Арабский мифический морской зверь Бахамут

Mythical sea monster
the legendary fish of Arabia

[[File:Al Qazwini Cosmology. jpg|thumb|280px|The fish (Bahamut) carries on its back the giant bull (Kuyuta), and on the green hyacinth slab stands an earth bearing angel. Bahamoot is Edward Lane's transcribed spelling. Balhūt is the alternate spelling given in Yaqut al Hamawi (d. 1229)'s geographic work and copies of Ibn al Wardi (d. 1348)'s work. A reshaping of its nature must have occurred in Arab storytelling, some time in the pre islamic period. One proposed scenario is that a pair of beasts from the Bible were confused with each other;

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".

There are a number of Islamic cosmographical treatises, of more or less similar content. There can occur certain discrepancies in Western translations, even when there are no textual differences in the Arabic. 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. and can be rendered as "ruby", or variously otherwise.

Al Damiri (d. 1405) on authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih was one of Lane's sources, possibly the source of his main summary. His description of "Bahmût" (French translation) matches Lane's summary down to certain key details. However, there seems to be discrepancies in using "a heap of sand" (instead of "mustard") in the size analogy. Al Qazwini (d. 1283)'s cosmography The Wonders of Creation on the contrary agrees with Lane on these points. 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. It should be cautioned that Qazwini's cosmography is known to exist in a variety of different manuscripts. Both cosmographies provide the story as words spoken by Wahb ibn Munabbih, so the descriptions should be similar at the core. In fact, Al Damiri's version is considered to be mere redactions of Qazwini printed onto its margins.

Ibn al Wardi (d. 1348) (Kharīdat al ʿAjā'ib, "The Pearl of Wonders") is another source used by Lane, to give variant readings. Its chapter that includes the cosmography has been deemed a copy of Yaqut al Hamawi (d. 1229)'s Mu'jam al Buldan, with similar wording, with some rearrangements, and very slight amounts of discrepant information. "Balhūt" is the name of the great fish given in both Ibn al Wardi and Yaqut. Yakut and al Wardi both say there is a layer of sandhill between the bull and the fish. They also describe what lies under the fish somewhat differently. 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. The account which only connects concerns the bull states that its breathing causes the waxing and ebbing of the tides. Refn|Yaqut, ibn Wardi, and al Tha'labi. or, it marks the advent of Judgment Day (Ibn al Wardi, Yaqut).

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. 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".

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. Or alternatively, God had sent a sword like fish that bedazzled and captivated the giant fish. This account is also found in al Tha'labi's Qiṣaṣ al anbīyāʾ, but in that version God forces the whale (Lutīyā) into submission by sending a creature that invaded through its nose and reached its brain; it also claims to be an anecdote on authority of Kaʿb al Aḥbār (d. 650s A. D.), a convert considered the earliest informant of Jewish Muslim tradition to Arab writers. although the correct term would be (地震魚); cf. Namazu e or 'catfish pictures'. Japanese folklorist has explained that the traditional belief in the earthquake causing bull is heavily concentrated in Arab regions (Saharan Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, Malay), whereas the motif of "World Fish's movement causes earthquake" is found mostly in parts of Indochina, China, and throughout Japan.