MAGIC.
An implicit belief in magic is entertained by almost all Muslims; and
him among them who denies its truth they regard as a freethinker or an
infidel. Some are of opinion that it ceased on the mission of
Moḥammad; but these are comparatively few. Many of the most learned
Muslims, to the present age, have deeply studied it; and a much greater
number of persons of inferior education (particularly schoolmasters)
have more or less devoted their time and talents to the pursuit of this
knowledge. Recourse is had to it for the discovery of hidden treasures,
for alchymical purposes, for the acquisition of the knowledge of
futurity, to procure offspring, to obtain the affection of a beloved
object, to effect cures, to guard against the influence of the evil eye,
to afflict or kill an enemy or a rival, and to attain various other
objects of desire.
There are two descriptions of magic: one is spiritual, and regarded by
all but freethinkers as true; the other natural, and denounced by the
more religious and enlightened as deceptive.
I. Spiritual magic, which is termed er-Rooḥánee (vulg. Rowḥánee),
chiefly depends upon the virtues of certain names of God and passages
from the Ḳur-án, and the agency of Angels and Jinn. It is of two
kinds: High and Low (´Ilwee and Suflee), or Divine and Satanic
(Raḥmánee, _i.e._ relating to "the Compassionate," and Sheyṭánee).
1. Divine magic is regarded as a sublime science, and is studied only by
good men, and practised only for good purposes. Perfection in this
branch of magic consists in the knowledge of "the most great name" of
God (el-Ism el-Aạẓam); but this knowledge is imparted to none but
the peculiar favourites of heaven. By virtue of this name, which was
engraved on his seal-ring, Suleymán (Solomon) subjected to his dominion
the Jinn and the birds and the winds. By pronouncing it, his minister
Áṣaf, also, transported in an instant to the presence of his
sovereign in Jerusalem the throne of the Queen of Sheba.[80] But this
was a small miracle to effect by such means; for by uttering this name a
man may even raise the dead. Other names of the Deity, commonly known,
are believed to have particular efficacies when uttered or written; as
also are the names of the Prophet; and Angels and good Jinn are said to
be rendered subservient to the purposes of divine magic by means of
certain invocations. Of such names and invocations, together with words
unintelligible to the uninitiated in this science, passages from the
Ḳur-án, mysterious combinations of numbers, and peculiar diagrams and
figures, are chiefly composed written charms employed for good purposes.
Enchantment, when used for benevolent purposes, is regarded by the
vulgar as a branch of lawful or divine magic; but not so by the learned:
and the same remark applies to the science of divination.
2. Satanic magic, as its name implies, is a science depending on the
agency of the Devil and the inferior evil Jinn, whose services are
obtained by means similar to those which propitiate, or render
subservient, the good Jinn. It is condemned by the Prophet and all good
Muslims, and only practised for bad purposes.
Bábil, or Babel, is regarded by the Muslims as the fountain head of the
science of magic, which was, and, as most think, still is, taught there
to mankind by two fallen angels, named Hároot and Mároot, who are there
suspended by the feet in a great pit closed by a mass of rock. According
to the account of them generally received as correct, these two angels,
in consequence of their want of compassion for the frailties of mankind,
were rendered, by God, susceptible of human passions, and sent down upon
the earth to be tempted. They both sinned, and being permitted to choose
whether they would be punished in this life or in the other, chose the
former. But they were sent down not merely to experience temptation,
being also appointed to tempt others by means of their knowledge of
magic; though it appears that they were commanded not to teach this art
to any man "until they had said, 'Verily we are a temptation; therefore
be not an unbeliever.'"[81] The celebrated traditionist, Mujáhid, is
related to have visited them under the guidance of a Jew. Having removed
the mass of rock from the mouth of the pit or well, they entered.
