View source for Al-Mi'raj

{{Short description|Mythical beast in medieval Arabic literature}}
{{For|the Night Journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad|Isra and Mi'raj}}
[[Image:Qazwini-Bordeaux-ms1130-fol54r - rabbit.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A "yellow-colored beast which resembled a rabbit with a black horn".<ref name="wiedemann"/>{{right|{{small|— Bibliothèque municipale de Bordeaux, Ms 1130, fol. 54r. Dated 1565AD.}}<ref name="bordeaux" />}}]]

'''Al-Mi'raj''' or '''Almiraj''' ({{langx|ar|ٱلْمِعْرَاج}}; {{Transliteration|ar|al-miʿrāj}}) is a mythical creature resembling a one-horned [[hare]] or rabbit, mentioned in medieval Arabic literature.

The name appears in a version of the legend of [[Alexander the Great in legend|Iskandar]] who, after defeating the dragon of Dragon Island in the Indian Ocean, obtained the animal as a gift from the inhabitants. The creature is also said to cause all animals that set sight on it to flee.

The creature also appears nameless, is given other variant names, or situated elsewhere, depending on the text or manuscript source.

== Qazwini's account ==
[[File:Al-miraj and Serpent.png|thumb|464x464px|Dragon (''top''), eating a flesh-mass which is supposedly sulfur-filled ox-hide;<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvp|Moor|2012|p=269}} and note 9</ref><br />the horned hare (''middle''). {{right|{{small|— Earliest manuscript of Qazwini's ''Wonders of Creation''. [[Bavarian State Library|Bayerische Staatsbibliothek]] (BSB) Cod. arab. 464, fol. 63;<!--page 131 is the digiimage/pdf numbering, not the manuscript--> dated to c. 1279/1280 or 1377}}<ref name=bayerische_staatsbibiothek/><ref name=bayerische_staatsbibiothek-LOCdata />{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The manuscript's completion date may be 1280 (or 1279<ref name=bayerische_staatsbibiothek/>) before the author's death,<ref name=bayerische_staatsbibiothek-LOCdata /> but the year 1377 is given as an alternate possibility.<ref name=bayerische_staatsbibiothek/>}}}}]]

''Al-miʿrāj''{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Transliterated as '''''elmiʿrâg′''''' by Ethé, who remarks in his notes that [[Samuel Bochart]] had noticed the ''miʿrâg'' in ''Hierozoïcon'' (1663);<ref name="qazwini-ethe-note"/> Bochart transliterates as "mirag", and explains that it is a yellow creature resembling a hare (Latin:''lepus''), with a black horn.<ref name="bochart"/> "'''Mu'rāš'''" (Muʿrāsh)[?]{{Verify source|date=December 2021}} is the name in the version discussed by Daunicht in his study of [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi|Khwārizmī]]'s geography.<ref name="daunicht"/>}} is a beast purported to live on an island called {{Transliteration|ar|Jazīrat al-Tinnīn}}<!--Jazirah al-Tennyn--> ('Sea-Serpent Island' or 'Dragon Island') in the Indian Ocean, according to [[Zakariya al-Qazwini|Qazwini]]'s ''[[ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt|Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing]]'' (c. 1260, aka ''The Wonders of Creation'').<ref name="ettinghausen"/><ref name="wiedemann"/><ref name="qazwini-ethe-tr"/>

This beast is said to resemble a yellow hare (or rabbit<ref name="wiedemann"/>) with a single black horn<!--"mit einem einzigen schwarzen Horn"-->.<ref name="qazwini-ethe-tr"/> All the wild beasts fled at the sight of it<ref name="qazwini-ethe-tr"/><ref name="ettinghausen"/> (which is a trait also shared by the [[karkadann]], another unicorn of Arabic literature{{sfnp|Ettinghausen|1950|p=66}}). The islanders made a gift of it to Iskandar (Alexander the Great) after he helped kill a dragon (or large serpent<ref name="ettinghausen"/>) which had been eating the livestock.<ref name="wiedemann"/><ref name="qazwini-ethe-tr"/>

