What significance might attach to the female head of the buraq?

Buraq (Arabic: البراق, literally: lightning, outburst, blinding whiteness) is a mythological equine, with the head of a woman and the body of a mare, which appears in the Islamic tradition. According to it, Buraq was the one who moved Mohammed from Earth to Heaven and back during the Isra 'and Mi'raj (night journey), which is one of the chapters of the Qur'an. However, no hadeeth or early text alludes to a humanoid face, only to a "beautiful steed" greater than a donkey and smaller than a mule, a description that was probably misinterpreted when translated into Persian, extending into Persian and Indian Islamic art the figure with a beautiful female face. The descriptions also do not clarify the sex of the creature, although it is usually assumed to be male, but Ibn Sa'd causes the angel Gabriel to address him as a female, which reinforced the identification as a female.

every of the four river valley civilizations, religion played an enormous role in shaping and cultivating each civilization. this essay will briefly discuss how religion formed the river valley people’s government and view on geography. religion dictated how the peoples of the river valley civilizations managed government and geography.

            religious leaders played prominent roles in every river valley civilizations form of government. from ancient egypt and mesopotamia to china’s historic empire and the indus river valley, all the river valley civilizations had significant religious figures. in ancient egypt, the pharaoh was revered as a god and therefore was given his right as supreme governing authority in the eyes of the people. the elusive emperors of china gained there governing rights by a mandate of heaven creating long lines of dynasties until the common people of china felt the dynasty had lost the favor of the gods. chinese emperors were not only governing leaders but also the spiritual leaders of ancient china. mesopotamian and indus river valley priests were referred as has head officials who had vast amounts of authority in these two civilizations primitive forms of democracy. religion shaped the structure and social caste of the four river valley civilizations.

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