Reading Notes: Folklore of the Holy Land, Part A

This week I decided to read about the folktales from Muslim traditions. Growing up I was only ever exposed to one religion and its tales, it was a nice change of pace to read about another Abrahamic religion that has over 1.5 billion followers.
The first story that I read was that of Moslem Cosmogony, which is the story of creation. It has a lot of interesting aspects to it and I enjoyed the idea of the Tablet of Destiny, and would like to use that aspect in the storytelling. I have the idea of playing with the tale of creation and presenting it in a completely different approach. In a way I think I will likely be humanizing Allah in a way that gives a new view to higher deities, if that makes sense.
(By Fadi El Binni, Source: Flickr)

The other story I enjoyed was Abraham: Mecca and Hebron. I am somewhat informed on the rituals that occur in Mecca, that is Hajj, which is what drew me to this story. I enjoyed learning about Hajj during the summer and this story added aspects to it that I did not know. I knew of the rituals of throwing rocks at the pillars that represent the devil during Hajj but never really knew where it came from. This story providing an interesting background to the rituals of Hajj. And I think that if I was to retell it I would focus on some of the rituals of Hajj and its background. Maybe attempt to write it in a different time setting.

Bibliography:
Folklore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish by J.E. Hanauer, link to reading online.

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