The Empires of the Near East and India: Source Studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal Literate Communities

MATTHEW MELVIN-KOUSHKI

Preceding then paralleling similar developments in Renaissance Europe, royal patronage of the occult sciences sharply increased in the post-Mongol Persianate world, particularly in tandem with the florescence of occultism among scholarly elites in the Islamic heartlands from the mid-fourteenth century onward. Such was the attraction these sciences held that Mamluk, Timurid and Aqquyunlu, rulers frequently employed professional occultists as strategists and ideologues in support of their imperial claims. With these fifteenth-century states as template, Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal dynasts continued this tradition of occult-scientific patronage as key ideological prop, and indeed expanded it in the run-up to the Islamic millennium (1000/1592 CE) as imperial messianism crescendoed.

This massive patronage program, sustained over centuries, is easily explained, post-Enlightenment scientistic positivism all notwithstanding. As many occultist manuals written for early modern Turko-Mongol Perso-Islamic ruling elites assert, the occult sciences, classified from the ninth century onward as a distinctive subset of the rational sciences, confer control over time and space, thereby allowing sovereigns and bureaucrats to control their political and material fate—a imperially compelling prospect indeed. These sciences thus fall into two categories: prognosticative or divinatory, concerned with time, and magical or operative, concerned with space, that is, the physical and psychical realms. The first includes astrology (nujum, ahkam-i nujum), geomancy (raml), and letter divination (jafr), often considered to be applied mathematical (riyazi) sciences in the early modern Persianate world; the second includes alchemy (kimiya) and letter magic (simiya), especially talismans (tilismat), each both mathematical and natural (tabiʿi). From the thirteenth century onward, moreover, the occult sciences as an epistemological unit were progressively sanctified through their association with the sacral power (walaya) of the Shiʿi imams, and by extension Sufi saints, as well as the text of the Qurʾan itself—such that Islam became synonymous with magic for a majority of Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal scholarly and ruling elites. The epistemological boundaries between these rational-cum-religious sciences were highly porous as a consequence, and they were routinely used in tandem. One must first know the future in order to change it, especially militarily; and one must be able to change the future to successfully claim millennial sovereignty.

SAFAVID IRAN: LETTRISM

This section takes as a representative test case the occult science of letters (ʿilm-i huruf), or lettrism, as practiced and patronized in Safavid Iran. Widely considered a universal science (that is, having metaphysical, mathematical, and physical applications) by the sixteenth century, as well as the science of the saints (ʿilm-i awliyaʾ) par excellence, this coeval Arabic twin to Hebrew kabbalah encompassed everything from the simplest forms of letter magic and letter divination to the most rarefied forms of cosmological speculation. This epistemological breadth gave lettrism immense popularity and mainstream status, such that it became ubiquitous among early modern scholarly and ruling elites from Anatolia to India. The Safavids were no exception; their patronage of the occult sciences generally and lettrism specifically seems to have been somewhat less robust than that of their Ottoman and Mughal competitors to the west and east, both as frequently messianic in their imperial self-fashioning but presiding over empires much wealthier and far more populous and cosmopolitan; sources report a number of high-profile lettrists, geomancers, astrologers, and alchemists connected with the Safavid court. More importantly, Safavid Iran in general, and Shiraz in particular, served as occult-scientific capital of the Persian cosmopolis: the infamous brain drain of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, due to Qizilbash-induced instability and persecution of Nuqtavis, meant that perhaps as much as half of the professional occultists working at the neighboring Ottoman, Mughal, and lesser courts were in origin and/or training Shirazis.

Of these I have chosen as a representative example Mahmud Dihdar Shirazi (fl. 1576), penname ʿIyani (Eyewitness), the most prolific Persian author on lettrism of the sixteenth century; most notably, this aspiring Safavid courtier was teacher to the hugely influential Safavid Chief Jurisconsult (shaykh al-islam) Bahaʾ al-Din al-ʿAmili (d. 1621)—a chief architect in turn of the new Safavid Shiʿi imperial culture—in the occult sciences. The Dihdars were a prominent scholarly family during the sixteenth century, and seem to have adjusted smoothly to the Safavid takeover: Mahmud’s father was the famed astronomer-philosopher Shams al-Din Khafri (d. 1535), who enjoyed good relations with Shah Ismaʿil I (r. 1501–1524), and his son Muhammad Dihdar Shirazi (d. 1607), an émigré to India and protégé of the famed polymath-occultist Mir Fath Allah Shirazi (d. 1589), was the author of much admired mystico-philosophical works. Together with his mentorship of Shaykh Bahaʾi, Mahmud Dihdar’s connection to the Safavid court is suggested by the fact that he was a student and associate of Shaykh Abu l-Qasim Muhammad (d. 1590), aka Amri Shirazi, who served as court poet under Shah Tahmasb I (r. 1524–1576) for thirty years. Our Shirazi occultist also dedicated at least three works to this shah’s son and short-lived, controversial successor, Shah Ismaʿil II (r. 1576–1577), who is therein fashioned a millennial sovereign in strictly occult-scientific terms. In the preface to the first, entitled Zubdat al-Asrar (Choicest Secrets), he significantly provides a lettrist proof for the ontological equivalency of Shah Ismaʿil (I and II) and Imam ʿAli—a theme central to early Safavid imperial propaganda—and a prognostication of events up to the Islamic millennium. The second, Sifat al-Nufus fi Tawhid al-Quddus (Attributes of the Soul: On the Oneness of the All-holy), opens with praise of Muhammad, ʿAli, and Shah Ismaʿil II in quick succession. The third, Hall al-Rumuz (Explicating Allusions), a commentary on a thirteenth-century lettrist classic written for a distinguished visiting colleague from Mosul, somewhat reworks the lettrist proof and prognostication offered in the Zubdat al-Asrar—and goes beyond it to announce the imminent manifestation of the Mahdi at the turn of the millennium.

