Dumah (
Heb. ''dūmā'', "silence") is an angel mentioned in
Rabbinic and
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic literature as an angel who has authority over the wicked dead. Dumah is a popular figure in
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
folklore.
I. B. Singer's ''Short Friday'' (1964), a collection of stories, mentions Dumah as a "thousand-eyed
angel of death armed with a fiery rod or
flaming sword". ''Dumah'' is the
Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
word for "silence".
The angel
Duma(h) or Douma (Aramaic) is the angel of silence and the stillness of death.
Dumah is also the
tutelary angel of
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, prince of
Hell, and angel of vindication. The ''
Zohar'' speaks of him as having "tens of thousands of
angels of destruction" under him and as being "Chief of demons in
Gehinnom .e., Hellwith 12,000 myriads of attendants, all charged with the punishment of the souls of sinners." As the patron of Egypt, he disregarded the command of God to exercise judgment over the Egyptian deities. God banishes him into
Gehenna, where he becomes its ruler, and three angels of destruction are appointed to him. He and his fellow angels torment the sinners every day of the week except on
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...
.
According to
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
s mentioned in
Al-Suyuti
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptians, Egyptian Sunni Muslims, Muslim polymath of Persians, Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading Hadith studies, muh ...
's ''al-Haba'ik fi akhbar al-mala'ik'',
Azrael hands over the souls of the deceased
unbelievers to Dumah.
Other references
*Dumah is a city associated with the descendants of Ishmael that was known to the
Assyrian empire as ''Adummatu'' and is known in modern times as
Dumat Al-Jandal.
[Gallagher, 1999, p. 56.][Hoyland, 2001, p. 68.]
*Dumah is the name of one of the
seven compartments of
Gehenna.
*In the video game ''
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver'', Dumah is the name of a boss character. He is the vampire brother of Raziel, and along with Turel is the one who cast him into the Abyss on Kain's orders. In reference to the meaning of his name, when finally confronted, he has been killed by vampire hunters, and his corpse is sitting silently on a throne.
*Doma (a variation of Dumah) the Angel of Silence is a card in the card game Yu-Gi-Oh!.
*Dumah makes an appearance in
Neil Gaiman's ''
The Sandman'' (DC Comics), specifically in "The Season of Mists". He, along with Ramiel, become the keepers of Hell after Lucifer abandons his throne.
*Dumat, the Dragon of Silence in the ''
Dragon Age
''Dragon Age'' is a media franchise centered on a series of fantasy role-playing video games created and developed by BioWare, which have seen releases on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation ...
'' series of video games, is named after this angel. Within the series' backstory, he was the first of the Old Gods to become an archdemon, necessitating the creation of the Grey Wardens (the series' primary protagonists) to stop him, some 1,200 years before the series begins.
*In the video game ''
Fire Emblem Gaiden'' and its remake ''
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'', Duma is the final boss of the story. He believes that humanity is weak and that hardship makes them strong. He is the patron deity of Rigel and is worshiped as the War Father, but becomes denounced as a Fell God by some of the characters because of his descent into madness. In his corruption, he takes the form of a large one-eyed green dragon.
*An angel named Dumah appears in
The CW
The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
television series ''
Supernatural
Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
'', portrayed by
Erica Cerra. She debuts in the "War of the Worlds" episode of
season thirteen.
See also
*
List of angels in theology
*
Dumah (son of Ishmael)
*
Munkar and Nakir
*
Zabaniyya
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumah (Angel)
Angels of death
Angels in Islam
Angels in Judaism
Fallen angels
Individual angels