=== Manuscripts ===

The hare has been drawn rather faithfully according to text e.g. in the Sarre manuscript{{sfnp|Ettinghausen|1950|pp=66–67}} (the relevant folio is now in the possession of [[Freer Gallery of Art]]), captioned "Dragon of Dragon Island and the Miraculous Hare").<ref name=badiee/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Ettinghausen discusses the miniature drawing on the Sarre manuscript,<ref name="ettinghausen"/> and prints a black and white photographic reproduction of the horned hare  on Plate 44, bottom. The same hare (and dragon) is reproduced in color by Bilha Moor(2012), {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGvWp5XDuikC&pg=PA23 |2=Fig. 1/Plate 23}}, attributed to the Washington D. C., [[Freer Gallery of Art]] FGA 54, fol. 61r,<ref name=moor/> since the Sarre manuscript has been sold off in pieces, and its ownership is now shared by Freer Gallery of Art (Shelfmark 54.33–54.114, and 57.13) and New York Public Library's  Spencer Collection (Ms. 45).<ref name=badiee/> [[Julie Oeming Badiee|Badiee]] discusses the iconography of the dragon (with the twisted heart-shaped not), but not the hare on the same page.<ref>{{harvp|Badiee|1984|p=99}} and Fig. 12 (p. 108)</ref>}}

The creature however is depicted rather like a "hybrid animal that looks more like a fierce hound" in the Berlin copy (Staatliche Museen, Islamische Abteilung, now [[Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin|Museum of Islamic Art]], [[Berlin]]).{{sfnp|Ettinghausen|1950|pp=66–67}}

The Sarre manuscript and other copies of Qazwini's cosmography fail to mention any name for the horned hare.<ref name="moor"/><ref name="wiedemann"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Bilha Moor gives a paraphrased synopsis, with no name for the hare, based on the aforementioned Sarre manuscript (Freer Gallery manuscript) and an additional manuscript: St. Petersburg, [[Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences|The Institute of Oriental Manuscripts]] (Ms. D370, fol. 64r, dated to 1580AD/988AH).}} Michel Wiedemann, who provides a French translation that mentions no name for the hare, is of the opinion that the name didn't occur in the original text but was added by later copyists.<ref name="wiedemann"/>

The oldest copy of Qazwini is the Munich manuscript, [[Bavarian State Library|Bayerische Staatsbibliothek]] (BSB) Cod. Arab. 464,<ref name=badiee/> which carries a miniature painting of the dragon and the horned hare on folio 63 (pictured above).<ref name="bayerische_staatsbibiothek-LOCdata"/><ref name="bayerische_staatsbibiothek"/> The dragon is depicted "devouring sulfur-filled bulls, which look like a red piece of meat".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

== Idrisi's account ==
The horned hare is called '''''ʿarāj'''''{{efn|Transliterated '''''a'radj''''' in [[Pierre Amédée Jaubert|Jaubert]]'s 19th century French translation.}} ({{langx|ar|عرَاج}}), and the dragon-inhabited isle is called Mustashiayn ({{langx|fr|Mostachiin|italic=no}}; {{langx|ar|مستشيين }}) situated in Western Africa in a recension of [[Muhammad al-Idrisi|Idrisi]]'s ''Nuzhat al-Mushtaq'' ("The Book of Pleasant Journeys into Faraway Lands", c. 1154),<ref name=idrisi-jaubert/>{{Verify source|date=December 2021|type=Arabic}}. Iskandar, here also called ''[[Dhu'l-Qarnayn]]''<!--Dhou'l Carnaīn--> "The Two-Horned", vanquishes the dragon by the same means as in Qazwini's tale, namely, stuffing the two sacrificial oxen with active substances,{{efn|Here, the mixture of substances is translated by Jaubert as "oil, sulfur, lime, and arsenic".}} and the outcome was that the bait "ignites fire inside the [monster's] [[entrails]], and it expires".<!--"s'enflamma dans ses entrailles et il expira"--><ref name=idrisi-jaubert/>

