Nar as-samum

Samūm (سموم also spelled Simoom or Semum; from the root س م م s-m-m, سم "to poison") is a fire related to demons in Ancient Arabic lore and later Islamic beliefs. As a kind of fire, it is also the origin of some kinds of evil spirits and further identified with both the fires of hell and the fire of the sun. The Samum probably originated from Jewish lore as an anthropomorphization of poisonous wind, which was probably also the origin of the concept of Samael and his lesser devils. Islam further develops the relation between the fires of Samum and Satan by asserting, that he or at least his minor devils, are created from the fires of Samum. The term Samūm derives from the root s-m-m سم, which means "to poison". It is also used of referring to a hot, dusty desert wind. In Talmudic and post-Talmudic literature the wind of Samum became a demon and the name of the Midrashic devil Samael is linguistical related to it. Johann Gottfried Eichhorn relates the term to the Three Days of Darkness in Book of Exodus. Accordingly, the darkness comes just with the tempest of Samum. In the Quran the term appears in as the tormenting fires of Jahannam. Another time it occurs in as the origin of Jann, the first and father of jinn. In Islamic traditions, it is usually interpreted as a kind of fire, which penetrates through the skin of human body in contrast to marijin min nar. However, both fires became usually associated with dangerous spirits. Later, Manichaeans referred to the pestilential wind in one of the five Kingdoms of the Prince of Darkness as Samum. Tabari offers many interpretations for the nature of samūm. In one interpretation he provides, samūm is "hot wind which kills" and in another "the flame of the fire of the hot wind" and yet in another he relates it to "night-wind" in opposition to harur (day-wind). Further, he states, some hold samūm to be the hell-fire (nar jahannama). On the authority of Abu Ubaidah, samūm is the fire that "penetrates the pores due to its fineness in the day-time as well as at night".