Mahmud Dihdar’s oeuvre as a whole is likewise overtly Imami Shiʿi in flavor, a design feature calculated to attract the patronage of Safavid elites. He emphasizes lettrism’s status as the science of the imams par excellence and hence the primary means of harnessing their sacral power; this association, of course, goes back to the origins of Shiʿism itself, but it is here recast in strictly scientific terms. Most remarkably, Mahmud asserts that he is responsible for working out the first comprehensive letter-magical operation based on the names of the Fourteen Infallibles (chahardah maʿsum)—who are thus posited as cosmological principles available to (occult-)scientific experimentation. (I translate a portion of this operation below.) In short, our Shirazi lettrist, like his better-known scholarly associates, played a significant role in the construction of a new Safavid Shiʿi imperial culture during the latter half of the sixteenth century.

Mahmud Dihdar authored at least nineteen works, all in the field of applied lettrism and its ancillary disciplines, and almost exclusively in Persian. Chief among these is the Mafatih al-Maghaliq (Keys to All Locks), a sizable manual of letter magic and letter divination not dissimilar to the Shams al-Maʿarif al-Kubra (The Great Sun of Knowledge), the ubiquitous grimoire associated with the North African sufi-mage Ahmad al-Buni (d. c. 1225–1233), whom it regularly cites. Mahmud’s own grimoire appears to have been prized since the sixteenth century and is still readily procurable from bazaars in Iran, with scans circulating freely online.2 Other popular works include Zubdat al-Alvah (Choicest Talismans), on letter magic and letter divination, which contains his signature letter-magical invocation of the Fourteen Infallibles; and the abovementioned Zubdat al-Asrar, on astral letter magic, particularly planetary invocations.

Due to the reflexive scholarly elision of occultism from early modern Islamicate intellectual, political, and cultural history, however, this influential Shirazi occultist has yet to be studied, nor have any of his writings been published in modern editions. To show the authorial range and didactic and eulogizing style of a typical sixteenth-century Persian court occultist, I therefore translate short excerpts from the three works just listed on the basis of surviving manuscript and lithograph copies.

KEYS TO ALL LOCKS

Mafatih al-Maghaliq is Mahmud Dihdar’s most seminal work on various aspects of applied lettrism, as suggested by a cursory survey of surviving manuscripts of the work in Iran alone—some twenty-eight, as well as four extracts. Its popularity continues unabated today, moreover: a Google search on the title (February 2018) returned some 30,000 hits in Arabic and Persian, with regular citation on Internet discussion boards dedicated to lettrism, and a number of websites in Iran sell pdfs of a nineteenth-century manuscript facsimile.³ The author informs us in the preface that the work was completed in 976 (1569 CE). He outlines its scope as follows.

Translation

The purpose behind the composition of this book is as follows: This worthless wretch, Ibn Muhammad Mahmud Dihdar, penname ʿIyani, was in the habit of meeting with a group of friends to discuss [various topics], and at each meeting I would speak about various principles of the science of taksir,⁴ the rules governing the [construction of a] comprehensive prognosticon (jafr-i jamiʿ), a concealed solar [prognosticon] (khabiya-yi shamsi) and a hidden lunar [prognosticon] (khafiya-yi qamari), the secrets of magic squares (aʿdad-i vafq), the nature of the letter (harf) and the dot (nuqta), and the active properties (khavass) of each of the above. As some participants held erroneous views on various of these topics, I thought it necessary to draft a text (nuskha) and string together a few lines to provide beginner students of this noble science with an adequate exemplar (unmuzaji kafi).

