Qazwini’s list is the eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
because lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s feared it and from his wings fire appears. Birds that were conceived as strange hybrids by Qazwini are the vulture
Vulture
Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
, having the claws of the rooster
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...
, or the ostrich
Ostrich
The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
with the feet of a camel and the body of a bird; this bird eats stones and flames and can live in fire for ten years. He is also able to digest legs of a horse and birds but not date pits. The ostrich fears his own shadow and always walks against the sun. There are also other rare and strange birds, for example a big bird in Khuzistan that attacks camels and elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s and has eggs similar to crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
; the “purple bird”, a white bird that sits on a rock in the Chinese Sea and the person that looks at that rock must laugh to death, except that this bird lands on the rock; or a bird in Tabaristan which is seen in spring and carries one hundred sparrows on its tail and eats one each day.
Later influence
Ahmed BicanAhmed Bican
Ahmed Bican Yazıcıoğlu was an Ottoman author most noted for his Dürr-i Meknûn.-Biography:Little is known of Yazıcıoğlu's life. His earliest biography was written by Mustafa Âlî. Yazıcıoğlu came from a literary family...
reworked Qazwini’s cosmology in the year 1453, providing his Turkish readership with a much abridged
Abridgement
Abridgement or abridgment is a term defined as "shortening" or "condensing" and is most commonly used in reference to the act of reducing a written work, typically a book, into a shorter form...
version (reduced to ca. one fifth of the original) in plain Turkish prose, with some new materials added. Bicans rendering was later included by Donado in his Della Letteratura de Turchi, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
(1688), in a shortlist of Turkish works he felt merited translation into Italian.