In a modern edition of Idrisi, the name of horned hare is given as '''{{Transliteration|ar|baqrāj}}'''{{efn|Transliterated '''''bagrāğ''''' in Hadj Sadok's French translation.}} ({{langx|ar|{{linktext|بقراج}}}}),{{Verify source|date=December 2021|type=Arabic}} but the account differs as to circumstances: it states that Iskandar had harvested [[agarwood|aloeswood]] on Lāqā, which failed to give off fragrance at first, but turned into fine-scented dense black wood upon departure from the island, and he traded the best specimen with other goods, including the ''baqrāj'' which looked like a hare but had a coat of shiny gold and a single black horn; it also caused wild animals (whether predator, mammal, or birds) to flee.<ref name=idrisi-hadi_sadok/>

== Ibn al-Wardi's treatise ==

The name of the wondrous beast was copied as '''''al-Maharāǧ''''' (''al-Maharāj'', {{langx|ar|المهرَاج}}, ''sic.'') in [[Ibn al-Wardi|Ibn al-Wardī]]'s ''Margarita mirabilum'' or ''Pearl of Wonders'', circa 1450.{{Verify source|date=December 2021|type=Arabic}}<ref>{{harvp|Daunicht|1968|p=501, note 1}}</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Transliterated '''''El-Mua'râdj''''' in the fragmentary Latin translation.<ref name=ibn-al-wardi-latin/>}}

== Miscellaneous ==
[[File:Al-Miraj and Serpent from Walters Manuscript.png|thumb|300px|"Dragon of Tannin Island and Horned Rabbit"
{{right|{{small|— Turkish ''Translation of the Wonders of Creation''.{{efn|''Tercüme-yi ʿAcāʾib ül-maḫlūḳāt'' {{lang|ar|ترجمه عجائب المخلوقات}}.}} Baltimore, MD., [[Walters Art Museum]] W.659, fol. 155B. Dated 1717AD.}}<ref name="walters" />{{sfnp|Ettinghausen|1950|p=10}}}}]]

There is a Turkish translation of Qazwini on illuminated manuscript (18th century, Walters Art Museum),{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The current database dates it precisely to "12 Ramaḍān 1121 AH / 1717 CE",<ref name="walters" /> though Ettinghausen gives the date 1709/AH 1121, for the Walters Gallery copy.}}<ref name="walters" />{{sfnp|Ettinghausen|1950|p=10}} and the episode of the dragon's isle and the horned hare is illustrated on one of its leaves (Fig. right).

Also, the Ottoman historian {{interlanguage link|Ibn Zunbul|de}}'s ''Qanun al-Dunya'' ("Law of the World"), preserved in manuscript ([[Topkapi Sarayi]] Museum Library ms. R 1638, fol. 15v), depicts the dragon and the golden one-horned hare.<ref>{{harvp|Moor|2012}}. {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGvWp5XDuikC&pg=PA278 |2=p. 278 and Fig. 6}}</ref>

== Dragon-slaying variations ==

Legend holds that Iskandar carried out his serpent/dragon-slaying using decoy oxen consisting of oxen-hide loaded with lethal material.

In Qazwini's cosmology, the reactive ingredients consisted of coniferous resin/[[turpentine]]{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|"''[[:de:Fichtenharz|Fichtenharz]]''", as given by Ethé,is literally "spruce resin", but this is a general term for coniferous resins.}} (or [[pitch (resin)|pitch]]<ref name="daunicht"/> or [[tar]]{{efn|Wiedemann gives French ''[[:fr:goudron|goudron]]'' or tar.}}<ref name="wiedemann"/>), sulfur, [[quicklime]],{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Ethé's German ''Kalk'' is somewhat vague, but Wiedemann's French ''[[:fr:chaux vive|chaux vive]]'' is "quicklime".}} arsenic, and iron hooks,<ref name="qazwini-ethe-tr"/><ref name="daunicht"/> or just sulfur and iron hooks,<ref name="moor"/> depending on the recension.