[Mafatih al-Maghaliq, n.p., n.d., 1–2]

HOW TO CONSTRUCT A COMPREHENSIVE PROGNOSTICON

Those who wish to write such a text must refrain from all forbidden acts and be in a state of ritual purity; in such a state and in total purity one may then purpose to write, and write only under auspicious aspects and during auspicious hours. At base this prognosticon (jafr) has 28 sections, with each section having twenty-eight pages, and each page having twenty-eight lines, and each line having twenty-eight cells, and in each cell four letters are written (these corresponding to the four elements).5 The procedure for writing them may be exemplified as follows. In each cell of the first line of the first page of the first section write the following:

Continue with the fifth cell in similar fashion, writing an H after three As, and in the sixth cell a W after three As, until you arrive at the twenty-eighth cell at the end of the first line of the first page, wherein you write a Gh after three As. In the second line of the first page of the first section proceed as follows:

Continue in similar fashion until in the twenty-eighth cell at the end of the second line of the first page you write AABGh. And in the third line of the first page of the first section proceed as follows:

Continue in similar fashion to the end of the page. On the second page of the first section proceed as follows:

On the second line of the second page proceed as follows:

It will be clear to the percipient how to proceed with the rest of the writing.

The virtue (khassiyyat) of this procedure is that all the divine names in every language (lughat), however expressed (ʿibarat), are thus contained in their entirety in this text by means of complete taksir; and universal benefits are therein comprised. Any capable and fortunate person (sahib-i dawlati) who completes the writing [of a book of jafr], from beginning to end, while observing the requisite conditions as mentioned above, will doubtlessly achieve his worldly or spiritual aim and find himself the subject of material and spiritual conquests (futuhat).

Know that this procedure is generally and specifically dependent on the transit of the Moon, though it is also more broadly tied to all seven planets, and the Sun in particular. But because [a book of jafr is constituted of] twenty-eightsections of twenty-eightpages each, each page having twenty-eightlines and each line having twenty-eightcells, it corresponds most closely to the Moon and its mansions. By this principle, then, each section generally corresponds to a celestial house, its pages to the houses’ degrees (darajat), its lines to the minutes (daqayiq) of those degrees, and its letters to their seconds (savani). Likewise, in general terms the first page of the first section is linked to Sharatayn (β γ Arietis), the first degree of Aries, which begins the series, and the last page of its first section is linked to the mansion of Rasha (Batn al-Hut, β Andromedae), the last degree of Pisces. Thus the first twelve sections of the text are linked with the twelve stages of the lunar transit of its mansions, totaling some 336 days, equivalent to eleven months and a few days.

[Mafatih al-Maghaliq, 13–16]

HOW TO PERFORM A PLANETARY INVOCATION BASED ON THE FATIHA

Know that the practitioners of this noble science assign the seven verses of the Fatiha to the seven planets respectively, beginning with Saturn and ending with the Moon according to the order of verses. Some reverse this order, assigning the first verse to the Moon and the last to Saturn. Some also assign them to the days of the week, beginning from Sunday, which is associated with the Sun, to Monday, associated with the Moon, to Tuesday, associated with Mars, to Wednesday, associated with Mercury, to Thursday, associated with Jupiter, to Friday, associated with Venus, to Saturday, associated with Saturn, thereby drawing a correspondence between the verses of the Fatiha and the planet governing the assigned days of each and in the same order as enumerated. Others assign them according to the order of the planets, beginning from the sphere of the Sun, to which they assign the first verse of the sura; the last verse they assign to Mars. This [system of] correspondence is preferable to the first in that the names of angels and [jinn] helpers (aʿvan) require the mention of that planet with which they are associated in such an invocation, as Imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq established in his assignment of letters to verses of the Fatiha, which scheme was carried over by the author of the Ghayat al-Hakim and systematized by Shaykh Abu l-ʿAbbas Buni—that is, proceeding in abjad order beginning with the Sun and ending with Mars:

Sun	A B J D	Saturn	F S Q R
Venus	H W Z H	Jupiter	Sh T Th Kh
Mercury	T Y K L	Mars	Dh D Z Gh
Moon	M N S ʿ

[Mafatih al-Maghaliq, 162–63]

VENUS TALISMAN

If someone is cold toward you and you wish to make them friendly, write [the talismanic symbols below] on a glass cup with musk and saffron on Friday at the beginning of the day and make them drink therefrom; but you must make them drink it with honey and willowsap (? ʿaraq-i bid) while the preacher is on the pulpit on Friday.

[This operation] is also useful for inducing obedience in your object of desire (maʿshuqi): using your own semen (ab-i mina), write the Venus talisman on white sugar and make your beloved eat it, and things will become easy (muyassar).

