#209: Islamic View on Mermaids
QUESTION
ABOUT MERMAIDS
” Asalam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Please what is the Islamic view of Mermaids? Jazakallahu khairan.”
ANSWER
Was alaykum salaam warahmatullaah wabarakaatuh
Alhamdulillaah!
It is mentioned on Wikipedia the following:
“A Mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature with the upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide including the Near East, Europe, Africa and Asia…”
In old English, Mermaid would translate as ‘the sea maid’.
There is nothing in the texts of the Qur’an or the Sunna that either confirms or denies the existence of such a creature.
If it is proven by man’s exhibitions and findings that such a creature exists, then Islam does not dispute it. That’s because Allaah said in the Qur’an:
والله يخلق ما يشا ويختار
“And Allaah creates what He wills and chooses (from among them)…”
It appears in Arab and Persian folklore that such creatures exist but there is nothing concrete with that.
Some individuals in the Muslim Community have asserted that such creatures could be the Jinn in the waters.
Even with all of that, nothing can be proven in this regard either by the texts of the Shari’ah or by scientific findings.
It is mentioned that in August 2009, some individuals claimed to have seen a mermaid leaping out of the Haifa Bay waters. When enquiries were made, nothing tangible resulted. The same thing happened in February 2012 in the Gokwe and Mutate reservoirs of Zimbabwe when some individuals refused to continue some project work around the reservoirs after they claimed to have seen a Mermaid.
In essence, Allah creates what He wills and no matter how man tries, he has no knowledge of all the creations on earth nor has he traversed all the square inches of the earth. This means that only Allaah knows if the existence of such a creature is true.
Baarakallaahu feekum.
Wassalaamu ‘alaykum!
📨@IslamNode📤
