Yakut also gives the account that Iblis almost incited the whale Balhūt into causing a quake, but God distracted it by sending gnats to its eyes. In al-Tha'labi's text is an elucidation on the whale having several names, as follows: "God created a large fish (nūn) which is a huge whale whose name (ism) is Lutīyā, by-name (kunyah) Balhūt, and nickname (laqab) Bahamūt". There are two Qiṣaṣ al-anbīyāʾ ("Lives of the Prophets"), one by al-Tha'labi, known otherwise for his Tafsir al-Thalabi, the other by Muḥammad al-Kisāʾī which are considered the oldest authorities containing similar cosmographical descriptions concerning the big fish and bull. But the beasts will eventually become engorged, when they will become agitated, or, it marks the advent of Judgment Day (Ibn al-Wardi, Yaqut). And since the fish and the bull drink the water running off the earth into the sea, they counteract the tap-off causing sea-level to rise. The account which only connects concerns the bull states that its breathing causes the waxing and ebbing of the tides. These texts connect the cosmic fish and bull with phenomena of nature, namely the waxing and ebbing of tides, maintenance of the sea-level, and earthquakes. They also describe what lies under the fish somewhat differently. Yakut and al-Wardi both say there is a layer of sandhill between the bull and the fish.
"Balhūt" is the name of the great fish given in both Ibn al-Wardi and Yaqut. 1229)'s Mu'jam al-Buldan, with similar wording, with some rearrangements, and very slight amounts of discrepant information.
Its chapter that includes the cosmography has been deemed a copy of Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1348) ( Kharīdat al-ʿAjā'ib, "The Pearl of Wonders") is another source used by Lane, to give variant readings. In fact, Al-Damiri's version is considered to be mere redactions of Qazwini printed onto its margins. īoth cosmographies provide the story as words spoken by Wahb ibn Munabbih, so the descriptions should be similar at the core. It should be cautioned that Qazwini's cosmography is known to exist in a variety of different manuscripts. However, it disagrees somewhat with Lane's description regarding what lies below the fish: water, air, then a region of darkness, and with respect to the bull's appendages. 1283)'s cosmography The Wonders of Creation on the contrary agrees with Lane on these points. However, there seems to be discrepancies in using "a heap of sand" (instead of "mustard") in the size analogy. His description of "Bahmût" (French translation) matches Lane's summary down to certain key details. 1405) on authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih was one of Lane's sources, possibly the source of his main summary. Also, the gem comprising the slab beneath the angel's feet, in Arabic yāqūt ( ياقوت) is of ambiguous meaning, and can be rendered as "ruby", or variously otherwise. The creature, named Bahamut or Balhut in these sources, can be described as a fish or whale according to translation, since the original Arabic word hūt (حوت) can mean either. There can occur certain discrepancies in Western translations, even when there are no textual differences in the Arabic. There are a number of Islamic cosmographical treatises, of more or less similar content. See also: Kujata (mythology) § Arabic sources Lane's primary Islamic source for his summary is unclear, as Lane merely refers to it circumlocutiously as "the work of one of the writers above quoted". Below the Bahamut (Leviathan) is the colossus serpentine Falak. It is so immense " the seas of the world, placed in one of the fish's nostrils, would be like a mustard seed laid in the desert." Above the fish stands a bull called Kuyootà, on the bull, a " ruby" rock, on the rock an angel to shoulder the earth. One proposed scenario is that a pair of beasts from the Bible were confused with each other the behemoth mis-assigned to the fish, and the aquatic leviathan to the bull.īahamut, according to Lane's abstract of a particular Islamic work on cosmography, is a giant fish acting as one of the layers that supports the earth. A reshaping of its nature must have occurred in Arab storytelling, some time in the pre-islamic period. However, the original biblical Behemoth never appeared as a fish. It has thus been translated as Behemot (German for "Behemoth") by Ethé. The name is thought to derive from the biblical Behemoth. 1229)'s geographic work and copies of Ibn al-Wardi (d. Balhūt is the alternate spelling given in Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. Bahamoot is Edward Lane's transcribed spelling. 10 Cited works and general bibliographyīahamūt is the spelling given in al-Qazwini (d.