Mujáhid had been previously charged by the Jew not to mention the name
of God in their presence; but when he beheld them, resembling in size
two huge mountains, and suspended upside-down, with irons attached to
their necks and knees, he could not refrain from uttering the forbidden
name; whereupon the two angels became so violently agitated that they
almost broke the irons which confined them, and Mujáhid and his guide
fled back in consternation.[82]
Enchantment, which is termed es-Seḥr, is almost universally
acknowledged to be a branch of satanic magic; but some few persons
assert that it _may_ be, and by some _has_ been, studied with good
intentions, and practised by the aid of good Jinn: consequently, that
there is such a science as _good_ enchantment, which is to be regarded
as a branch of _divine_ or _lawful_ magic. The metamorphoses are said to
be generally effected by means of spells or invocations to the Jinn,
accompanied by the sprinkling of water or dust, etc., on the object to
be transformed. Persons are said to be enchanted in various ways: some,
paralyzed, or even deprived of life; others, affected with irresistible
passion for certain objects; others, again, rendered demoniacs; and
some, transformed into brutes, birds, etc. The evil eye is believed to
enchant in a very powerful and distressing manner. This was acknowledged
even by the Prophet.[83] Diseases and death are often attributed to its
influence. Amulets,[84] which are mostly written charms, of the kind
above described, are worn by many Muslims with the view of
counteracting, or preserving from, enchantment; and for the same
purpose, many ridiculous ceremonies are practised.
Divination, which is termed el-Kiháneh, is pronounced on the highest
authority to be a branch of satanic magic, though not believed to be so
by all Muslims. According to an assertion of the Prophet, what a
fortune-teller says may sometimes be true; because one of the Jinn
steals away the truth, and carries it to the magician's ear: for the
Angels come down to the region next to the earth (the lowest heaven),
and mention the works that have been pre-ordained in heaven; and the
Devils (or evil Jinn) listen to what the Angels say, and hear the orders
predestined in heaven and carry them to the fortune-tellers. It is on
such occasions that shooting-stars are hurled at the Devils.[85] It is
said that "the diviner obtains the services of the Sheyṭán by magic
arts, and by names [invoked], and by the burning of perfumes, and he
informs him of secret things: for the Devils, before the mission of the
Apostle of God," it is added, "used to ascend to heaven and hear words
by stealth."[86] That the evil Jinn are believed still to ascend
sufficiently near to the lowest heaven to hear the conversation of the
Angels, and so to assist magicians, appears from the former quotation,
and is asserted by all Muslims. The discovery of hidden treasures before
alluded to, is one of the objects for which divination is most studied.
The mode of divination called Ḍarb el-Mendel is by some supposed to
be effected by the aid of evil Jinn; but the more enlightened of the
Muslims regard it as a branch of natural magic.[87]
There are certain modes of divination which cannot properly be classed
under the head of spiritual magic, but require a place between the
account of this science and that of natural magic. The most important of
these branches of Kiháneh is Astrology, which is called ´Ilm en-Nujoom.
This is studied by many Muslims in the present day; and its professors
are often employed by the Arabs to determine a fortunate period for
laying the foundation of a building, commencing a journey, etc.; but
more frequently by the Persians and Turks. The Prophet pronounced
astrology to be a branch of magic.[88] Another branch of Kiháneh is
Geomancy, called Ḍarb er-Raml;[89] a mode of divination from certain
marks made on sand (whence its appellation), or on paper; and said to be
chiefly founded on astrology. The science called ez-Zijr, or el-´Eyáfeh,
is a third branch of Kiháneh; being divination or auguration chiefly
from the motions and positions or postures of birds or of gazelles and
other beasts of the chase. Thus what was termed a Sániḥ, that is,
such an animal standing or passing with its right side towards the
spectator, was esteemed among the Arabs as of good omen; and a Báriḥ,
or an animal of this kind with its left side towards the spectator, was
held as inauspicious.[90] El-Ḳiyáfeh, under which term are included
Chiromancy and its kindred sciences, is a fourth branch of Kiháneh.
Et-Tefául, or the taking an omen, particularly a good one, from a name
or words accidentally heard or seen or chosen from a book, belongs to
the same science.