=== Persian version ===
As for treatments in languages other than Arabic, it is pointed out that the dragon-slaying Iskandar of Qazwini can be identified with one of the ''shahs'' of the Persian epic ''[[Shahnameh|Shahnāma]]'', or "The Book of Kings".{{sfnp|Moor|2012|p=269}}

In the ''Shahnāma'' version, Iskandar/Sekandar/Sikandar employs five oxen filled with poison and [[crude oil|oil]] ("bane and [[Petroleum naphtha|naphtha]]"){{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Although modern Arabic or Persian ''nefth'' (''nifth'', ''nafth''; {{lang|ar|{{linktext|نفت}}}}) denotes "crude oil", "naphtha" of antiquity was a "highly flammable light fraction of [[petroleum]]".<ref name=mayor/>}} which are inflated, in order to defeat his dragon.<ref name="ogden"/><ref name="ferdowsi-warner-tr"/>

=== Old Syriac version ===
The immediate source of this legend circulating in the Islamic world seems to be the 7th century Syriac version of the ''[[Alexander Romance]]'' (pseudo-Callisthenes).<ref name="ogden"/> Here, Aleksandros<ref>The name Aleksandros is given in the Syriac title, cf. also {{harvp|Budge|1889|p=xx}}</ref> after several days orders two large sacrificial oxen be removed of flesh, and had them stuffed with gypsum, pitch, lead, and sulfur to feed to the dragon. When it was incapacitated, heated balls of brass be cast into its mouth by Alexander's orders, upon which the monster finally died.<ref name="ogden"/><ref name="budge"/> The episode is only found in the Syriac version, but is conjectured to have been present in the hypothetical Greek original (*δ variant).<ref name=nawotka/>

=== Turkish version ===
Later, the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turkish]] poet {{interlanguage link|Ahmedî|tr}} (d. 1413) composed the ''[[Iskendername]]'', using the Persian ''[[Shahnameh|Shahnāma]]'' and [[Nizami Ganjavi|Nizami]]'s {{interlanguage link|Iskandarnameh of Nizami|de|Iskandernāme|preserve=1|lt=''Iskandarnāma''}} as source material. And in Ahmedî's poem, {{lang|tr|İskender}} uses hooks in his stratagem to destroy a dragon: namely, he attached a thousand poisoned hooks to his ox-driven chariot, and having administered himself with the antidote, he assaulted the dragon. The dragon consequently received fatal injuries around its mouth and on its head.<ref name="bagci"/> Incidentally, this tactic is paralleled in the ''Shahnāma'' for a different king, [[Esfandiyār|Isfandiyar]] who used a horse-drawn chariot spiked with swords to combat a dragon.<ref name="bagci"/>

==Pop culture references==
Al-Mi'raj has been occasionally featured in video and role-playing games.

