a The encircling dragon
of rain, the number of leaves of trees, the number
of stones and earth, the number of days of this
The iconography of the circular dragon biting its
world, and the number of angels, – all these a
own tail, traditionally known by its Greek name
number of times The serpent then twisted itself
as ouroboros, was also known in the Islamic tra-
round the Throne which was taken up by only
dition This type of imagery is vividly described
half the serpent while it remained twisted around
in surviving textual sources The early medieval
it The Throne thereupon became humble 2
writer Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Kisāʾī who
In the Jewish tradition a great silver serpent like-
probably wrote not long before 1200 refers to the
wise encircles the machinery of the throne of king
authority of Kaʿb al-Aḥbār, a yemenite convert to
Solomon and by operating the wheelwork, acti-
Islam (probably in 17/638), when portraying the
vates the mechanism 3 It is of note that Solomon’s
creation of the Canopy and the Throne of God:
mechanical throne, which can be likened to a min-
Then God created a great serpent to surround
iature universe, can only be put into motion by
the Canopy Its head is of white pearl and its
the serpent 4
body is of gold Its eyes are two sapphires, and
In his Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ (“Tales on the Prophets”),
no one can comprehend the magnitude of the
Abū Isḥāq Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm
serpent except God It has forty thousand wings
al-Thaʿlabī al-Nīsābūrī al-Shāfʿī (d 427/1035),
made of different kinds of jewels, and on each
describes the Kaʿba in Mecca, the central sanc-
feather there stands an angel holding a jeweled
tuary of the Islamic world, as a divine throne that
lance, praising God and blessing His name When
is circumscribed by a dragon:
this serpent extols God, its exaltation overwhelms
that of all angels 1
Then Allāh surrounded it by a serpent … this
serpent wound itself around the throne and the
A related description of the girdling dragon is
latter reaches to half the height of the serpent
given by Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Qurṭubī, the thir-
which is winding itself around it 5
teenth-century expert in ḥadīth, or sacred tradi-
In the biography of the Prophet Muḥammad,
tion, in a commentary on sūra 40 of the Qurʾān:
al-Ḥalabī similarly relates how the serpent that
When God created the Throne, it said, ‘God has
dwells in the pit of the Kaʿba to guard the trea-
not created anything greater than myself,’ and
sures there, would:
exulted with joy out of pride God therefore caused
it to be surrounded by a serpent having 70,000
leave its dwelling place and appear glittering,
wings, each wing having 70,000 feathers in it, each
viz it exposed itself in the sun upon the wall of
feather having in it 70,000 faces each face having
the Kaʿba while its colour assumed a glittering
in it 70,000 mouths, and each mouth having in it
appearance; and often it wound itself on the wal so
70,000 tongues, with its mouths ejaculating every
that its tail approached its head [emphasis added] 6
day the praises of God …, the number of drops
1 Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ, tr Thackston, 1978, p 7
al-anbiyāʾ, tr and ed Brinner, 2002, p 151 Wensinck
2 Al-Damīrī, Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrā, tr Jayakar,
(1916, repr 1978, p 62 and n 3) notes that there are also
1906, vol 1, p 638; see also ʿArāʾis al-majālis fī qiṣaṣ
Greek images in which the serpent is wound around and
al-anbiyāʾ, tr and ed Brinner, 2002, p 25
ascends above the omphalos, which often has a sepulchral
3 Bet ha-Midrasch, 1853–73, vol 5, p 35 Cf Ginzberg,
character (Elderkin, 1924, pp 109–16); for a discussion of
1909–38, repr 1946 and 1955, vol 4, pp 157–9; Wensinck,
the omphalos in literature, see Roscher, 1913, pl IX, no 6;
1916, repr 1978, p 63
and idem, 1914, pl I, no 1, pl II, nos 3, 4, 14 See also
4 Bet ha-Midrasch, 1853–73, vol 2, pp 83–5
p 59 and n 102
5
6
Al-Thaʿlabī, Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ. Musammā bi ’l-ʿarāʾis
Al-Sīra al-Ḥalabiyya, Cairo, 1292, vol 1, p 189, 3–5, as
al-majālis, Cairo, 1290, p 13, as cited in Wensinck, 1916,
cited in Wensinck, 1916, repr 1978, p 64 and n 1
repr 1978, p 62 and n 3; see also ʿArāʾis al-majālis fī qiṣaṣ
146