Hudhud (mythology)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Hudhud (, , , , ) was, according to the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
, the messenger and envoy of the prophet Sulayman. It refers to the sagacious birds in
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 ...
, also referred to in ''
The Conference of the Birds ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'', a Persian poem by
Attar of Nishapur Faridoddin Abu Hamed Mohammad Attar Nishapuri ( – c. 1221; ), better known by his pen-names Faridoddin () and ʿAttar of Nishapur (, Attar means apothecary), was a poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nishapur who had an immense ...
as the "king of birds". The bird appears twice in the 27th chapter of '' An-Naml''. Hudhud, as described by the Quran played an important role between Sulayman and
Queen of Sheba The Queen of Sheba, also known as Bilqis in Arabic and as Makeda in Geʽez, is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the original story, she brings a caravan of valuable gifts for Solomon, the fourth King of Israel and Judah. This a ...
while carrying messages between the two. The word "birds" appears thirteen times in the central religious text of the Muslims, while the word "bird" appears five times, including the Hoopoe twice, which in Islamic belief is often recognized as a creature for communication activities.


Observations

One day when Sulayman took the roll call of the birds he discovered that the hudhud was missing. Later when the bird arrived he described the situation before him for being away in the meeting.
I have discovered what you have not discovered, and I have arrived to you from the "Land of Sabah" where I found a wealthy woman with wonderful throne ruling over people ''An-Naml'',
Āyah An āyah (, ; ) is a "verse" in the Qur'an, one of the statements of varying length that make up the chapters (''surah'') of the Qur'an and are marked by a number. In a purely linguistic context the word means "evidence", "sign" or "miracle ...
(20–24)
As a pivotal role, the hoopoe also informed Sulayman that the queen, along with her associates, worshipped the sun. Sulayman subsequently wrote a letter and gave it to the bird for the queen to check the authenticity of what the bird said. The queen in return, sent gifts to him but he declined to accept them all. She later visited him, saw
manifestation Manifestation may refer to: * Manifestation of conscience, a practice in religious orders * Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith), the prophets of the Bahá'í Faith * Materialization (paranormal), also called manifestation, the creation or app ...
of Sulayman, and adopted set of beliefs identified with
religious conversion Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...
of
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 ...
.


Muslim belief and modern reception

Since the scientific evidence limit behavior and mental processes of the birds compared to
human intelligence Human intelligence is the Intellect, intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex Cognition, cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. Using their intelligence, humans are able to learning, learn, Concept ...
, Hoopoes have been a subject of discussion. Some people argue "Hudhud" was possibly a human employed for communicating messages, as a bird could not be credited with the
intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
capability of humans,
concept learning Concept learning, also known as category learning, concept attainment, and concept formation, is defined by Jerome Bruner, Bruner, Goodnow, & Austin (1956) as "the search for and testing of attributes that can be used to distinguish exemplars fro ...
and expression, which is marked by recognize patterns, solve problems, make decisions, retain information, and use
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
to
communicate Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not only transmit ...
that could come to know about the queen and her government, and worship mechanism. A human, according to science is not able to understand languages of the birds with absolute certainty, the prophet, as described by the Quran was bestowed with the abilities to know what animals, including hudhud feel, see, hear, understand and think, as the bird was trained by the Prophet to collect information like humans. A book titled ''When Elephants Weep'' by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy have described the
animal cognition Animal cognition encompasses the mental capacities of non-human animals, including insect cognition. The study of animal conditioning and learning used in this field was developed from comparative psychology. It has also been strongly influ ...
, comprising a detailed account of Dogs, Cats and Ants.


Mythological characteristics

Huhhud, according to an uncertain Iranian legend, was originally a married woman. Her father-in-law entered the room and found her in an uncovered state when she was combing her hair. It was embarrassing to her, so she flew with the comb on her head. Thus, the bird became known in
Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...
as "Şâne-ser" (scallop headed). In
Islamic literature Islamic literature is literature written by Muslim people, influenced by an Islamic culture, Islamic cultural perspective, or literature that portrays Islam. It can be written in any language and portray any country or region. It includes many lite ...
, the main features of huhhud were to collect the information and report it to Sulayman. It is also suggested that the bird was primarily involved in
dowsing Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, Petroleum, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active do ...
such as locating underground water. It has been referred in Turkish literature as one of the sacred birds known as "Mürg-i Süleyman". The bird, according to Turkish philosophy, is given long silk on his head for his loyalty and compassion. Some mystic traditionalists credits the Hoopoe a "meaningful succession of images" while seeing in dream.


References

{{reflist Quranic figures Cultural depictions of Solomon Cultural depictions of the queen of Sheba