And if you inscribe the Venus talisman on deer leather (varaq-i ahu) or birdskin paper (kaghaz-i tayr) with musk, saffron, and willowsap on Friday while the preacher is delivering his sermon and then roll it up and keep it with you, it is useful in attracting (dusti) beardless boys (amradan) and women.

[Mafatih al-Maghaliq, 323–24, 325.]

CHOICEST SECRETS

Zubdat al-Asrar is Mahmud Dihdar’s most focused work on astral letter magic, including planetary invocations. There appear to be two versions of this treatise. The first, whose title in full is Zubdat al-Asrar va Khulasat al-Azkar, reflects its divisions into zubdat al-asrar (theoretical discussion in verse) and khulasat al-azkar (prose, including example Arabic invocations) sections, and contains a dedicatory preface for Shah Ismaʿil II, newly enthroned in 1576 upon the death of Tahmasb; it is largely devoted to a lettrist analysis of his name and a prediction of events up to the year 1592. (As Ismaʿil II’s reign lasted little more than a year, this version of the treatise must have been written shortly after his accession.) Reflecting the evolution of Safavid imperial identity during the long reign of the new shah’s father, it is highly significant that Mahmud Dihdar here seeks to demonstrate the ontological equivalency of Ismaʿil and ʿAli on lettrist bases (the Qizilbash earlier having worshipped the first Safavid shah as the reincarnation of ʿAli); similarly important is his identification of Ismaʿil with the divine name All-hearing, this for purposes of letter-magical working. The second version, titled Kanz al-Rumuz, lacks this dedicatory preface but is otherwise identical to the first. The work contains a variety of tables for consultation by the lettrist practitioner, such as the generation of the letters (hurufat) from celestial conjunctions (istikakat-i falaki) and the transit of planets, the letters in their planetary houses, the letters as assigned to the four elements (arkan), and so forth. Two manuscript copies survive in Iran,6 together with one partial copy entitled only Khulasat al-Azkar.⁷

Translation

A LETTRIST ANALYSIS OF THE NAME OF SHAH ISMAʿIL II UPON HIS ACCESSION

In praise of the greatest khaqan, Abu al-Muzaffar Sultan Shah Ismaʿil Bahadur Khan:

God be praised—through the Beneficent’s gift

the light of truth has emerged from eclipse,

from its sign of exaltation the Sun of kingship

has cast forth its rays upon the four quarters!

A king has ascended the throne

from which a sovereign may behold [his realm]:

a pearl among the glorious saints (awliya),

a shah Jamshid-like in his magnificence—Shah Ismaʿil.

The light of his essence shines forth from on high:

contained within his name is the name of ʿAli (ʿLY).

If you require an answer to this riddle,

ʿ with L and Y is Ismaʿil.

(Explanation of the reference: ʿYN = 130, LAM = 71, YA = 11, totaling 212 = ASMAʿYL (Ismaʿil) = Master of the Kingdom (malik almulk, MALKALMLK))

For the percipient, the letter of this name

denotes the [divine] name the All-hearing (al-samiʿ, ALSMYʿ = 212).

The glory and sovereignty of this shah

centers on the D (4) of divine outpouring;

the letter H (8) too, by way of pages [of jafr],

establishes his rule.

These two letters together with J (3)

are derived by establishing the number of their ordering.

All is activated by A (1),

the circuit of motion and the structuring of rest.

This is according to the cycling of the moon

(the percipient will understand this allusion):

when the lunar cycle reaches its fullness

the new moon shines forth from the royal countenance;

when the full moon is veiled

the sun bathes the earth in light.

For Shah Tahmasb has passed on from worldly rule

to the palace of eternity.

Give thanks that the choicest member of his line—

nay, the very light of certainty radiating from his eyes—

has mounted the royal throne

like the sun replacing the moon:

may his rule be perpetuated

and his every undertaking in the world come to pass as he will.

As long as the world persists he shall be king

and his enemy utterly despoiled.

[MS Majlis 12653/3 ff. 71b–72a]

CHOICEST TALISMANS

Zubdat al-Alvah is a prose work treating of magical operations based on the muqattaʿat8 and other subtle points (nukat-i ghariba) on the science of jafr and numbers, including procedures by which to derive the names of angels and jinn for the purpose of constructing incantations (sg. ʿazimat). Five manuscript copies survive in Iran, and there exist at least two lithograph printings.⁹

Translation

TWO ARABIC ANGEL-JINN INCANTATIONS

To be repeated seventy-one (= ALM) times:

In the name of God, All-merciful, Ever-merciful. I hereby bind (taʿzim) you, O pure spirits subjected and obedient to this noble square (lawh)—O ʿAbaʾil,10 O Sahaʾil, O ʿAdaʾil, O ʿAʾil, O Qambaʾil, O Rijaʾil, by the right of your leader and ruler Khaltaʾil—, to answer my summons (daʿwa) and command these [jinn] helpers (aʿwan)—ʿAjayush, Sazayush, ʿAhayush, Satayush—to fulfill my need by virtue of the Greatest Name ALM and by the right of your Creator and Maker and Existentiator. God bless you! Haste, haste, now, now, hurry, hurry!

