Dumah (angel)

For other uses, see Dumah (disambiguation).

Dumah (Heb. דומה "dumbness/to be dumb, or silent") is an angel mentioned in Rabbinical literature. Dumah is a popular figure in Yiddish folklore. I. B. Singer's Short Friday (1964), a collection of stories, mentions Dumah as a "thousand-eyed angel of death, armed with a fiery rod or flaming sword." Dumah is the Aramaic word for silence.

The angel

Duma(h) or Douma (Aramaic) is the angel of silence and of the stillness of death.

Dumah is also the tutelary angel of Egypt, prince of Hell, and angel of vindication. The Zohar speaks of him as having "tens of thousands of angels of destruction" under him, and as being "Chief of demons in Gehinnom [i.e., Hell] with 12,000 myriads of attendants, all charged with the punishment of the souls of sinners." In the Babylonian legend of the descent of Istar into Hades, Dumah shows up as the guardian of the 14th gate.

Other references

• Dumah is one of the twelve sons of Ishmael and the "burden of Dumah" is mentioned in Isaiah 21:11, possibly as a prophecy.
• Dumah is a city associated with the descendants of Ishmael that was known to the Assyrian empire as Adummatu and is known in modern times as Dumat Al-Jandal.
• Doma (a variation of Dumah) the Angel of Silence is a card in the card game Yu-Gi-Oh.
• Dumah makes an appearance in DC Comic's The Sandman series, specifically "The Season of Mists". He, along with Ramiel, become the keepers of Hell after Lucifer abandons his throne.

Bibliography

• Gallagher, William R. (1999), Sennacherib's campaign to Judah: new studies (Illustrated ed.), BRILL, ISBN 9004115374, 9789004115378 
• Hoyland, Robert G. (2001), Arabia and the Arabs: from the Bronze Age to the coming of Islam (Illustrated, reprint ed.), Routledge, ISBN 0415195357, 9780415195355