* [[Al-mi'raj (Dungeons & Dragons)|Al-Mi'raj has been adapted]] into ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', as part of the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons [[Fiend Folio]].
* An enemy in the ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series (アルミラージ ... arumirāji), first appearing in ''[[Dragon Quest III]]'', where it is a low-level monster with a sleep attack used to render players helpless while it attacks. In U.S. localizations it has usually been renamed to "Spiked Hare", but its name is preserved in the Game Boy Color version <ref>[http://www.woodus.com/den/games/dw3gbc/monsters.php Dragon Warrior 3 Monster List]</ref> Unlike the normal legendary Miraj, this Mi'raj is purple with a white horn and white cheeks.
* In Episode 10 of the anime ''[[Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?]]'' the first floor of the mid level contains multiple white rabbits that walk on two legs and which are identified as al-mi'raj.
* In the animated short "Red" (2010), the little wolf-boy protects Red from an al-mi'raj that can grow to a monstrous size.
* The ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' ''Breakers of Shadow'' booster pack features a card based on this mythical creature called Al-Lumi'raj, and the ''Battles of Legend: Hero's Revenge'' pack features another called Salamangreat Almiraj.
* The game ''Rage of Bahamut'' (and subsequently the Shadowverse CCG, which is based on it) contains a character called Moon Al-Mir'aj, a humanoid rabbit with a black horn called Ramina.
* In the [[Donald Duck]] story "[[Mythological Menagerie]]", Donald tries to fool Huey, Dewey and Louie by painting a rabbit yellow and attaching a horn to it, but the nephews identify it as a Mi'Raj.
* In ''[[Brave Frontier]]'', Al-mi'raj is a common light-element unit, depicted as a white rabbit with tufts of blue fur and a golden horn.
*In the episode 10 of [[I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level]], a musician bunny girl appears, introduces herself as Kuku from Al-Mi'raj race. 
* In the episode 8 of ''[[Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World]]'' season 2, multiple al-mi'raj appear in a vast and snowy plain as [[List of Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World characters#Subaru Natsuki|Subaru]] is standing in the middle of them.
*In the series ''[[KonoSuba]]'', multiple Al-Mir'Aj are seen as they are common monsters that are hostile to people. In the Explosions spin-off [[Megumin]] and her friend Yunyun nearly fall prey to their attack.
*In the season 3 of ''[[Industry (TV series)|Industry]]'', an Egyptian [[sovereign wealth fund]] named “Al-Miraj” took over Pierpoint & Co, a failing [[investment bank]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2024-09-24 |title=Industry Season 3 Finale Recap: The Last Goodbye |magazine=[[Elle (magazine)|Elle]] |last=Puckett-Pope |first=Lauren |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a62431387/industry-season-3-finale-recap-review/ |access-date=2025-01-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Revelle |first1=Chris |title='Industry' Embraced Chaos in Season 3 |url=https://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/industry-season-3-finale-explained.php |access-date=20 January 2025 |work=Pajiba |date=2 October 2024}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Golden Fleece]]
*[[Jackalope]]
*[[Lepus cornutus]]
*[[Shadhavar]]
*[[Shope papilloma virus]]
*[[Wolpertinger]]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=badiee>{{cite journal|last=Badiee  |first=Julie |author-link=<!--Julie Badiee-->|title=The Sarre Qazwīnī: An Early Aq Qoyunlu Manuscript? |journal=Ars Orientalis |volume=14 |date=1984 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5R7v9726QlMC&q=%22Miraculous+Hare%22 |pages=93, endnote 4<!--97–113--> |jstor=4629331|isbn=9780934686426 }}</ref>

<ref name="bagci">{{cite journal|last={{lang|ku|Baǧci}} |first={{lang|ku|Serpi̇l}} |author-link=<!--Serpi̇l Baǧci-->|title=Old Images for New Texts and Contexts: Wandering Images in Islamic Book Painting |journal=Muqarnas  |volume=21 |issue=Essays in Honor of J. M. Rogers |date=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knVwZW_ogBQC&pg=PA22 |pages=22–23<!--21–3211--> |jstor=152334|isbn=9004139648 }}</ref>

<ref name="bayerische_staatsbibiothek">{{cite web |url=https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb00045957?page=130 |title=Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā Ibn-Muḥammad al-: Kitāb ʿAǧāʾib al-maḫlūqāt wa-ġarāʾib al-mauǧūdāt |last=Qazwini |first=Zakariya Ibn Muhammad |website=Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum Digitale Biliothek |date=1279–1377|page=63r}}</ref>

