Rare Monsters

  The Aksar is an apocalyptic beast from Arabian mythology, where it’s also known as Dabbat al-Ard, or Beast of the Earth. The Aksar was a chimeric beast with parts from many animals. It had the head of a bull, eyes of a pig, ears of an elephant, antlers of a stag, neck of an ostrich, shoulders of a lion, hips of a leopard, tail of a ram and legs of a camel. Most scholars think this assemblage of animals is meant to just be freaky for the sake of freaky, to get across the idea of ‘monstrousness’, although I think it’s the result of someone explaining a giraffe to another person who’s never seen one before, and many more additions made in repetition. The aksar is said to be a stunning 30 meters tall too. The Aksar would take part in the destruction of the world at the end of time. It would wield Moses’s staff and Solomon’s ring, using them to separate believers from non-believers. Before this, while Moses was on Mount Sinai God brought the Aksar out from its sanctuary to ...

  The orabou was a creature reported by André Thevet during his journeys, sometime in the 1600 th century. The creature was seen in the waters near Mount Marzouan. No mountain is named Mount Marzouan today, so it’s unknown which mountain this was supposed to be, but it was believed to be near the Red Sea. The orabou was a fish cat hybrid with an unusually humped back. The creature was covered in armour like scales that Thevet compared to brigantine armour. The orabou was nine to ten feet long. It made sounds similar to a cat. According to Thevet, the locals would occasionally fish and eat the orabou, even though the meat was said to cause kidney stones. The locals would treat the kidney stones with a folk remedies made from herbs and the orabou’s own fat. Thevet tried some of the orabou’s meat while he was there. He said it was foul tasting and compared it to preserved camel meat. The orabou was said to be extremely ferocious towards other sea life. Much thought has ...

  Falak is a gigantic snake from Arabian legend. It's larger than the whole world combined. Falak resides in the abyss, the seventh and final level of hell. The other levels of hell are held in its mouth. In Arabian mythology the world is carried on the back of an angel, who stands on the celestial bull Kuyuta, who in turn stands on the whale (not dragon) Bahamut. Bahamut in turn swims in the celestial ocean, which are the surface waters leading to the abyss. Falak desperately wants to reach up out of the abyss and devour all these other beings and the whole world. It's only the fear of God's punishment that stops Falak from doing so. God also gave Falak the other six levels of hell to hold to keep it busy and not focused on destroying the world.  

  The al-miraj is one of those monsters who's on the edge of being well known. More and more people have heard of it as of recently, but few people know anything about it other than being the 'unicorn bunny'. The al miraj comes from the Arabic translations of the tale of Alexander the Great. In this account Alexander travels to Jazirat Al-Tinnin, or Sea Serpent Island. There the locals are being tormented by a serpent like dragon who is devouring their livestock. Alexander defeated the dragon by filling a cow hide with poisonous substances. The dragon subsequently swallowed the decoy and was killed. For his efforts the islanders gave Alexander the al miraj as a gift. The al-miraj is always depicted as a horned rabbit or hare that's golden yellow in color. It tends to vary more in image then it does in written description. Occasionally the al miraj is drawn with leopard spots, or a gazelle stripe, while other times it's left plain. The texts always describe the al...