フマという鳥は、一生休むことなく、目に見えないほど高いところを飛び、地上に降り立つこともないと言われている(脚がないという伝説もある)<ref name="Nile">Nile, Green, Ostrich Eggs and Peacock Feathers: Sacred Objects as Cultural Exchange between Christianity and Islam, Al Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, 18, 1, <!--March-->2006, pages:27–78, doi:10.1080/09503110500222328.</ref>。
フマの神話のいくつかのバリエーションでは、この鳥は不死鳥のようであり、数百年ごとに火で自らを焼き尽くし、灰の中から新たに立ち上がる、と言われている。フマという鳥は、一体の中に雄と雌の性質を持ち(中国の鳳凰を思わせる)、それぞれの性質が片翼と片足を持っていると言われている。フマは慈悲深く、その影(または触れること)が吉とされることから「幸運の鳥」<ref name="divan"http://turkoloji.cu.edu.tr/ESKI%20TURK%20%20EDEBIYATI/batislam.pdf , H. Dilek Batîslam , Mythological Birds of the Classical Ottoman Poetry: Huma, Anka and Simurg. , Türk Kültürü İncelemeleri Dergisi,İstanbul 2002, 185–208 , 3 August 2009 , language=tr</ref>とされている。
In Sufi tradition, catching the Huma is beyond even the wildest imagination, but catching a glimpse of it or even a shadow of it is sure to make one happy for the rest of his/her life. It is also believed that Huma cannot be caught alive, and the person killing a Huma will die in forty days.<ref name="divan"/>
In [[Ottoman poetry]], the creature is often referred to as a '[[Bird-of-paradise|bird of paradise]]';<ref name="divan">{{Citation |url=http://turkoloji.cu.edu.tr/ESKI%20TURK%20%20EDEBIYATI/batislam.pdf |author=H. Dilek Batîslam |title=Mythological Birds of the Classical Ottoman Poetry: Huma, Anka and Simurg. |publisher=Türk Kültürü İncelemeleri Dergisi,İstanbul 2002, 185–208 |access-date= 3 August 2009 |language=tr}}</ref><ref>''cf''. {{citation|last=Andrews|first=Walter|last2=Kalpakli|first2=Mehmet|title=The Age of Beloveds|year=2005|publisher=Duke University Press|pages=341–342}}.</ref> early European descriptions of the [[Paradisaeidae]] species portrayed the birds as having no wings or legs, and the birds were assumed to stay aloft their entire lives.
In [[Attar of Nishapur]]'s allegorical masterpiece ''[[The Conference of the Birds]]'', an eminent example of Sufi works in [[Persian literature]], the Huma bird is portrayed as a pupil that refuses to undertake a journey because such an undertaking would compromise the privilege of bestowing kingship on those whom it flew over. In Iranian literature, this kingship-bestowing function of the Huma bird is identified with pre-Islamic monarchs, and stands vis-a-vis ravens, which is a metaphor for Arabs.<ref>{{citation|last=Pourshariati|first=Parvaneh|title=Local Historiography in Early Medieval Iran and the Tārīkh-i Bayhaq|journal=Iranian Studies|volume=33|issue=1/2|year=<!--Winter-Spring-->2000|pages=133–164|doi=10.1080/00210860008701979}}, p. 151.</ref> The legend appears in non-Sufi art as well.<ref>''cf''. <!-- "Balwant Singh on A Terrace Overlooking a River"-->{{citation|last=Goswamy|first=B. N.|title=Nainsukh of Guler: A Great Indian Painter from a Small Hill-State|journal=Artibus Asiae|series=Supplementum|volume=41|year=1997|pages=5–304}}, p. 118.</ref>