The taking a fál, or omen, from the Ḳur-án is generally held to be
lawful. Various trifling events are considered as ominous. For instance,
a Sulṭán quitting his palace with his troops, a standard happened to
strike a "thureiyà" (a cluster of lamps, so called from resembling the
Pleiades), and broke them: he drew from this an evil omen, and would
have relinquished the expedition; but one of his chief officers said to
him, "O our Lord, thy standards have reached the Pleiades;"--and, being
relieved by this remark, he proceeded, and returned victorious.[91] The
interpretation of dreams, termed Taạbeer el-Menámát, must also be
classed among the branches of this science. According to the Prophet, it
is the only branch of divination worthy of dependance. "Good dreams,"
said he, "are one of the parts of prophecy," and "nothing else of
prophecy remains." "Good dreams are from God; and false dreams from the
Devil." "When any one of you has a bad dream, spit three times over your
left shoulder, and seek protection with God from the Devil thrice; and
turn from the side on which the dream was, to the other."[92] This rule
is observed by many Muslims. Dreams are generally so fully relied upon
by them as to be sometimes the means of deciding contested points in
history and science. The sight, in a dream, of anything green or white,
or of water, is considered auspicious; anything black or red, or fire,
inauspicious.
This firm belief in dreams will be well illustrated by the following
anecdote, which was related to me in Cairo, shortly after the terrible
plague of the year 1835, by the sheykh Moḥammad Eṭ-Ṭanṭáwee,
who had taken the trouble of investigating the fact, and had ascertained
its truth.
A tradesman, living in the quarter of El-Ḥanafee, in Cairo, dreamed
during that plague that eleven persons were carried out from his house
to be buried, victims of this disease. He awoke in a state of the
greatest distress and alarm, reflecting that eleven was the total number
of the inhabitants of his house, including himself, and that it would be
vain in him to attempt, by adding one or more members to his household,
to elude the decree of God and give himself a chance of escape: so
calling together his neighbours, he informed them of his dream, and was
counselled to submit with resignation to a fate so plainly foreshown,
and to be thankful to God for the timely notice with which he had been
mercifully favoured. On the following day, one of his children died; a
day or two after, a wife; and the pestilence continued its ravages among
his family until he remained in his house alone. It was impossible for
him now to entertain the slightest doubt of the entire accomplishment of
the warning: immediately, therefore, after the last death that had taken
place among his household, he repaired to a friend at a neighbouring
shop, and calling to him several other persons from the adjoining and
opposite shops, he reminded them of his dream, acquainted them with its
almost complete fulfilment, and expressed his conviction that he, the
eleventh, should very soon die. "Perhaps," said he, "I shall die this
next night: I beg of you, therefore, for the sake of God, to come to my
house early to-morrow morning, and the next morning and the next if
necessary, to see if I be dead, and, when dead, that I am properly
buried; for I have no one with me to wash and shroud me. Fail not to do
me this service, which will procure you a recompense in heaven. I have
bought my grave-linen: you will find it in a corner of the room in which
I sleep. If you find the door of the house latched, and I do not answer
to your knocking, break it open."
Soon after sunset he laid himself in his lonely bed, though without any
expectation of closing his eyes in sleep; for his mind was absorbed in
reflections upon the awful entry into another world, and a review of his
past life. As the shades of night gathered around him he could almost
fancy that he beheld, in one faint object or another in his gloomy
chamber, the dreadful person of the Angel of Death: and at length he
actually perceived a figure gliding in at the door, and approaching his
bed. Starting up in horror, he exclaimed, "Who art thou?"--and a stern
and solemn voice answered, "Be silent! I am ´Azraeel, the Angel of
Death!"--"Alas!" cried the terrified man; "I testify that there is no
deity but God, and I testify that Moḥammad is God's Apostle! There is
no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! To God we belong,
and to Him we must return!"--He then covered himself over with his
quilt, as if for protection, and lay with throbbing heart, expecting
every moment to have his soul torn from him by the inexorable messenger.
But moments passed away, and minutes, and hours, yet without his
experiencing any hope of escape; for he imagined that the Angel was
waiting for him to resign himself, or had left him for a while, and was
occupied in receiving first the souls of the many hundred human beings
who had attained their predestined term in that same night and in the
same city, and the souls of the thousands who were doomed to employ him
elsewhere.
Daybreak arrived before his sufferings terminated; and his neighbours,
coming according to their promise, entered his chamber, and found him
still in bed; but observing that he was covered up and motionless as a
corpse, they doubted whether he were still alive, and called to him. He
answered, with a faint voice, "I am not yet dead; but the Angel of Death
came to me in the dusk of the evening, and I expect him every moment to
make his return, to take my soul: therefore trouble me not; but see me
washed and buried."--"But why," said his friends, "was the street-door
left unlatched?"--"I latched it," he answered, "but the Angel of Death
may have opened it."--"And who," they asked, "is the man in the court?"