[Zubdat al-Alvah, 9]

To be repeated ninety-nine times over fourteen days:

In the name of God, All-merciful, Ever-merciful. I hereby bind and invoke you, O spirits charged with the A written on the Preserved Tablet and aware of the mystery it enshrines: give ear to my words and answer my summons and obey my command by virtue of the A as inscribed in its entirety in the Torah and the Gospels and the Psalms and the Qurʾan (al-furqan) and all the scriptures (kutub, asfar) revealed to all the prophets of God (upon whom be peace) and by virtue of these mighty names that are the isolated letters (al-muqattaʿat): ALR KHYʿS TS HM Q N. God bless you and give you glad tidings of paradise!¹¹

[Zubdat al-Alvah, 10–11]

A LETTRIST INVOCATION OF THE FOURTEEN INFALLIBLES

Dear friend, know that when one purposes to perform an invocation based on the luminous letters (daʿvat-i nurani) at the beginning of the month, as described above, one must first satisfy several conditions and only then begin.¹² First, before reciting incantations, on each day of these fourteen days one should draw a square (lawh) named for one of these fourteen precious souls and seek help from its revelatory spirit, for they are the keepers of the treasure of divine knowledge and the most percipient knowers of the secrets of the unseen realm, so that its great spirit may elevate your state and protect you from danger.

Then, on the first day, having sought by way of blessing (tayammun u tabarruk) the mediation (tavassul) of the purified spirit and fragrant form of the holy Seal of the prophets and master of the messengers, Muhammad, the Messenger of God, arrange a square named for this holy eminence in accordance with the Moon (bi vafq-i qamar) and offer prayers to the revelatory spirit of that holy eminence and his noble House according to the numbers of the vafq of that square, repeating this litany of prayers the same number of times throughout the fourteen-day period.

On the second day, make a square according to the name of the holy eminence ʿAli b. Abi Talib, the triumphant Lion of God, Commander of the Faithful, Leader of the God-fearing and the Faith. On the third day, arrange one according to the name of the exalted eminence and Best of Women Fatima al-Zahraʾ (God keep her). (Know that the name of her exalted eminence, the Best of Women, is so written [immediately after ʿAli] because the science (ʿilmi) that the holy eminence and Commander of the Faithful (God keep him) instituted, [a science] that allows one to predict future events until the end of time, is called the Codex (mushaf) of Fatima—neglect not this point, and understand!) The same procedure should be followed for the next eleven days, every day constructing a square according to the name of one of the imams until arriving at the holy eminence and Lord of Command (sahib al-amr), the Mahdi.

This lowly wretch has expended such extraordinary effort in this matter and so derived and constructed the abovementioned squares [according to the names of the Fourteen Infallibles] as to surpass all previous efforts, this being an instance of spiritual inspiration (mulhamat-i ghaybi); for observing the appropriate times for such operations tells us that they cannot be properly carried out in the absence of a connection with the eternal [divine] emanation (fayz-i azali). This wretch therefore believes that it is quite possible that no other authority in this field has done something similar, and if they have it was certainly not with the same degree of finesse.

[Zubdat al-Alvah, 17–18]

DIVINE-NAMES AND ANGEL MAGIC BASED ON JAFR AND THE MUQATTAʿAT

The following mighty [divine] names are possessed of numerous active properties and may be deployed to satisfy any need by invoking them or performing taksir on them and carrying [the resulting talisman] on one’s person—a most exceedingly useful [operation]. First, in order to ward off hunger, the names Everlasting (Samad) and Nourisher (Muqit) are to be invoked, and that with as much force as possible; while it is generally possible to invoke them without using the established principles of gematrical calculation, the ideal method is to perform taksir [on them] in writing and arrange the result in a magic square. To find guidance (hidayat) and instruction (rushd), invoke the names Guide (Hadi) and Right-minded (Rashid) according to the method previously discussed—they are extremely beneficial [to this end], though only as long as the specified conditions have been met. To ward off poverty, the names All-sufficient (Ghani) and Enricher (Mughni) are extremely useful. To ameliorate bodily weakness and torpor, the names Strong (Qawi) and Steadfast (Matin) are of great benefit when activated according to the method previously discussed. To ward off humiliation and abasement, activate the names All-mighty (ʿAziz) and All-glorious (ʿAzim) according to the established method. To ward off sorrow and sadness, the names Ever-gentle (Latif) and All-embracing (Wasiʿ) are of great benefit. To reverse helplessness, activate the names All-powerful (Qadir) and Omnipotent (Qahir). To counteract ignorance, activate the names All-knowing (ʿAlim) and Reckoner (Muhsi). To ward off pains and diseases, activating the names Healer (Shafi) and Reliever (Muʿafi) is of great benefit, and is a tried and true (mujarrab) [technique]. To ward off mental constriction and straitness of thought, activate the names Expander (Basit) and All-generous (Jawad). To encourage love and affection, activate the names Beloved (Habib) and All-loving (Wadud). To triumph over enemies, activate the name Mighty of Assault (Shadid al-Batsh). To gain patience and steadfastness in any undertaking, activate the names Ever-constant (Daʾim) and All-patient (Sabur).

