Magic Squares

Sarji, Shihab al-Din Ahmad b. Ahmad b. 'Abd al-Latif al-Zabidi al-Yamani al-. Kitab al-Fawa'id fi l-salat wa-l-'awa'id [Book of Useful Lessons on Prayer and Benefits].

€ 6,500.00

A collection of one hundred fawa'id, i.e., "useful lessons", ascribed to the Yemeni scholar al-Sarji (1410-88). This work combines content from Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) and traditions of the prophet Muhammad (hadith) with descriptions of talismans, magical practices, and magic squares. According to Brockelmann, the title of this work has "fi l-silat" ("on Connections"), instead of "fi l-salat" ("on Prayer"); however, the manuscript's 17th-century copyist wrote "fi l-salat". This work has also been printed as a lithograph in 19th-century Cairo and in Mumbai (Bombay).

This is an unsophisticated manuscript for private practical use, showing signs of heavy wear which apparently continued until fairly recently (with several modern ballpoint entries). Sprinkled throughout the ms. are numerous magical squares, some bearing numbers, others words (such as "Allah", "light", "earth", etc.), sometimes both combined. Many quotations from the Qur'an and Islamic scholars. Continued at the end by other hands, with many prayers and invocations.

Although copied in the Islamic East, this manuscript has traveled through North Africa, where shorter texts and notes in Maghribi script were added to the manuscript, mainly on the flyleaves and empty leaves at the beginning and end (7 and 5 ff., respectively). These include texts by the Moroccan scholar Abu Zayd 'Abd al-Rahman al-Jishtimi (1771-1853); another note in Maghribi script by another hand is a recipe for the production of red cinnabar from sulphur.