Yes, but are there
references to actual codices, i.e. library/collection name,
shelfmark, etc? Or at least to the secondary sources where
these are listed? I do a bit of work in Islamic manuscript
studies, and to the best of my knowledge there are only a
very few non-Qur'anic codices from the 8th century on any
topic, much less works on magic. I'm just curious as to what
your sources are on this.
Thanks,
Noah
On 4/20/2011 3:21 AM, N.W. Azal wrote:
Yes, I am referring to the
codices, and there also references. But al-Nadeem's
Fihrist does not refer to all of these - or
everything, for that matter. I have not seen evidence
for it, but there have been claims that we have
references to texts from the middle of the Ummayyad
period as well, esp. during the caliphate of the
second Mu'awiyya who had been hiring Syriac Christians
for his court.
Any text or diary of a work (i.e. 'amal) by practicing
occultists or group thereof wherein such workings
(a'maal) are in evidence can be defined under grimoire
rubric.
On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 5:13
PM, Noah Gardiner
<[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
I'm curious
what early 8th-c. Arabic grimoires (or physical
evidence thereof) you're referring to? Do you
mean surviving codices, or do you mean textual
references (al-Nadim, etc.) to works that
haven't been recovered? And how are we defining
'grimoire' in this context?
- Noah
On 4/19/2011 7:21 AM, N.W. Azal wrote:
My first question to
you would be what fool-proof geneological
evidence is there for the textual
antiquity of the legemeton, its specific
sigils and its rituals as they appear in
their current (popular) textual
recensions? This is the first place to
start. My considered opinion is that in
the current recension it does not possess
an antiquity at all. This is a
controversial subject, I know, yet it is a
subject needing to be further probed and
from the point of view of solid textual
criticism - and between several languages
- because in my opinion the origins of
this material may derive from several
different sources.
The earliest grimoires in Arabic, so far
as we have physical evidence for complete,
contiguous manuscripts, can be dated to
about the early party of the eighth
century CE. Much of this early material,
as is echoed in the later material as well
to a great extent, relied on transmissions
from Syriac which incorporated Hebrew as
well. What is particularly interesting
about the Syriac (suryani) is that many of
the invocations and names used appear to
have sources in
Assyro-Babylonian/Chaldaean sources. You
also have grimoires from the first few
decades of the Abbasid caliphate in
Baghdad (760s-820s) attesting to Mandaean,
or rather Harranian, source materials.
There were as well certain transmissions
happening amongst the assorted minority
Shi'ite and Imami groups in the first few
centuries of Islamicate as well because
material of a specifically occult
provenance can be gleaned directly from
the Shi'ite akhbar (the Shi'ite
traditions/hadith). One such piece is the
device known as the Greatest Name (ism
al-a'zam), which is a calligram composed
usually of between seven to eight sigils,
and is claimed to have been transmitted by
the first Shi'ite Imam 'Ali (d. 661) on
the authority of the Prophet who,
according to some sources, got it from the
Archangel Gabriel. This device is also
known by the alternate name of the Seals
of Solomon (khitam al-sulyman) and the
Dignity of the Sun (sharaf al-shams).
Versions of this device can be found in
Kabbalistic sources in Hebrew, especially
in commentaries on the Sefer Yetzirah.
Aryeh Kaplan reproduces the Hebrew
versions of these in his translation of
this work. I don't whether we can attach
files to this list but I am happy to
attach a .jpeg of this device/calligram in
its Islamic form for your perusal.
Jinn magic appears quite early in the
history of Islamicate a) because the Jinn
are specifically discussed in the Qur'an
and b) pre-Islamic sorcery in Arabia
already possessed a sophisticated
transmission long before the career of the
Prophet. The very final surah of the
Qur'an btw (al-nass, 114), besides its
scriptural aspect, is actually held by the
tradition to have been revealed to
Muhammad specifically as a counteraction
against malefic Jinn.
But the Jinn and the Demons are two
different things, albeit there is some
ambiguity and debate on this question,
theologically speaking. But in short, the
Qur'an and the traditions (hadith) that
speak on occult subjects refer to Jinn and
to Demons (shayatin) as separate beings.
The substance of the Jinn is usually held
to be of fire (nar) but then you have
sources attesting to races of Jinn
emerging from each of the 4 elements
(which, then, ipso facto makes the Jinn
analogous to the Elementals of the Western
Tradition). Then again the Demons
(shayatin) are likewise held to be firey
beings given their origin from the hellish
realms (jahanam).
That said, the material I have looked at
from al-Buni, besides his Great Sun of
Gnoses, attests to material that may have
found its way into sources in Europe.
There is other material I have looked at
besides al-Buni since 2008 (mostly scans
of assorted occult mss. scanned and
released for circulation from private and
certain manuscript libraries not
heretofore available) that would lend
credence to the theory as well.
On Tue, Apr 19,
2011 at 8:01 PM, Mark Rance
<[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
Hello,
Nice to meet you. As a practitioner i
come across claims that the spirits
worked with from the Goetia are
claimed by some to be Jinn, I cannot
see a direct association myself (Thou
the brass vessel containing spirits
does sound very similar to notions of
geni in a bottle), but would be
interested to know what mythic
structures are involved in an Islamic
version of the building of Solomons
temple and whether as with later
versions of the story like the
Testament of Solomon a direct
association is made to Jinn building
the temple.
In general it would be nice to know
what direct comparison their is
between western and Arabic grimoires,
as many of the early grimoires mix
Arabic, Christian, Greek and Hebrew
demon and/or pagan god names.
Are their any Islamic grimoires that
directly compare to The lesser key of
Solomon is the jist of my question and
if so in what way ?
Kind Regards
Mark
