Spoooooky photos I’ve taken on the island over the years

Various sources have recorded the lore of Failaka Island. In her 1988 thesis Middle-aged women in Kuwait: Victims of change, Zubaydah Ali M. Ashkanani writes that, “Failakans have been always known as being more superstitious and in some respect more romantic than Kuwaitis. The reason for that is very difficult to understand as it needs a comprehensive, and in some respect, in-depth study of the people. Yet one can assume that the fact that they have different origins, which in general, were not so much opposed to popular beliefs (Oman, still very well known for its people’s belief in Jinn, and witchcraft, Kharg, an Iranian island, Faw, an Iraqi southern district, which like other Iraqi places must have the same beliefs) has helped in the emergence and continuity of these beliefs. One can also assume that in addition to this factor, poverty, and difficulties due to the harsh environmental factors, which were the main characteristics of Failaka, have also helped in giving rise to these beliefs. Yet I would like to leave these reasons and motives as assumptions rather than to confirm them as facts.”

Bu Darya

Ashkanani continues, “[Failakans] believe in the existence of some fabulous creatures on the island… even though in the pre-oil period mainland Kuwaitis themselves, especially the non aristocrats, were strong believers in the same or similar creatures.” One such creature is Bu Darya. He is half-man and half-fish and is said to live in the Gulf. According to an article by Katarzyna Pechin, his name (a combination of Arabic & Persian) translates to “Lord of the Sea.” Similar to sirens in the Mediterranean, he screams out in the night in order to try and lure sailors. HRP Dickson wrote, “most of the islanders firmly believe in the existence of a malignant demon, called Bu-Darya, who is said to frequent the sea around the island, especially between it and Maskan, and to entice the unwary out of their depth and drown them.”Ashkanani continues, “the Failakan tendency to believe in ‘supernatural spirits’ has not escaped the writers of ‘Failaka Touristic Guide.’ The following piece is taken from [that source],

‘the islanders believe that a strange creature named by them Abu Darya or Baba Darya lives in the stretch of sea between Al-zor and Maskan island. He is said to leap from the sea and devour anyone who may happen to be sitting too close to the waves.’

The first image is in the 2017 article “A Tale of ‘The Lord of the Sea'” by Katarzyna Pechcin and the sketch comes from Marco Hernandez

Um Shahu

In her work Voice of the Oud, Jehan Rajab describes the Danish mission on Failaka in the 1960s, writing, “in the evening the excavators would spend time writing up reports as well as doing odd jobs connected with their work. Every now and again everyone would collect together and sit on the bench around a fire of driftwood with the sea gently breaking on the shore and big luminous stars shining directly above. It was a couple of the younger Failachawis who worked on the excavation sites who would tell us some of the folk tales of Failaka.” Another folk tale is of a witch reputed to live on Failaka named Um Shahu, who appears to be synonymous with Hemarat al-Gayla on the mainland. Rajab continues, “a most fearsome witch, the half animal ‘Um Shahu, described as a woman with wild, tangled hair, donkey’s feet and hands the size and shape of a cow’s forefeet wandered the island and [attacked] any in her path. ‘Um Shahu was also known on the mainland and sometimes wandered the streets of old Kuwait. It was partly these nights sitting on the seashore listening to tales by the Failachawis that inspired the well-known Danish poet Thorkild Hansen to write his book of poems and stories about Failaka.”

The inhabitants of Failaka believe that their island is the home of a number of evil supernatural spirits. They believe, for example, in the existence of a malignant sorceress named Umm Shahu who is half animal. She is thought to have her home in three large flat stones, level with the desert, some distance to the north of Al-zor, and is reputed to [attack] lone islanders after dark. –Failakan Touristic Guide

Many also believe in Shahu, who is described as being like a woman with donkey’s feet, hands like a cow’s forefeet, and hair like a camel-load of brushwood. Shahu is also to be found, so it is declared, in Kuwait town. -HRP Dickson, Kuwait and Her Neighbours

This image comes this Kuwait Times article

A Tyrant King, Tantal, and Giants

Other legends include a tyrant king, a creature named Tantal, and giants inhabiting the island. In Gazetter of the Persian Gulf, JG Lorimer writes, “Qurainyah is said to have been the seat of a tyrant who wore golden boots; his city was destroyed by God because he cut a child in half to prove the temper of his sword.” In the Failakan Touristic Guide, they write, “the islanders believe that a ghoul of type commonly met in Arab folk mythology lives on Failaka, they call him Tantal. Many islanders today disclaim any belief in the existence of any of these spirits and insist that they are all tales invented for the sake of the children to scare them from wandering too far alone, especially after dark.”

These images come from the same Kuwait Times article

In The Arab of the Desert, HRP Dickson writes, “other curious beliefs exist in the island, such as that once giants resided in the ruined city in the centre of the island. They certainly show the visitor graves over 20 ft. long.” In Voice of the Oud, Rajab writes, “nearby [to the Al Khidr shrine]… was an old graveyard littered with pot shards of all periods. The strange things about those graves were the distances, about fifteen feet, between each head and foot stone. No explanation exists as to why the graves appear to be so long and once more local lore murmured ‘Giants once inhabited the island.’”

My copy of the book with a fold out map of Failaka

Sa’ad, Sa’id, and Sa’adeh

The remains of the island’s ancient history were also woven into its modern oral history. Over time, the ancient settlements and temples had been covered up and developed into small hills (or “tells,” the Arabic word for mound). You can read a myth below, which gave these tells their names: Sa’ad, Sa’id, and Sa’adeh. With time, the mounds became known as holy sites. In 1935, H.R.P. Dickson and his wife Violet took a visit to the island and noted that the tells were covered with potsherds. Two years later, Freya Stark remarked that it was at these tells one could find the temples of Artemis and Apollo. In 1958, archaeology began on Failaka and excavators first began their digs at Tell Sa’ad and Sa’id.

According to local mythology two brothers named Sa’ad and Sa’id had a sister named Sa’adeh. Rumor circulated amongst the local community accusing her of immoral-behaviour and her angry brothers banished her to an isolated spot in the north of the island. There she died of thirst and starvation. To the utter horror of the brothers they discovered that she had been wrongly accused and was innocent. Guilt and remorse drove them to the south of the island to the ghostly ruins of ancient settlements. Each chose a Tell where they sought repentance in their solitude and in turn they starved to death and were buried on top. From that time forth the three ancient Tells became known as Sa’ad, Sa’id and Sa’adeh. – Jehan Rajab, Voice of the Oud

In Grayniyah there is the tomb of a Sayid called ‘Sayid il Graniyah’… there is a story told about three knights dressed in white who came out of the tombs of Sa’ad and S’id at night and go to Grayniyah where they disappeared. -Ashkanani, Middle Aged Women in Kuwait

From Al-Bahrain by P.V. Glob, showing Sa’ad and Sa’id before they were excavated