He answered, "I know of no man in the court: perhaps the Angel who is
waiting for my soul has made himself visible to you, and been mistaken
in the twilight for a man."--"He is a thief," they said, "who has
gathered together everything in the house that he could carry away, and
has been struck by the plague while doing so, and now lies dead in the
court, at the foot of the stairs, grasping in his hand a silver
candlestick."--The master of the house, after hearing this, paused for a
moment, and then, throwing off his quilt, exclaimed, "Praise be to God,
the Lord of all creatures! That is the eleventh, and I am safe! No doubt
it was that rascal who came to me and said that he was the Angel of
Death. Praise be to God! Praise be to God!"
This man survived the plague, and took pleasure in relating the above
story. The thief had overheard his conversation with his neighbours,
and, coming to his house in the dusk, had put his shoulder to the wooden
lock, and so raised the door and displaced the latch within. There is
nothing wonderful in the dream, nor in its accomplishment; the plague of
1835 entirely desolated many houses, and was mostly fatal to the young;
and all the inhabitants of the house in question were young excepting
the master.
The distinction of fortunate and unfortunate days should also here be
mentioned. Thursday and Friday, especially the latter, are considered
fortunate; Monday and Wednesday, doubtful; Sunday, Tuesday, and
Saturday, especially the last, unfortunate. It is said that there are
seven evil days in every [lunar] month: namely, the third, on which
Ḳábeel (Cain) killed Hábeel (Abel); the fifth, on which God cast down
Adam from paradise, and afflicted the people of Yoonus (Jonas), and on
which Yoosuf (Joseph) was cast into the well; the thirteenth, on which
God took away the wealth of Eiyoob (Job), and afflicted him, and took
away the kingdom from Suleymán (Solomon), and on which the Jews killed
the prophets; the sixteenth, on which God exterminated and buried the
people of Looṭ (Lot), and transformed three hundred Christians into
swine and Jews into apes, and on which the Jews sawed asunder Zekeriyà
(Zachariah); the twenty-first, on which Pharaoh was born, and on which
he was drowned, and on which his nation was afflicted with the plagues;
the twenty-fourth, on which Numrood (Nimrod) killed seventy women, and
cast El-Khaleel (Abraham) into the fire, and on which was slaughtered
the camel of Ṣáliḥ; and the twenty-fifth, on which the suffocating
wind was sent upon the people of Hood.[93]
II. Natural magic, which is called es-Seemiyà, is regarded by most
persons of the more enlightened classes of Muslims as altogether a
deceptive art, no more worthy of respect than legerdemain; but it seems
to be nearly allied to enchantment, for it is said to effect, in
appearance, the most wonderful transformations, and to cause the most
extraordinary visions; affecting the senses and imagination in a manner
similar to opium. This and other drugs are supposed by some persons to
be the chief means by which such illusions are caused; and perfumes,
which are generally burnt in these performances, may operate in a
similar manner. As such things are employed in performances of the kind
called Ḍarb el-Mendel, before mentioned, these feats are regarded by
many as effected by natural magic, notwithstanding what has been said
above respecting the services of evil Jinn being procured by means of
perfumes. Alchymy (El-Keemiyà) is a branch of natural magic. It is
studied by many Muslims of the present day, and by some of considerable
talents and attainments.
The most celebrated of the magicians who have gained notoriety in Egypt
during the course of the last hundred years was the sheykh Aḥmad
Ṣádoomeh, who flourished somewhat more than sixty years ago.[94]
Several persons of Cairo, men of intelligence and of good education,
have related to me various most marvellous stories of his performances,
on the authority of eye-witnesses whom they considered veracious; but a
more credible account of this magician I have found in the work of the
excellent historian of Modern Egypt. This author mentions the sheykh
Ṣádoomeh as an aged man of venerable appearance who derived his
origin from the town of Semennood in the Delta, and who acquired a very
great and extensive celebrity for his attainments in spiritual and
natural magic, and for holding converse, face to face, with Jinn, and
causing them to appear to other persons, even to the blind, as men
acquainted with him informed the historian. His contemporaries, says
this writer, entertained various opinions respecting him; but, among
them, a famous grammarian and general scholar, the sheykh Ḥasan
El-Kafráwee, regarded him as a first-rate saint, who performed evident
miracles; this learned man pronouncing as such the effects of "his
legerdemain and natural magic." His fame he describes as having
increased until he was induced to try an unlucky experiment.