As for activation (ʿamal), it refers to the process whereby one performs taksir on the above names, by whatever method, then writes a magic square with the result and orders its number, such that in persistent invocation [of said names] one does not go over or under that number. One must also burn [appropriate types of] incense and restrict one’s operation to appropriate hours, the best being a [favorable] aspect of Jupiter or Venus (nazar-i saʿdayn), but any other appropriate hours on any good day, [these involving] an auspicious ascendant (taliʿ-i saʿd) or the exaltation of Sun or Moon (khushhali-yi nayyirayn),13 will work as well; this is required to manifest the desired effect. As the percipient practitioner will generally be familiar with the most suitable hour, ascendant and aspect [for undertaking a given operation, there is no need] to go into detail here, as this would distract us from our purpose and is beyond the scope of the present summary work (mukhtasar); and all other explanations have already been provided in some detail above.

As promised, then, I will now turn to a discussion of the 14 × 14 square (lawh), this composed of the isolated letters (muqattaʿat) and the divine names that are composed of those letters together with their bayyinat),14 as was explained above. And to these divine names should be added the letter B, the key of bismi Llahi l-Rahmani l-Rahim (In the name of God, All-merciful, Ever-merciful), for the number of letters in [this phrase], minus repetitions, is ten [(that is, BSMALHRHNY)], with B being the only one not part of the set of luminous letters (huruf-i nurani, that is, the muqattaʿat). This letter is therefore deliberately included among them here in order to profit from the bismi Llahi l-Rahmani l-Rahim, the opening of God’s Speech. The square is as follows:

Know that the key to these fourteen names is the fourteen luminous letters, which are as follows: ALMSRKHYʿTSHQN. The bayyinat of these letters, minus the repetition of their zubur,¹⁵ are FRW (286), and the number of the letters of the bayyinat J (3). Together with the B of bismi Llah, then, these fourteen names are composed of these letters.

The method of activating the properties of the luminous letters by means of writing may also be explained as follows: When the percipient practitioner desires to perform invocations based on these letters, after [fulfilling] the conditions mentioned above as to the [number of] days to exercise oneself in the way of invocation and talisman-writing (alvah), to wit, during the period of the Moon’s waxing, he should begin writing these luminous letters. On each of the first fourteen days of the month while the Moon is waxing he is to write fourteen pages with the luminous letters according to the taksir method used in the comprehensive prognosticon, such that in fourteen days he produces 196 pages. Thus, for example, on the first day he should write the letters of A on the first three lines of the first page [as follows], continuing in this vein until the fourteenth line, as will be evident to the percipient practitioner:

The first three lines of the second page, the remaining lines to be filled in the manner known to the practitioner:

The fourteen lines of the third page to be written on the first day [of the operation] should be completed in similar fashion, as will be evident to the percipient practitioner on the basis of the above exemplar.

On the second day he is to follow the same procedure with L for fourteen pages, such that the first three lines of the first page completed on the second day [appear as follows], continuing in this vein until the fourteenth line, as will be evident to the percipient practitioner:

As for the remaining [twelve] letters, they are to be dealt with in the manner described on each [subsequent] day until all fourteen days are completed, such that by the time of the full Moon 196 pages have been produced. They may then serve as the basis for invocation according to the procedure (dastur) [whose components are] as follows:

1. Fasting, seclusion, zikr, incense (bukhur) and a vegetarian diet (tark-i akl-i hayavani).

2. Observance of propitious times for the writing, such as the hour of Jupiter, Venus, the Moon or the Sun.

3. The derivation of an incantation (ʿazimat) from the first of the [fourteen] pages written [each day].

4. Persistent [invocation] of those divine names that emerge from the pages written each day as noted [by the practitioner]. For example, once fourteen pages have been written on the first day, several divine names will be evident therein; analyzing those names by way of gematria (ʿadad-i jummal), recite those names the same day according to the number of their sum, and incorporate them when one performs an incantation.

