Iblis in the Oued Righ Oven Tale

Overview

The narrative is set in the time of Aïssa, the source’s name for Jesus. A devout woman puts a flatbread in an oven and goes to pray. Iblis appears to her in the form of a woman, warning that the bread is burning. She does not turn aside. The tempter escalates from that warning to violence, taking her son and throwing him into the oven. The mother continues rather than interrupting her prayer. This is the complete represented disguise: a woman’s form, with no animal body or additional anatomy described.

When the husband returns, he finds the child playing inside the oven. The burning coals have become red shells for him through God’s intervention. The transformation and rescue therefore belong to God in this episode, not to Iblis. The event is reported to Aïssa, who summons the mother and questions her. She explains her attention to prayer, willingness to meet requests that do not displease God and endurance of harm from living and dead. The printed account ends with her explanation; it does not show Iblis being captured, killed or subsequently reconciled.

Basset identifies this short witness as communicated at Touggourt in 1885 and previously published with its underlying transcription. It preserves a local narrative appearance of the named tempter, rather than supplying a complete account of Iblis across Islamic writings. The mother’s conduct and the miraculous protection are presented as this religious story’s sequence; the collection note names no individual narrator.

Origins & earliest records

Basset, Nouveaux contes berbères (1897), no. 90, L’enfant sauvé des flammes, complete pp. 57–58, headed Oued Righ. Source note 166, pp. 275–276, records communication at Touggourt in 1885 and earlier transcription in Étude sur la Zénatia du Mzab, pp. 170–171; no individual contributor is named there.

Records & interpretation

Original pages 96–97 read in full through the mother’s final explanation. Original source-note pages 314–315, printed pp. 275–276, checked. No independent whole reading of the earlier transcription is claimed.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Nouveaux contes berbères

   René Basset, translator and editor; individual contributor unresolved · 1897

   No. 90, complete pp. 57–58; source note 166, pp. 275–276.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary communicated religious narrative in collected translation; original facsimiles inspectedOriginal complete Oued Righ oven narrative and source noteResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.