A Memlook chief, Yoosuf Bey, saw some magic characters written on the
body of one of his female slaves, and, exasperated by jealousy,
commanded her with a threat of instant death to tell him who had done
this. She confessed that a woman had taken her to the sheykh
Ṣádoomeh, and that he had written this charm to attract to her the
Bey's love. Upon hearing this, he instantly sent some attendants to
seize the magician, put him to death, and throw him into the Nile; which
was done.[95] But the manner in which the seizure was made, as related
to me by one of my friends, deserves to be mentioned. Several persons,
one after another, endeavoured to lay hold upon him; but every arm that
was stretched forth for this purpose was instantly paralyzed, through a
spell muttered by the magician; until a man behind him thrust a gag into
his mouth, and so stopped his enchantments.
Of the stories related to me of Ṣádoomeh's miracles, the following
will serve as a specimen:--In order to give one of his friends a treat,
he took him to the distance of about half an hour's walk into the desert
on the north of Cairo; here they both sat down, upon the pebbly and
sandy plain, and, the magician having uttered a spell, they suddenly
found themselves in the midst of a garden, like one of the gardens of
paradise, abounding with flowers and fruit-trees of every kind,
springing up from a soil clothed with verdure brilliant as the emerald
and irrigated by numerous streamlets of the clearest water. A repast of
the most delicious viands and fruits and wines was spread before them by
invisible hands; and they both ate to satiety, taking copious draughts
of the various wines. At length, the magician's guest sank into a deep
sleep; and when he awoke, he found himself again in the pebbly and sandy
plain, with Ṣádoomeh still by his side.
The reader will probably attribute this vision to a dose of opium or
some similar drug; and such I suppose to have been the means employed;
for I cannot doubt the integrity of the narrator, though he would not
admit such an explanation,--regarding the whole as an affair of magic
effected by the operation of the Jinn.
FOOTNOTES:
[80] Ḳur. xxvii. 40; and Commentary of the Jeláleyn.
[81] Ḳur. ii. 96.
[82] El-Ḳazweenee, account of the well of Bábil, in his ´Ajaïb
el-Makhlooḳát.
[83] See Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 374.
[84] "Talisman," is a corruption of the Arabic word "ṭalsam." I write
this latter word in accordance with the manner in which it is generally
pronounced by the Arabs, and the manner in which my sheykh has written
it; by some it is written "ṭilsem," and "ṭilism." It is a term
applied to mystical characters; and also to seals, images, etc., upon
which such characters are engraved or inscribed. These characters are
astrological, or of some other magical kind. The purposes for which
ṭalsams are contrived are various; one has the property of preserving
from enchantment, or from a particular accident, or a variety of evils;
another protects a treasure with which it is deposited; a third, by
being rubbed, procures the presence and services of a Jinnee.
[85] See Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 384 ff.; and above, 33 and 38.
[86] Account of the early Arabs, in the Mir-át ez-Zemán.
[87] Some curious performances of this kind, by means of a fluid mirror
of ink, have been described in my "Account of the Manners and Customs of
the Modern Egyptians," ch. xii., and in No. 117 of the _Quarterly
Review_.
[88] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 385.
[89] Or Ḍarb er-Ramal, also called ´Ilm er-Raml. There are several
treatises on Geomancy by Eastern writers: but I have not met with any of
these; nor have I seen a geomantic tablet. I have only seen the mode of
performing geomantic experiments upon paper. The invention of the
science is ascribed by some to Idrees (Enoch), by some to Daniel, by
some to Ham the son of Noah, and by others to Hermes Trismegistus.
[90] Mir-át ez-Zemán, 1. 1.
[91] El-Isḥáḳee, in his account of the reign of El-Moạtaṣim,
the son of Hároon.
[92] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 388.
[93] El-Isḥáḳee, close of his account of the reign of El-Emeen.
[94] I write in 1837.
[95] El-Jabartee's History, account of the death of Yoosuf Bey in the
year of the Flight 1191; and account of the death of the Sheykh Ḥasan
El-Kafráwee in the year 1202.