COME RICAVARE I NOMI DEGLI ANGELI E DEI DEMONI NELLA DIVINAZIONE CON I QUADRATI MAGICI, SECONDO IL MAFĀTĪḤ AL-ĠAYB DI AḤMAD MŪSĀ AL-ZARQĀWĪ

• Main Author: Rosanna Budelli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Università degli Studi di Torino 2016-02-01
• Series: Kervan. International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies
• Online Access: http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/kervan/article/view/1407

The aim of this article is to provide a synthetic illustration of the way to obtain the names of the angels and the demons that the Arab magicians evoke during their rites. This method is carried out by the means of magic squares, as described in the Mafātīḥ al-ġayb by Aḥmad Mūsā al-Zarqāwī (m. 1946). Even if late, this book represents a precious source to know this practice performed by sufis as well as magicians. Classical treatises on magic usually shows the wafq ala‘ dād (literally: “accordance between numbers”, the Arabic name for “magic square”) as previously-drawn talismans that the conjurer copies and uses for his purposes. The Mafātīḥ al-ġayb explains, in a detailed way, the construction of the squares in which the magician inserts the numerical values of the Qoranic verses. After a series of arithmetical calculations he proceeds with drawing out the names of the spiritual beings that are charged to fulfill the client’s request. This complex ceremony is included in a wider view that considers the physical and the transcendental worlds as a unity. Men can penetrate and manage their mysteries through the acquaintance of numbers and letters’ laws. The application of mathematical models in the practice of divination has known a large development during the centuries in the Islamic civilization and constitutes the most original contribution by the Arabs to the history of magic. Scholars usually disregard such an argument that has composed a long chapter in the Islamic culture and that would deserve, in our opinion, more interest and attention.