MOUNT QAF
Classification: Extradimensional location
Creator: Unknown (See comments)
User/Possessors: Joseph Heinrich Gerhardt, Hellstorm, Lisa, Nikki
First Appearance: Hellstorm#9 (December, 1993)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: It was a connection between Heaven and Hell. Its roots reached to the peaks of Hell from where it went through Purgatorius up to the bottom of Heaven. Those who climbed Mount Qaf got their souls purged on their way Heaven. The more somebody struggled against it the heavier the climb became. At the top of Mount Qaf was Heaven where billions of virtuous souls were stored in a metaplasmic fusion. They existed without identity and individuality.
History:
(Hellstorm#9) - Hellstorm brought the damned souls of Gerhardt, Lisa
and Nikki to Purgatorius and showed them their destination Mount Qaf.
Hellstorm destroyed an army of demons to reach the mountain with the
damned souls.
(Hellstorm#9) - Hellstorm and his associates started to climb Mount Qaf.
(Hellstorm#10) - Hellstorm began to have trouble climbing Mount Qaf while it became easier for Gerhardt and Lisa because both cleaned their souls from their shame. Both passed Hellstorm, who lost his grip and nearly fell from Mount Qaf. Nikki, on the other hand, didn't want to loose her memories and identity and let herself fall from Mount Qaf. Gerhardt and Lisa reached the mountaintop and they were welcomed by angels while Hellstorm was asked to leave, but the Prince of Lies didn't want to leave yet. Wings grew out of his back and he flew to the top opposed by the angels; and after getting through he saw Gerhardt and Lisa going into the metaplasmic fusion that consisted of billions of souls. They were absorbed and Hellstorm fell all the way down from Mount Qaf to hell after being hit by an angels' BLAST.
Comments: Adapted by Len Kaminski (writer) and Peter Gross (artist).
The comments below about Mount Qaf reveal that Allah was the creator of Mount Qaf, but the Mount Qaf in the Marvel Universe is so different that I would be surprised if it was created by the same being. Therefore it stays a mystery as much as the master of the angels seen on top of the mountain.
Qaf is the 19th letter of the Arabic alphabet and the name of the 50th Surah in the Koran (Qur'an). As a name it is meaningless, but for Muslim scholars God knew what he intended with Qaf and the other obscure words sometimes used in the Qur'an. The name for Mount Qaf was derived from this letter.
Mount Qaf itself was not mentioned in
the Qur’an by name, but Muhammadan writers created the myth by
referring to passages in the Qu’ran.
In their stories (see Qisas al-Anbiya – Tales of the
Prophets) Mount Qaf is a chain of mountains that surrounded earth. It
was created by god from a single green emerald. It is described as
being five hundred years’ journey high and two thousand years’ journey
round.
Mount Qaf was behind the first sea called Baytush and
behind it were six seas called Asamm, Qaynas, Sakin, Mughallib, Muannis
and Baki. Each sea surrounded the one before. Other seas existed which
were like gulfs to the seven seas. There also existed seven Earths:
Ramaka, Khalada, Arqa, Haraba, Maltham, Sijjin and Ajiba. They were all
five hundred years’ journey from each other. The whole structure was
held up by an immense angel who stood on an emerald rock with thousand
holes, which lasted upon a bull named al-Rayyan which stood on a fish
named Behemoth. The fish’s resting place was the waters, beneath which
was air and Darkness.
Famous saints such as Muhy al-Din Ibn al-‘Arabi and Sayed ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jili described in their work a place after Mount Qaf called the White Earth and a thing they named “Mashmashiya”.
It was also the mystical residence of Simrughn, who is identical to God in certain mystical literature. (see the work of 13th century Sufi poet Mawlana Jalal’ud-din Rumi)
I'm not even trying to explain the spiritual significance of Mount Qaf because I'm not a religious person and I don't want to insult anybody (not again after my profile on Moloch).
Originally the name seems to come from a rabbinical comment on Genesis I.2 where the word “thohu” was described as a green line surrounding the world. Line was “qav” and because the word “thohu” was difficult to understand the commentator mistakenly explained it with the word “qav”. Arabs learned that it surrounded the world and took the word to describe a mountain chain surrounding the world.
Thx to John LeRoy for pointing out a mistake in the comments.
Profile by Markus Raymond
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mount Qaf should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Hellstorm#9, p6, pan2 (main image)
#10, p17, pan1 (top of the mountain)
Other Appearances:
Hellstorm#10 (January, 1994) - Len Kaminski (writer), Peter Gross
(artist), Fabian Nicieza & Marie Javins (editors)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Last Updated:10/18/07
Non-Marvel
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