<ref name="bayerische_staatsbibiothek-LOCdata">{{cite web |url=https://www.wdl.org/en/item/8962/ |title=The Wonders of Creation |last=Qazwini |first=Zakariya Ibn Muhammad |website=Library of Congress |date=1260–1280|pages=131}}</ref>

<ref name="bochart">{{cite book|last=Bochart |first=Samuel |author-link=Samuel Bochart |editor-last=Rosenmueller |editor-first= Ernst Friedrich Carl |editor-link=Ernst Friedrich Karl Rosenmüller|title=Hierozoicon, sive bipartitum opus de animalibus S. Scripturae.. |volume=3 |place=Leipzig |publisher=[[Weidmannsche Buchhandlung|Weidmann]] |year=1796 |orig-year=1663 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dxjgW6V_F4C&pg=PA851 |page=851}} {{in lang|la}}</ref>

<ref name="bordeaux">{{cite web |url=https://bibliotheque.bordeaux.fr/in/imageReader.xhtml?id=h::BordeauxBNSA_1256&pageIndex=106 |title=Les merveilles de la création et les curiosités des choses existantes. Traité de cosmographie et d'histoire naturelle de Qazwînî (Ms 1130) |last=Qazwini |first=Zakariya Ibn Muhammad |website=Bibliothèque municipale de Bordeaux |date=1565 |page=54r}}</ref>

<ref name="budge">{{cite book|editor-last=Budge |editor-first=Ernest A. Wallis |editor-link=E. A. Wallis Budge |title=Tašʻítā d-Aleksandros bar Pílípos Malkā d-Maqedonāye |trans-title=The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes |volume=1 |location=Cambridge |publisher=The University Press |date=1889|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_14LmFqhc8QC&pg=PA108 |page=108}}</ref>

<ref name="daunicht">{{citation |last=Daunicht |first=Hubert K. |author-link=<!--Hubert K. Daunicht--> |title=Der Osten nach der Erdkarte al-Ḫuwārizmīs: Beiträge zur historischen Geographie und Geschichte Asiens |trans-title=The East in the al-Khwārizmī World Map: A Contribution to Historical Geography and Asian History |volume=2 |location=Bonn |publisher=s.n.<!--publisher not identified,--> |date=1968 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXT5c7Rwv5AC&q=haken |pages=500–502}}. {{in lang|de}}</ref>

<ref name="ettinghausen">{{harvp|Ettinghausen|1950|p=66}} and note 29. His synopsis of "Muslim writers" is based on {{harvp||Wüstenfeld ed.|1849|loc='''1''': 13}} and {{harvp|Ethé tr.|1868|p=230}} of Qazwini. Ettinghause also consulted [[Al-Damiri]]'s ''[[Life of Animals]]'' (''Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrā''), Cairo edition of AH 1319.</ref>

<ref name="ferdowsi-warner-tr">{{citation|ref={{SfnRef|Warner|Warner tr.|1912}}|last=Ferdowsi |author-link=Ferdowsi |others=Warner, Arthur George; Warner, Edmond Warner (trr.) |chapter=§27 How Sikandar reached the Land of the Narmpái, how he fought and was victorious, how he slew a Dragon, ascended a mountain, and was forewarned of his own Death |title= The Sháhnáma of Firdausí |volume=1 |location= |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner Co., Ltd. |date=1912 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.82412/page/n163/mode/2up |pages=150–153}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=CixkKv_ywoMC&pg=PA147 Reprinted 2004], Routeledge.</ref>

<ref name=ibn-al-wardi-latin>{{citation |last=Ibn-al-Wardī|first=ʻUmar Ibn-Muẓaffar  |author-link=Ibn al-Wardi |chapter=2 |title=Fragmentum libri Margarita mirabilium: Prooemium, Caput II., III., IV. et V. continens  |volume=1 |location= |publisher=Oriental Department of the [[University of Bonn]] |date=1968 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WiU-AAAAcAAJ&q=leporis&pg=PA58 |pages=57–58}}. {{in lang|la}}</ref>