5. Only break fast with licit food, and maintain seclusion, avoiding contact with people unless compelled by necessity.

6. Having written [the above] during the [first] fourteen days of the month of Rajab, on each of the [first] fourteen days of the [subsequent] month of Shaʿban one is to perform the taksir operation of sadr u muʾakhkhar16 on the luminous letters to whatever extent is feasible, and the same again during the [first] fourteen days of Ramadan. This operation proceeds as follows:

After this page is completed, take its initial letters (huruf-i sadr) and make a list (zimam), then perform taksir according to the established method until the first line is again produced; then do the same for the second page and each page following until you arrive at a page whose initial letters match the list of the first page—a [form of] taksir that can be done repeatedly, whether in normal (mansub) or reverse (maqlub) order.17 The point being, during the fourteen-day waxing phase of each of the two months following the first this taksir [operation] must be performed, with up to fourteen pages of this taksir produced per day.

7. Ten days before the beginning of Rajab commence eating a vegetarian diet, fasting and seclusion, such that by the time that the full three months [required for this operation] have passed ninety-nine days will have elapsed [in observance of these conditions]. This fortunate period (dawlat) is favorable because during these three months while the Moon is waxing [it does not enter] the mansion of Tariqa¹⁸ and the sign of Scorpio, [a configuration] it is necessary to avoid.

As long as these conditions are fulfilled, then, [the practitioner] will be able to carry out any operation he wishes with the greatest of ease and successfully subject (taskhir) the spirits (ruhaniyyat) of the letters to his will.

An example of the method for deriving an incantation (ʿazimat) is as follows: On the first day [of the above operation] when one writes [all the permutations of] the letter A on fourteen pages and the names God (Allah), Most Beneficient (Akram), Most Merciful (Arham) and Most High (Aʿla) manifest therein, one first performs bast on the A according to the procedure here described, derives [the names of its associated] angels (malaʾika), then invokes them according to the following method. Level one of A—the letter alone—, then level two—ALF (alif)—, then level three—ALFLAMFA (alif-lam-fa)—, which together produce twelve [letters of number names]: AHD, ThLAThYN, ThMANYN, ThLAThYN, AHD wa ARBʿYN, ThMANYN, AHD (that is, 1, 30, 80, 30, 41, 80, 1 = 263). Adding them together reveals thirty-nine letters in total. One then multiplies these thirty-nine letters with the twelve letters of the third level [of A], producing the sum that is to be used [in constructing the names of angels]. For example, when we multiply 39 by 12 the product is 468, which when converted to letters (istintaq) is TSH; thus the angel [of A] is Tishaʾil, given that [the suffix] -ʾil is added [to designate angels] after the fact. However, some hold it necessary to multiply the 39 letters by the 29 letters, converting the result to letters and adding -ʾil, in this following the equally correct method laid out in the Alvah-i Javahir. All such methods are reasonable and reliable. Still others hold that the number of -ʾil (that is, forty-one) should be subtracted from the product before deriving the letters of its governing angel’s name, and then the -ʾil added to it. All such methods have been used by the leading practitioners [of this science] (ustadan). Others hold that the angel of the letter A is rather Jibraʾil (Gabriel), this according to the method described separately by the author of the Navadir al-Asrar.

In short, there are many different ways of performing this operation, and all of them equally legitimate. In this summary work, however, the first method of performing bast on the letter A is adopted, with the same being applied to the letters treated on each of the remaining [thirteen] days. The resulting incantation should be recited as follows:

In the name of God, All-merciful, Ever-merciful: Answer [my summons], O Tishaʾil, [you and] your servants, hearing and obeying such that you fulfill my needs x and y by virtue of ALR KHYʿS TS HM Q N, and by virtue of [the divine names] God (Allah), Most Beneficient (al-Akram), Most Merciful (al-Arham), Most Perfect (al-Akmal) and Most High (al-Aʿla). The blessing of God be to you and on you!

This incantation is to be repeated ninety-nine times on each day of the operation, swearing (qasam) by the isolated Qurʾanic letters, the [divine] name[s] that emerge from the pages [written each day] and the name of the angel [governing the relevant letter for the day in question] from among the remaining letters as derived in a square according to the method here described for A.

Now certain of the leading practitioners [of this science] hold that the [angelic] name so derived may be uttered in different forms. The initial form of Tishaʾil may be altered to Histaʾil, reversing its letter order. The letter representing the hundreds, [that is, T = 400], may also be removed, producing Sahaʾil; then the letter representing the tens, [that is, S = 60], leaving only that representing the units, [that is, H = 8], producing Haʾil. If one wishes, moreover, this [last] may be expanded by one or two letters, producing Ajdaʾil or the like, with the proviso that the construction must be numerically equivalent to the remaining unit in question. For example, in the present operation the single [remaining] letter representing units is H, whose value is 8; it may therefore be substituted with Ajdaʾil (AJD = 8), which itself may be substituted with Hajaʾil, or Bawaʾil, or Azaʾil (HJ, BW, AZ = 8). In short, one must select only one of these names (kalimat) and use it consistently. If one elects to do so, the incantation is to be recited as follows:

