The Rabbit That Scares Away Evil Spirits 🐇

Names, habits and protective beliefs

The rabbit (الأرنب) entry in Al-Damiri's medieval bestiary reads like a field guide written by someone who trusted the animal and feared it at the same time, and it runs for five full pages. The zoologists were wonderfully precise: the rabbit is "like a young goat," with short forepaws and long hind legs, "the opposite of the giraffe." It has hair inside its cheeks and under its feet, reportedly eats meat as well as plants, and ruminates.

Then the grammarians arrive, because of course they do. Al-Jahiz held that arnab is always feminine; al-Mubarrad disagreed — it applies to both sexes. The male has his own name, al-khuzaz; the female is 'ikrishah; the baby is al-khirniq, growing through stages: khirniq, then sakhla, then arnab. A whole life cycle in three words.

Medieval scholars counted the rabbit among exactly four creatures that menstruate: woman, hyena, bat, and rabbit — though Al-Damiri honestly notes the report's chain is weak. The book keeps showing its working, and I respect that.

Because of that belief, pre-Islamic Arabs held that jinn flee from the rabbit. People hung a rabbit's ankle-bone on themselves as an amulet — the book says they believed no evil eye or magic could touch whoever wore it.

The rabbit also sleeps with its eyes open, Al-Damiri reports, so a hunter might stumble on one mid-nap and mistake it for wide awake. And there was an old claim that if a rabbit sees the sea, it dies — which is why none live on the coasts. Al-Damiri himself writes that this "is not sound in my view": a medieval author fact-checking his own sources, seven centuries before peer review.

The animal courtroom and later traditions

The hunting anecdotes are delightful. Anas ibn Malik reports: "We started a rabbit at Marr al-Zahran; the people chased it and failed, so I caught it and brought it to Abu Talha, who slaughtered it and sent the Prophet its haunch and thigh — and he accepted it." History in a mouthful.

The entry's most delightful story is the animal courtroom. A rabbit found a date, a fox snatched it and ate it, and they took their case to a lizard judge. The dialogue became proverb: the rabbit calls "upon one who hears" (sami'an da'awt); the lizard answers "I have come as a just, wise judge"; and — before hearing a word of evidence — "I have already judged" (qad qadayt). Every flattering reply of the lizard became an Arabic proverb, including "the judge is approached in his own house" — go to power where it sits.

Then there is the sea rabbit — an animal with a rabbit's head and a fish's body. Ibn Sina calls it a small shelled creature so poisonous that drinking from it kills, so eating it is forbidden: the one exception to the rule that the sea version of a land animal is fair game.

The khawass run long, all the book's claims, never advice: rabbit brain roasted with pepper helps trembling; rabbit blood smeared on vitiligo removes it; its rennet with vinegar counters snake venom. And my favorite: rabbit dung fumigated in the bathhouse makes whoever smells it break wind uncontrollably, a fart joke preserved in a medieval encyclopedia for 700 years. Some things are timeless.

A rabbit in your dream means a beautiful woman — who is not friendly. If slaughtered, a wife who will not remain. Eating cooked rabbit meat: provision from an unexpected source.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why did some people believe rabbits frightened jinn?

   The entry connects the belief with a medieval claim that rabbits were among four creatures that menstruate, although Al-Damiri notes that the report’s chain is weak. Pre-Islamic Arabs therefore hung a rabbit’s ankle-bone as an amulet, believing it protected the wearer from jinn, the evil eye and magic.

2. What happens in the rabbit and fox courtroom story?

   A rabbit finds a date, but a fox steals and eats it. They bring the dispute to a lizard judge, whose flattering, confident replies became Arabic proverbs. Before properly hearing evidence, the lizard declares that judgment has already been made, turning the tale into a comic portrait of authority.

3. Does the article treat every rabbit claim as true?

   No. The article distinguishes reported beliefs from modern fact. Al-Damiri himself rejects the claim that rabbits die if they see the sea, calling it unsound. Remedies, amulets, dream meanings and the poisonous sea-rabbit account are presented as parts of the medieval source, not health or zoological guidance.