<ref name=idrisi-hadi_sadok>{{cite book|last=Idrisi |first=Muhammad al-|author-link=Muhammad al-Idrisi |translator-last=Hadj-Sadok |translator-first=Mohammed |title=al-Maghrib al-ʻArabī min Kitāb Nuzhat al-mushtāq<!--Nuzhat al Muštaq.  6e siècle de l'hégire (12e après J.-C.)--> |script-title=ar:المغرب العربي من كتاب نزهة المشتاق |location=Paris |publisher=Publisud |year=1983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mS0aAQAAMAAJ&q=lièvre |pages=60–61 |isbn=<!--2866000439, -->9782866000431 |oclc=22203340|quote={{lang|ar|دابة في خلق الأرنب يبرق شعره في صفرة كما يبرق الذهب ، يسمى بقراج وفي رأسه قرن واحد أسود ، اذا رأته الأسود وسباع الوحش والطير وكل دابة هربت منه}} [An animal in the form of a hare whose hair shines in yellow as gold shines. It is called a baqrāj and has one black horn on its head; every animal kind, whether predators, beasts, birds, runs away at the sight of it.]}}</ref>

<ref name=idrisi-jaubert>{{cite book|last=Idrisi |first=Muhammad al-|author-link=Muhammad al-Idrisi |translator-last=Jaubert |translator-first=P. Amédée |translator-link=Pierre Amédée Jaubert |title=Geographie d'Édrisi<!--Kitāb nuzhat al-muštāq fī iẖtirāq al-afāq: 1--> |script-title=ar:المغرب العربي من كتاب نزهة المشتاق  |volume=1 |location=Paris |publisher=Imprimerie royale |year=1836 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JY4p5HZq-EsC&pg=PA200 |pages=198–200}}</ref>

<ref name="qazwini-ethe-note">{{harvp|Ethé tr.|1868}} ([[:en:Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer|Fleischer]]'s notes), [https://books.google.com/books?id=qyc-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA475 p. 475]</ref>
<ref name="qazwini-ethe-tr">{{harvp|Ethé tr.|1868|pp=230–231}}</ref>

<ref name=mayor>{{cite book|last=Mayor |first=Adrienne |author-link=Adrienne Mayor |title=Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World |location=Woodstock, NY |publisher=Overlook Duckworth |date=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QysqAQAAIAAJ&q=naphtha |page=227 |isbn=0715638521<!--, 9780715638521-->}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=M_v57ETfcvQC&lpg=PP1 digital copy]</ref>

<ref name=moor>{{harvp|Moor|2012|p=269}} and note 8</ref>

<ref name=nawotka>{{cite book|last=Nawotka |first= Krzysztof |author-link=<!--Krzysztof Nawotka--> |chapter=Syriac and Persian Versions of the Alexander Romance |editor-last=Moore |editor-first=Kenneth Royce |editor-link=<!--Kenneth Royce Moore--> |title=Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great |location=|publisher=BRILL |year=2018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJJyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA534 |page=534<!--524–542-->|isbn=<!--9004359931, -->9789004359932}}</ref>

<ref name="ogden">{{cite book|last=Ogden |first=Daniel |author-link=<!--Daniel Ogden--> |chapter=Sekandar, Dragon-Slayer  |editor1-last=Stoneman |editor1-first=Richard |editor1-link=<!--Richard Stoneman--> |editor2-last=Erickson |editor2-first=Kyle |editor2-link=<!--Kyle Erickson--> |editor3-last=Netton |editor3-first=Ian Richard |editor3-link=Ian Richard Netton |title=The Alexander Romance in Persia and the East |location=Groningen |publisher=Barkhuis |year=2012 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDPgh3IQumAC&pg=PA278 |pages=277–279 |isbn=<!--9491431048, -->9789491431043}}, citing Davis tr. (2006), pp. 506–508 and {{harvp|Warner|Warner tr.|1912|loc='''VI''': 506–508}} of Ferdowsi.</ref>

