Ghoul in Islam? A Real Strange Creature That Hunts Human Flesh in Deserts and Graveyards!

Have you ever heard about a creature that looks half-human and half-ghost? I am pretty sure that you have seen a creature that looks like a combination of human and ghost in horror or monster movies. 

Let me clear your confusion by telling you that I am here to talk about “Ghoul”. I know about ghouls for a long time ago but I have recently thought that I should create a series of content on these type of scary creatures that looks like a myth but are actually real!

I will give you an authentic reference of this Ghoul in Islam.

There is no evidence of Ghoul in the Quran but there is a reference to Ghoul in a hadith. Before we go to the references, let me tell you about the Ghouls. 

What is actually a Ghoul and how it looks like?

Ghoul is a flesh-eating supernatural creature, Jinn (Fallen angle in Christian Beliefs) that lives in deserts, graveyards, and haunted places. This scary creature looks like a hybrid of humans and jinn. 

Ghoul is also considered a grave digger and grave robber. It feeds on corpses and dead bodies of humans. The Ghoul word is derived from the Arabic word “Ghul”. The ghoul word is also used for a person who robes corpses or digs graves. 

A ghoul walks like an animal but the shape looks similar to a human. They sometimes look like dogs. They have hairless skin with a grey or pale color. It is also considered a fat and giant ogre in Middle Eastern literature. 

The male ghoul is called Ghoul while the female Ghoul is called Mother Ghoul (Umm E Gula in Arabic).

Some people say that they have the power to come in human and animal shapes, which means they are shapeshifters. 

They are very powerful. They have sharp teeth and sharp and long nails to kill their target. They have a strong defense system. Some people say that when they eat a human, they become able to come in the shape of that person. Also, they get the intelligence of that person. 

It is not clear and proven yet.

What Does Ghoul Eat?

Ghoul eats human flesh It mostly eats human dead bodies but some stories and incident state that he/she also eats living humans by attacking and killing them. Ghoul eats all the organs and body parts of humans except bones. 

Some sources state that Ghoul only lives in dark and abandoned places and avoids sunlight. Some say that he also lives in abandoned tunnels where light doesn’t reach. Well, it is unclear whether they expose themselves to sunlight or not.

References To Prove the Existence of Ghoul:

If we read about ghouls in Islam, we will find references that were narrated 1000+ years ago. One of the greatest references is from Al-Tirmidhi, Chapters on The Virtues of the Qur’an (45th Chapter), Chapter: The Hadith of Abu Ayyub Regarding The Ghoul, Book number 42 (in English translation) and hadith number 2880.

Islamic Reference:

The Hadith is Narrated by Abdur-Rahman bin Abi Laila:

“Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari had a storehouse in which he kept dates. A ghoul would come and take from it, so he complained about that to the Prophet (ﷺ). So he said: “Go, and when you see her say: ‘In the Name of Allah, answer to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).'” He said: “So I caught her, and she swore that she would not return, so I released her.” He went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and he said: “What did your captive do?” He said: “She swore not to return.” He said: “She has lied, and she will come again to lie.” He said: “I caught her another time and she swore that she would not return, so I released her and went to the Prophet (ﷺ).” He said: “What did your captive do?” He said: “She swore that she would not return.” So he said: “She lied and she will come again to lie.” So he caught her and said: “I shall not let you go until you accompany me to the Prophet (ﷺ).” She said: “I shall tell you something: If you recite Ayat Al-Kursi in your home, then no Shaitan, nor any other shall come near you.” So he went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and he said: “What did your captive do?” He said: “I informed him of what she said, and he said: ‘She told the truth and she is a continuous liar.'”

Al Tirmdhi, Book 42 (English Translation), Hadith 2880

This narrated story proves the existence of Ghouls. On this occasion, there was a female Ghoul. 

Gulf War Reference:

If you want to look at recent evidence and experiences about Ghoul, then you should know about the Gulf war incident that happened in the Desert Storm operation in 1991. 

Let me give you a quick overview of the situation:

America and Saudi Arabia were doing operations against Iraq. Desert Storm was one of the most strange operations of all those operations. A Saudi unit having 35 army persons suddenly disappeared. The American unit tried a lot to find their location but nothing happened. 

To find the unit, an American unit was sent to the last location where they were appearing in GPS. 

The American unit found the bullets and armor of those soldiers but also found some dead bodies with no flesh on them. They were shocked to see that. These bodies were looking like they were eaten and beaten by wild animals. 

There were not 35 bodies. So, they continued to find the remaining soldiers. After traveling 80 Kilometers away from the previous location, they find the dead bodies of the remaining soldiers. These bodies were only broken bones without any flesh. 

Saudi military confirmed that there is no wild animal in the desert that can kill these soldiers in such a gruesome manner. Douglas Duane Dietrich told the whole story in his interview which you can watch below:

The last known location of the Saudi unit was an abandoned temple. The temple is currently known as “The Ghoul Temple”. This is still a mystery but we can say that the ghouls killed the Saudi unit because there is not such an animal in the desert that can kill 35 armed and highly skilled soldiers in such a violent manner. 

Douglas Duane Dietrich also said in his interview that the Ghoul did this. Netflix has released an Indian horror series named Ghoul which gives a concept of this scary creature. Many people claim that they have seen Ghoul in deserts and graveyards.

My thoughts on Ghoul Mythology:

It is clear that the Ghoul mythology is false. Ghoul is not a myth, it’s a real creature that exists. Ghoul is an evil type of jinn that’s why it is unable to find and figure out. If the ghoul was an animal then scientists and the military were able to find it and close him in a cage. But we know that the ghouls are real and they exist.