The phoenix in Arab-Muslim sources
By « Arab-Muslim sources »
we shall mean here texts written in Arabic whether by geographers or men of letters during a period stretching from the 8th to 16th century. These sources refer to the phoenix using diverse transliterations of the Greek as well as anqa and qaqnus. The word anqa, often qualified with mughrib, refers to a winged creature akin to the phoenix. Belief in this animal is ancient among the tribes established in the Arabian Peninsula, where it is connected with the Ashāb al-Rass[1]. The phoenix is also mentioned in a hadith[2] quoted by Ibn ‘Abbās[3]. According to it, Anqa, created by God, and initially endowed with every perfection, had become a scourge. One of the Fatra[4] (or Pause) prophets, namely either Khālid b.Sinān[5] or Hanzla b.Safwān[6] is credited with putting paid to the damage wrought by the bird either by putting it to flight or exterminating it.
In the Muslim context the anqa bird is associated to the Sīmurgh[7] that belongs with Iranian mythology. A Shi'a group, the Shumaytiyya[8] integrated it in their beliefs among the attributes of the Mahdi[9]. Several authors have written descriptions of the animal indicating that the species has disappeared. Zakariyā al-Qazwini[10] indicates that the anqa is an extraordinary bird, the largest, the most imposing. He goes on to tell of how the bird may have become a scourge, raping people in their home. He reckons it lived for 1700 years, mating, he avers, at 500 years of age. When its egg breaks, Qazwini continues, the chick stays inside and only comes out after 125 years. The female phoenix goes into the fire to be consumed and the female chick weds the surviving male. When it is a male anqa that immolates itself in the flames its progeny unites in marriage to the surviving female. In another edition of the same book, Zakariya' al-Qazwini writes of the phoenix as hailing from India. Upon mating it gathers wood, rubs its beak against that of the female in order to light the fire then they both immolate themselves; if rain falls on their ashes, worms are born which acquire wings and change into birds again.
The Epistles from the Ikhwan al-Safa[11] refer to this bird, wherein he figures as ruler of the birds of prey but no reference to death and re-birth are to be found in this context. In his encyclopaedic work Lisan al-‘Arab, a thorough dictionary of the Arabic language Ibn Manzur[12] defines the word « al fanik »
as « stallion camel »
. Calling the phoenix qaqnus, Al-Dimyari[13] virtually restates what Qazwini wrote. He goes on, in his Hayāt al-hayawān, to define fahl al phinik is a « noble stallion-camel that is neither ridden nor molested, on account of its favour to them (the owners) »
. Then again, according to El-Firuz Abadi[14], the phoenix is an enormous bird whose beak has forty holes through which he creates fine tunes. It flies away and lands atop a mountain where it gathers wood and laments for forty days then in the presence of many it goes into a fire to consume itself, turn to ashes and become again the bird of yore.
In order to write about this extraordinary bird, Arab-Muslim sources partly rely on classical sources, using terms evolved from the Greek. But the authors also call on elements from earlier tales from other traditions, bringing in some modifications (in one instance India stands in for Arabia). The most noticeable however is that the notion of « rebirth »
after « death »
is absent or given short shrift, in any case, it is never assimilated to a « resurrection »
. In this way Muslim dogma was not contradicted and the idea that ancient gods are « idols »
and their adepts « deluded souls »
is comforted.
The phoenix reborn from its ashes is a symbol of regeneration appearing in broad range of sources and it has taken on a universal meaning. The Phoenician-sourced myth was set in writing by Herodotus in the middle of the 5th century BC after his visit of Egypt. Other writers who drew on the theme – Romans, Christians and Muslims – have reproduced the tale's structure accommodating it according to diverse knowledge or beliefs blended with other influences.