<ref name="walters">{{cite web |url=https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0020/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W659/description.html |title=fol. 155b: Dragon of Tannīn Island and Horned Rab[b]it |work=Walters Ms. W.659, Turkish version of the Wonders of creation |publisher=The Digital Walters |last1=Qazwini|first1=Zakariya Ibn Muhammad|last2=ibn Muḥammad Shākir Rūzmah-ʾi Nāthānī |first2=Muḥammad (scribe)|location=}}. Also [https://art.thewalters.org/detail/84067/dragon-of-tannin-island-and-horned-rabit/ description page]@Walters Museum</ref>

<ref name="wiedemann">{{cite web|last=Wiedemann |first=Michel |author-link=<!--Michel Wiedemann--> |others=Claude Saint-Girons |title=Les lièvres cornus, une famille d'animaux fantastiques |date=28 March 2009 |url=http://symposium.over-blog.fr/article-29574343.html |access-date=2021-12-28 |language=fr}}</ref>

}}

;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Moor |first=Bilha |author-link=<!--Bilha Moor--> |chapter=''Shahnama'' Kings and Heroes in 'Aja'ib al-Makhluqat Illustrated Manuscripts |editor1-last=Melville |editor1-first=Charles |editor1-link=Charles P. Melville |editor2-last=van den Berg |editor2-first=Gabrielle  |editor2-link=<!--Gabrielle van den Berg--> |title=Shahnama Studies II: The Reception of Firdausi's Shahnama |place= |publisher=BRILL |year=2012  |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGvWp5XDuikC&pg=PA269 |pages=269–270; Fig. 6 (p. 278); Fig. 1 (Plate 23) |isbn=<!--9004211276, -->9789004211278}}
* {{cite book|last=Ettinghausen |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Ettinghausen |title=The Unicorn |location=Washington, D.C.  |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=1950 |url=http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/131/1311808615.pdf?view |pages= |series=Freer Gallery of Art occasional papers. vol. 1. no. 3 / Studies in Muslim Iconography I}}<!--Alternate urls: The asia.si.edu copy is large and slow loading but includes plates and is searchable. Google is searchable but only viewable in snippets.--><!--https://asia.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ettinghausen-unicorn.pdf--><!--https://books.google.com/books?id=qB_6u0Zz-AQC&q=%22yellow+hare+%22 -->
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Ethé tr.|1868}}|last=al-Qazwīnī |first=Zakariyyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd |author-link=Zakariya al-Qazwini |translator-last=Hermann |translator-first=Hermann |translator-link=Hermann Ethé |others=[[:en:Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer|Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer]] (notes) |title=Die Wunder der Schöpfung: Nach der Wüstenfeldschen Textausgabe, mit Benutzung und Beifügung der Reichhaltigen Anmerkungen und erbesserungen des Herrn Prof. Dr. Fleischer |volume=1 |place=Leipzig |publisher=Fues's Verlag |year=1868 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qyc-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA230 |pages=230–231}} {{in lang|de}}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Wüstenfeld ed.|1849}}|last=al-Qazwīnī |first=Zakariyyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd |author-link=Zakariya al-Qazwini |editor-last=Wüstenfeld |editor-first=Ferdinand |editor-link=:en:Ferdinand Wüstenfeld |title=Zakarija ben Muhammed ben Mahmud el- Cazwini's Kosmographie |location=Göttingen  |publisher=Dieterich |date=1848–1849 |url= |pages=}}
{{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mi'raj}}
[[Category:Arabian mythology]]
[[Category:Arabian legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Asian witchcraft]]
[[Category:Mythological rabbits and hares]]
[[Category:Unicorns]]