Fantastic creatures – whether of positive meaning like the archangel Gabriel or the Persian Simorgh or of negative-one as the dragon or the jinns – adorn Islamic objects and buildings, and feature widely in illustrations dealing with cosmology and the fabulous or the “Prophets’ Tales” and the Persian “Shahnama” epic heroes. While some of these creatures continue traditions anterior or parallel to Islam, yet others constitute an original Islamic creation ex-nihilo. How such beings are represented and what do they symbolize? What are the tales and the stories associated with them? What role/s do they fulfill in the medieval Islamic worldview? The seminar shall examine selected fantastic creatures within visual, literary and cultural contexts by implementing theoretical approaches to the fantastic and the fabulous in Islamic art and beyond it.