thumb|Muhammad and his companions advancing on Mecca, attended by the angels Jibril, Mikael, Israfil and Izrael. An illustration from [[Siyer-i Nebi.]]
thumb|Mi'raj by Sultan Muhammad in [[Persian literature]]
Islamic mythology is the body of myths associated with Islam and the Quran. Islam is a religion that is more concerned with social order and law than with religious rituals or myths. The primary focus of Islam is the practical and rational practice and application of the Islamic law. Despite this focus, Islamic myths do still exist. A cosmology is a culture's specific story of creation, and how in that culture the universe is structured (the placement of the Earth, the stars, and the afterlife). These stores of creation explain in that specific culture the origin of people, the first "home", and the early place of people in the world.
Eschatology is a type of mythology that deals with the day of judgement, the end of the world, heaven, and hell. Translated Eschatology means the "discourse about the last things". Eschatology deals with the question and ultimate quest for what is the "ultimate purpose" of humans in this life. The word "myth" is commonly used with connotations of falsehood, reflecting a legacy of the derogatory early Christian usage of the Greek word mythos in the sense of "fable, fiction, lie" to refer to classical mythology. However, the word is also used with other meanings in academic discourse. It may refer to "a story that serves to define the fundamental worldview of a culture"
Creation myths
<!-- Islamic creation belief and Islamic creation myth redirect here. Please update those pages if changing the section title from "Creation myth" -->Creation myths are based on the Quran, the central scripture of Islam, and expanded upon in hadiths, Arabic and Persian writings, histories (Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ), Muslim poetry, philosophical essays, and mystical writings. While through syncretism, Islamic creation myths assimilated to African and Asian beliefs, Islam reshaped the indigenous cultural accounts on the origin of the world to fit the central Quranic teaching that, ultimately, everything in existence was created by a monotheistic God (Allah). Four different verses in the Quran mentions that the heavens and earth (As-Samāwāt Wa Al-Ard) were created by God in six days, with three verse mentioning creation and numbers of days—how many days it took to create only the earth (two days); provide mountains, nutrients, etc. (four days); God's giving of orders to heaven and earth; and creating the seven heavens (two days). The arithmetic of adding the numbers of days can be confusing, as critics (Ali Dashti) point out that two plus four plus two "increases creation from six to eight days", but Quranic translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali argues that commentators understand the four days in verse Q.41:9 to include the two days in verse Q.41:10.
In Sūrah al-Anbiyāʼ, verse , the heavens and the earth were joined ("of one piece") as one "unit of creation", after which they were "cloven asunder". God then created the landscape of the earth, placed the sky above it as a roof, and created the day and night cycles by appointing an orbit for both the sun and moon.
The Quran states that the process of creation took sitta ayam (ستة أيام) or six periods. but many preachers argue the word youm (plural ayam) can be translated as "era" or "period", and sometimes is in translations of the Quran.
The creation of humanity
Adam and the angels
thumb|The Angels meet Adam, the prototypical human being. They share, albeit to a lesser degree, the defiant reaction of Iblis, who haughtily turns his head away. Painting from a manuscript of the Manṭiq al-ṭayr (The Conference of the Birds) of Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār. Iran, Shiraz, 899/1494.
The creation of mankind is discussed along with the creation of angels and jinn. When God created the angels as inhabitants of the heavens and jinn and humans as inhabitants of the earth. The first who lived on earth were the jinn. However, they fought each other until God sent an army of angels headed by Iblis, against them.
In the Bible, God announces to create mankind in the plural: "let us make man" (Hebrew: "na’aseh adam"), but it is not clear to whom the speech is addressed. While Jewish midrashim conjectured this might be the angels, the Quran is explicit about it: "When your Lord said to the angels: <blockquote>"‘Lo, I am going to place a vice-regent in the earth.‘ They said: ‘Wilt Thou place in it one who will work corruption and shed blood? We sing hymns in Thy praise and ascribe holiness to Thee.‘ He replied: ‘I know what ye know not.‘ "
The reluctance of bowing down before Adam is also occasionally linked to Harut and Marut.
