Islam Museum Islam Museum islam.museum
Search ⌕ ARENUR
Accessibility
Text size 100%

Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.

The salamander

السمندل

The samandal of the ancients: a creature that falls into fire unburned and quenches what it lands in; al-Damiri lists it among the marvels of beasts while most of the transmitters weaken the tale — a line from the mythology of nature, not the hadith canon.

Depth

At a glance

Region
Global / Diaspora

Animals and mercy

The long-form text for this entry has not been written yet. The facts and connections below come from the museum's data.

Connections

Explore the connections

Related to
Hayat al-Hayawan al-Kubra· Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa-Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat (The Wonders of Creation)

People and things also explored

The bat· The bear· The crocodile· The heron· The peacock· The anqa· The turtle· The vulture

Sources

  • Hayat al-Hayawan al-Kubra of Kamal al-Din al-Damiri
  • Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa-Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat of al-Qazwini
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The salamander”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/salamander/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-09.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · Help complete it · JSON

Wing

Living

Practices, the Islamic year, festivals, food, dress and music by region. Related

The bat

The bat in al-Damiri: the night-flyer with no feathers, that bears live young and does not lay eggs — some call it the watwat — placed by the animal writers among what falls between bird and beast.