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Muslim polemic against Manichaean doctrine usually includes a description of the beings or substances associated with the Two Realms of Light and Darkness. An entity frequently identified as the “Spirit of Darkness” bears the curious appellation Hummāmah, which may derive from the name of the ancient monster Humbaba, who is present in the Manichaean Book of Giants as the Giant Hobabiš. The name Hummāmah does not appear in either Manichaean literature or non-Muslim polemical sources. Al-Jāḥiẓ states that among the contents of the Manichaean writings are “stories of Hummāmah”; al-Nadīm and al-Māturidī explicitly identify Hummāmah as the “Spirit of Darkness”. Al-Shahrastānī states that there exists within the Realm of Darkness four “physical” entities and one “spiritual” entity, the latter of which is named Hummāmah. Some Muslim commentators were puzzled by the word, and one sage, Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd, explicitly rejected its derivation from the Arabic, suggesting instead that it was a techical designation of Manichaean mythology.
It is possible that Hummāmah represents a distorted rendering of the original Humbaba or Hobabiš. A relatively uninformed reader of Manichaean literature probably confused the giant Humbaba/Hobabiš with the leading figures among the Watchers, either Shemihazah or Azael. Evidence for such confusion appears in a report about Manichaean eschatology provided by al-Nadīm’s Fihrist, wherein the final imprisonment of Hummāmah displays several points of contact with the narrative about the judgement of Aza(z)el in 1 Enoch 10: 4-6. Both Aza(z)el and Hummāmah are associated with darkness, are sequestered in a “cavity”, are buried by a mass of “stone”, and are separated from all contact with “light”.
The tradent from which most Muslim heresiographers received their information about Manichaeism was Abū ˁIsā al-Warrāq, who was usually castigated as a proponent of “dualist heresy,” and he may have been a convert to Manichaeism. The name Hummāmah, and the confusion of his role probably stem from the work of al-Warrāq, who assumedly had access to a copy of Mani’s Book of Giants. Thus the Book of Giants was probably the transmissional link between the Mesopotamian and Islamic traditions.
Bibliography
| Reeves 1992, 125-126, 162-163 | Reeves, John C. Jewish Lore in Manichaean Cosmogony. Studies in the Book of Giants Traditions. Monographs of the Hebrew Union College 14. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press 1992. |
Amar Annus
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