"The Nocturnal Voice"
The Nameless, Fall 2022
The Nocturnal Voice, which is referred to as the hatif within Arabic folklore, "is a mysterious nocturnal voice that is sometimes prophetic. A hatif is mentioned in the Bible [Ezekiel 21:2 and 7; Amos 7:16] as a prophet's voice, and it seems to have presaged Muhammad's prophetic mission. It is said that the hatif can rise from within a calf sacrificed to an idol or from the idol itself. The Bedouin believe that it most often announces the death of some prominent figure."
The following is from the Cristoarabic text, The Book of the Rolls:
"When Serug was 230 years old he died. His son Nahor, and Terah and Abraham buried him in the town which Serug had built and called it Serug. Terah was born to Nahor when he was twenty-nine years old. In the third year of the life of Nahor, God looked up through His remembrance at His creatures, and they were worshipping idols. He sent upon them earthquakes which destroyed all the idols. Their p. 36 worshippers did not turn from their error, but persevered in their godlessness. In the twenty-sixth year of the rule of Terah appeared witchcraft. The beginning of it was that a rich man died; his son made a golden image of him and placed it upon his tomb as a mark [to] the people of his age, and appointed a young man to guard it. The Devil entered into the image, and spoke to its guardian from the tongue of the deceased and [with] his voice. The guardian told the son of the deceased about it. After some days robbers entered the dwelling of the deceased, and took all that belonged to his son, and his grief was greater at this, and they bewailed him beside the grave of his father. The Devil called to him from the image with a voice like the voice of his father, and said, “O my son, weep not. Bring me thy little son, to sacrifice him to me, and I will restore to thee all that has been taken from thee.” He brought his son to the tomb and sacrificed him to the Devil. When he had done this, the Devil entered him and taught him witchcraft, unveiled his mysteries, and taught him omens and auguries. Since that time people offer their children to Devils."
More details on the hatif can be found in the Britannica.com entry.