Adam in the Garden
Adam is according to Islam, both the first human and the first prophet. The Quran says that he and his wife dwelled in Garden of Eden. Adam and his wife both eat from the forbidden Tree of Eternity. According to the Quran, as punishment God declares the earth as a dwelling place for humans. Only due to free will, humans are able to produce good. Thus, although Adam's disobedience created evil, only this made it possible to create good. The disobediences of Adam and his wife were already forgiven by God during their life.
Islamic traditions are more extensive, adding further details into the Quranic creation narrative. According to a common narrative, God ordered the Archangels to collect a handful of soil from earth. But every time an archangel approached earth, the earth sought refuge in God, that it might not be distorted. All the archangels returned empty-handed, except Azrael, who succeeded because he sought refuge in God before, for that he will not return unsuccessful. Another common traditions, portrayed the body of Adam lying on the ground for forty years, whereupon Iblis became curious of the new creation. After investigating the lifeless body, he promised that, if he will gain authority over it, he will destroy it. In another tradition, it is not Azrael, but Iblis, included among the archangels, who succeeded in collecting soil from the earth, thus he later declined to prostrate himself before whose formation he just assisted.
There is an extensive debate among the exegetes (muffasirun) on the creation of Eve as outlined in the foundational sources - Qur'an and Hadith. Surah an-Nisa verse one says "O people! Be mindful of your Lord who created you from a single soul (nafsin wahida) and created from it, its mate (zawjaha)..." Most Muslim exegetes have interpreted this verse as suggesting that Eve (zawjaha) is the secondary creation brought forth from Adam (nafsin wahida). Karen Bauer argues that since the nature and manner of Eve's creation in the Qur'an remains obscure, exegetes had no option but to read into the text of the Qur'an using Biblical, para-Biblical accounts and older myths. The first spouse, according to the Qur'anic narrative, was created from (min) and for man (lahu) (Q. 7:189), but the meaning of from (min) is not clear. The exegetes have understood this in two key ways: first, from the "crooked rib" and second, "of the same type (substance)" It is worth mentioning that the Bible presents both accounts - of the same type (Genesis 1:26-7) and from the rib (Genesis 2:20-4) (109). The creation of man in the Quran differed from the Bible in that man was not made like the image of God but in the best of creation and not from Earth's dust but specifically from a dried pottery-like dark red clay, and that humans were made from a mixed fluid droplet that was recreated into a clinging thing, and that God made from water every living thing and that Eve was made from the person of Adam not his rib.thumb|Islamic drawing of an angel blowing a [[nafir trumpet, probably Israfel.]]Muqatil b. Sulayman (d. 150/767), one of the earliest interpreters of the Qur'an says Eve was created from Adam's rib and this is reflected in her name - Eve (Hawwa), from the word living being (hayy).
Another early exegete, Hud b. Muhakkam al-Hawwari (d. 3rd/9th century) presents the same reading by referring it to al-Hasan al-Basri who reported from Muhammad that "indeed, woman was created from a rib, and if you wish to straighten her you break her." In the modern period, the creation of Eve continues to be intensely debated. Pakistani scholar of the Qur'an, Israr Ahmed (d. 2010) was of the opinion that with the advances in our knowledge due to modern science, the notion of Eve's creation from Adam's rib is against human observation and reason. He believes the "crooked rib" hadith is using a metaphor to make a point regarding the psychological nature of women. Israr, in the evolution of the animal kingdom from a unicellular being like an amoeba, sees a clear indication that the creation was brought forth from the first unicellular being in which the characteristic of biological sex did not exist.
Islamic traditions often use figures similar to the Biblical narrative. Adam's wife is commonly named Hawa, and the serpent reappears together with a peacock as two animals, which supported Iblis to slip into Adam's abode. Many denied, that the Garden in which Adam dwelled with his wife, was identical with the Paradise in afterlife. They rather lived in paradisical conditions before their fall, while after their fall, they need to work to survive. Unlike Christian mythology, in Islamic thought, they did not simply walk out of paradise, but fell out of it. Hawa was punished with childbirth and menstruation, while Adam became bald and the serpent lost its legs.
Regarding the creation of Muhammad, Islam developed the belief in the pre-existence of Muhammad.