In the name of God, All-merciful, Ever-merciful, I adjure (ʿazm) you, O angels of God, guarantors (al-muwakkalin) of the letter A as inscribed in the heavenly scriptures: Answer me, O Tishaʾil (or Histaʾil, or Sahaʾil, or Haʾil—and Haʾil may further be substituted with Ajdaʾil, or any other name numerically equivalent), you and your [jinn] helpers, hearing and obeying such that you fulfill my needs x and y by virtue of ALR KHYʿS TS HM Q N, and by virtue of the mighty names God (Allah), Most Beneficient (al-Akram), Most Merciful (al-Arham), Most Perfect (al-Akmal), and Most High (al-Aʿla). The blessing of God be to you and on you!

[Zubdat al-Alvah, 26–29]

NOTES

1. Otto Neugebauer, “The Study of Wretched Subjects,” Isis 42, no. 2 (1951): 111.

2. The author also prepared a summary version of this work, Javamiʿ al-Favaʾid, for his son during the latter’s sojourn in Bijapur; the preface contains a lettrist analysis of the name ʿAli ʿAdil Shah (r. 1558–1579), his son’s patron.

3. My thanks to Alireza Doostdar for sharing his scanned bazaar copy of this text, which appears to be a facsimile of an incomplete manuscript copy made in 1859 (455 pp.); this is the version cited here.

4. In taksir, the most basic procedure in lettrism, the practitioner “unjoins the letters of one of the divine names and intersperses them with the letters of the word(s) designating his goal in a single line, then, performing an operation known to initiates, rearranges the order of the letters on two lines. This is repeated until the first line is in order, and from it is taken the names of the angels and the invocations used to address them. The practitioner then continues these invocations until the goal is achieved” (Hajji Khalifa, Kashf al-Ẓunun ʿan Asami l-Kutub wa-l-Funun, 2 vols. [Beirut: Dar Ihyaʾ al-Turath al- ʿArabi, n.d.], 2/1475).

5. A completed comprehensive prognosticon thus has 784 pages, with 784 cells and 3,136 letters per page, resulting in 87,808 cells and 2,458,624 letters in total.

6. MS Majlis 12653/3 ff. 70b-139a, MS Majlis 7373, 50 ff.

7. MS Milli 2706f/16 pp. 120–64.

8. That is, the disconnected letters that open certain Qurʾanic suras, held by occultists to be reflective of the primordial language of creation and therefore comprising knowledge of past, present, and future to the end of time. This occult knowledge was usually identified as a patrimony peculiar to the House of the Prophet by Shiʿi and Sunni exegetes alike, and the basis for the prognosticon (jafr, literally calfskin) associated with ʿAli b. Abi Talib and the similarly prognosticatory Codex (mushaf) of Fatima.

9. MS Marʿashi 12710/10 ff. 47–63, MS Marʿashi 11962/4 ff. 38–54, MS Marʿashi 5584/3 ff. 16b-60a, MS Marʿashi 7606/1 ff. 7b-23a, MS Majlis 12653/6 ff. 181b-206a; Bombay: Malik al-Kuttab, 1301/1883 and 1306/1889. The only copies of this work available to me at the time of writing were MS Majlis 12653/6 and the two Bombay lithographs; given that the latter are generally more reliable, references below are to the 1301/1883 printing.

10. Note that in such incantations the suffix -ʾil is added to designate angels and the suffix -ush or -yush to designate jinn.

11. Compare with Q 41:30.

12. That is, the 14 letters of the muqattaʿat. The 14 remaining letters of the Arabic alphabet are termed “dark” (zulmani).

13. Literally, “the felicity of the two luminaries.” The Sun has its exaltation in Leo, the Moon in Cancer.

14. When performing taksir, which involves the separation of the letters of a name or word and the writing out of the letter names in full, then the elimination of repeated letters (for example, Ahmad → AHMD → ALFHAMYMDAL → ALFHMYDL), the term zubur refers to the first letters in the full letter names (for example, the A in ALF) and bayyinat to the remaining letters (for example, LF in ALF).

15. See note 14.

16. That is, the reordering of letters in a line by alternately taking letters from the beginning and end of that line, as with, for example, ALFMYBNW → AWLNFBMY.

17. That is, reading a line of letters from right to left or left to right.

18. Also known to astrologers as Tariqa combust (muhtariq), this is an unfavorable lunar mansion between the nineteenth degree of Libra, the point marking the fall (hubut) of the Sun, and the third degree of Scorpio, the point marking the fall of the Moon (Dihkhuda, Lughatnama, s.v.).