Fabula 53(2012) Heft 1/2 DOI 10.1515/fabula-2012-0005 © Walter de Gruyter Berlin · Boston A h m e d K . a l - R a w i , R o t t e r d a m The Religious Connotation of the Islamic Dragon The Roots Fearful mythical creatures have preoccupied the minds of human beings from the beginning of time, and they acquired symbolic meanings that partially differed from one place to another. The Sumerians and Babylonians had their own dragon that stood for a large frightening serpent, sometimes presented as floating on water. The history of Mesopotamia goes back to beyond 5000 BCE when the first towns and cities were built. Mythical beliefs in the creation of the world and mankind began to spread among the people as part of their basic religious convictions. Among such ideas was the belief in the reality of fearful monsters like the dragon. In ancient Sumer, the dragon was called Kur and was believed to live deep under the sea. It was said to look like a long serpent that harmed and killed people, so it needed to be slain. The old tales depicting fierce wars between the godly forces of Enki, Ninurta, or Inana on the one hand and the evil dragon on the other formed the basis of the Mesopotamian myth of creation (Kramer 1961, 77–83; Jordan 2004, 137f.). In association with Gilgamesh, the legendary Sumerian figure, the dragon was mentioned as an evil and ferocious ‘serpent’ (George 2003, 152). As for the Babylonian and later Assyrian myth of creation, the dragon was called Ti â mat; it looked like a serpent and was killed by the god Marduk by throwing his arrow into its mouth (Heidel 1963, 83–87; McCall 2001, 52–59). It represented the destructive forces of evil that longed for the seduction of human beings and opposed the heavenly powers of the gods. In other words, the dragon was regarded as the Biblical Satan (Smith 1876, 90f.) and was believed to be an evil and strong creature that wreaked havoc and terrorized its surroundings. When the Jews of Jerusalem were taken as captives to Babylon by Nebuchad- nezzar II in the sixth century BCE, they mixed with the people of Mesopotamia and adopted some of their myths such as that of the dragon, sometimes called Rahab (Rahav), Tannin, Leviathan, or Behemoth. The people of Mesopotamia integrated the dragon into their myth of creation, but in the Old Testament the Jews intro- duced another religious dimension to the dragon without altering its physical shape. They borrowed the belief due to their direct contact with the people of Mesopo- tamia and started using the word Tannin which is now the Arabic word for dragon; however, they gave it a distinct Hebrew meaning. The story of the slaying of the dragon Tiâ mat by Marduk was echoed in the killing of the seven-headed dragon, Leviathan, ‘the great sea monster’, that was found in the Torah (Hooke 2004, 82; Jewish Encyclopedia 4, 648). Furthermore, in the Book of Job (40,15–24 and ch. Brought to you by | Erasmus University Rotterdam Authenticated | 130.115.80.33 Download Date | 1/22/14 10:21 PM