BAHAMUT
Religious Mythology of Islam
The creature that supports the earth
In the mythology associated with Islam, this is the name of a vast creature that supports the earth. BAHAMUT is described as an immense and dazzling bright fish with a head resembling that of a hippopotamus or elephant. According to one account, it was created to support a gigantic bull, which in turn supported a gigantic ruby, on which stood and ANGEL holding six hells above which was the earth and it’s seven heavens. According to another source, BAHAMUT supported a layer of sand on which stood a gigantic bull, on whose forehead rested a mountain of rock holding the waters in which the earth was located. Whatever the description and hierarchy, BAHAMUT’S proportions were such that no human could imagine the size of the creature. Uniquely in the four hundred and ninety-six tale in The Tales of the Thousand and One Nights are we told that ISA (Jesus) was the only one ever to be granted the privilege of seeing BAHAMUT in all its magnitude. We are further told that beneath BAHAMUT, bearing all the fires of Hell is the monstrously vast serpent of hell called FALAK.
Source: Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth