Shams Part 9

Al-Husayn b. ‘Ali1 said: “He who writes Basmala in beautiful writing enters Paradise.”

And Abu Sa’īd al-Khw2rīsaid: I heard Ibn ‘Abbas say that everything has a basis (asās), the basis of the holy books is the Qur’an, the basis of the Qur’an is the Fatia, and the basis of the Phatia is the Basmala. So when you suffer or get sick, go to the base and you will be healed, God willing!

Whoever recites the Basmala 787 times, staring at this magic square for the purpose of nullifying the power of some talisman, cancels it on the spot.

Whoever recites it the number of times mentioned and then prays for the Prophet, God bless him and save him, 312 times, for he will not ask for anything from Allah, exalted be He, that it will not be granted to him. And if he persists in that invocation he will be attended to in his prayers.

And a certain wise man said, God have mercy on Him: To those who recite the Basmala 150 times, God reveals the secrets of Gnostic knowledge and the divine sciences, as well as the hidden aspects of their realities. Try to understand, for God speaks the Truth and He shows the way.

And you should know that whoever constantly recites the Basmala obtains the respect of the upper and lower world. And he who knows the secrets that God, exalted be He, has deposited in it and writes it, will not burn in Hell. In it resides the secret of the Supreme Name of God, and it is the first thing that the heavenly Calamus wrote on the Tablet. It is that with which God erected the kingdom of Sulayman, upon him be peace, that with which he raised the tree of created beings and that in which he made manifest the secrets of day and night.

And he who writes it Basmalade in this way ÅÀYj»A ÁnI, and next to it the surah of Clement3, extinguishes the heat of the fire with it.

And whoever writes it on a card and hangs it on the one who suffers from a toothache, if it is hung over the ear on the affected side, the pain will be calmed, God willing!

And it is related of ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: Whoever is in need of anything, let him fast on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And when it is Friday, he will perform ablutions, go to the mosque, give some alms, whether it is a little or a lot, about the value of a loaf of bread, and the more the better. Then he will pray the Friday prayer and say:

“My God, I beseech Thee by Thy Name, ﴾ BismiLlāh alRamān alRa¬īm ﴿, ﴾ Who is no god but Him, the Living, the Subsisting One ﴿, Whom ﴾ neither drowsiness nor sleep affects Him ﴿4. I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy Name, ﴾ BismiLlāh alRam al-Ramon al-Ra¬īm ﴿, Who is none god but Him, Knower of the unseen and the apparent. He is the Clement, the Merciful ﴿5. I beseech Thee by Thy Name whose greatness fills the heavens and the earth, by Thy Name, ﴾ BismiLlāh alRamon alRa¬īm ﴿, Who is no god but Him, before Whom faces are humbled, ﴾ the voices shall be silenced before the Gracious, and

1 Grandson of the Prophet and second son of Fatima. Third caliph and legendary figure of Shiism, he died in the famous battle of Karbala in 680 AD. C.

2 Abū Sa’īd Sa’d b. Mālik alJu2rī (d. 74 h.), companion of the Prophet. 3 Cor. lv.
4 Cor. II:255.
5 Cor. Lix:22.

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ÁÎYj»A

“A

you will only hear a murmur ﴿1, and for fear of Him hearts tremble. I beg you, my God, to bless our Lord Muhammad and the family of our Lord Muhammad, and to solve my need, which is such and such.” He himself said, “Make it known not to fools, for some of them call and are cared for.”2

And the Basmala is composed of nineteen letters, and from them derive nineteen Names, which are: Allāh, the Gracious (al-Ramen), the Merciful (al-Raṣīm), the Lord (al-Rabb), the Peace-Maker (al-Salām), the Guardian of the faith (al-Mu’min), the Guardian (al-Muhaymin), the Protector (al-Sattār), the Truth (al-aqq©), the Life-Giving (al-Mu-yī), the Know-how (al-Alīm), the Compassionate (al-annān©), the Creator (al-Bāri’), the Manifest (alMubīn), the Benefactor (al-Mu-sin), the Plenum (al-Malī’), the Pious (al-Rā¬im), the Calculating (al-asīb©). And he who composes these nineteen Names in a square of 19 x 19, will not ask God for anything that He does not grant him, for in it resides the Supreme Name of God. And it is convenient that it be composed on the night of the 19th, because in this way it is more effective.

It is related of ‘Uṣmān b. ‘Affān3, may Allah be pleased with him, that he asked the Prophet about the Prophet of Basmala, and he replied: “It is the Supreme Name of God, and its closeness to the greatest
Name of God is like that between the pupil and the whites of the eye.” And it is narrated of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
save him), who said: “The Basmala descended on Ibrāhīm. He recited it when he was in the dish of the catapult, and God made the fire cold and harmless to him.”4

It is related of al-Awzā’ī5, God have mercy on him, who said: A spectre appeared to me during the night. I was afraid and recited the Basmala. Then he said to me, “You have sought protection in something great,” and he disappeared.

And it is said that each of the letters of the Basmala is the key to one of His Names: the bā’ is the b key to His Name ‘Seer’ (Ba1⁄2īr), the sīn is the key to His Name ‘Hearer’ (Samī’), the mīm is the
key to His Name ‘Owner’ (Malīk), the alif that of His Name Allāh, the lām of His Name ‘Subtle’
(LaÐīf), the hā’ is of His Name ‘Guide’ (Hādī), the rā’ of ‘Provider’ (Razzāq), the ¬ā’ of ‘Wise’ (©akīm),
the mīm of ‘Unbreakable’ (Matīn), the nūn of ‘Light’ (Nūr), the alif of ‘One’ (A¬ad), again the lām of
‘Sutil’ (LaÐīf), the rā’ of ‘Benigno’ (Ra’ūf); the ¬ā’ of ‘Compassionate’ (©annān), the yā’ of ‘[He] decides’ (yaqÅī), and the mīm of ‘Near’ (Muqaddim). All of them make up a prayer to God that is profitable in undertaking any matter. He who harmonizes his numbers and letters in a single square, sees
by the work of God that which lacks qualifiers. And he who knows his power does not need the rest of things
, for in him dwells the Supreme Name of God. And this is the way in which it is arranged:

1 Cor. XX:105.
2 I can’t find it?
3 Third caliph of Islam (64455).
4 I cannot find the saying, and in it alludes to Cor. XXI:68.
5 ‘Abū ‘Alī alAwzā’ī, Sufi master author of a work on “the sciences of allusion”, mentioned by al

Kalābā2ī (v. A. J. ARBERRY, The Doctrine of the 1⁄4ūfīs, Cambridge University Press, 1935, p. 13).

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And if we were to speak at length about the subtleties, wonders, prodigies, and knowledge contained
in Basmala, we would lack time, andit would not be possible for us
to explain the value of any of the

secrets of Lordship and none of the effects of Eternity, because it is not pertinent for this moment in which we try to clarify this meadow full of topaz and this leafy tree whose fruits are emeralds. Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ‘Ali b. Abu Ḥ’lib took me by the hand one night early in the morning, took me to Baqī’ 1, and said: “Recite, O Ibn ‘Abbass!” and I recited: “BismiLlāh al-Ramon al-Ram al-Raimīm.” Then he told me about the bā’ until the coming of dawn.”

Try to understand that, because God grants Wisdom to whom He wills, God is Immense, Omniscient.

He [the Prophet] said, God bless him and save him!: “The Happiness of the Book was granted to me from under the throne.”2 And he said, God bless and save him: “Whoever comes to his house and recites the Fatia and the Surah of Worship, God delivers him from poverty and increases the good of his house.”3 And he said, peace be upon him: “The Happiness of the Book is the healing of every disease.”4

And you must know that whoever understands the secret of Praise (al©amd), which is the beginning of the Sublime Book, which in turn is the seven verses (alma£ānī), understands the secret of Praise in Paradise, for the Praise of the Book is united with the Praise of Paradise.

‘Ali b. Abī Æālib said: “If I wanted to carry seventy camels heavily with the interpretation of the Fāti¬a, I could do it.” A certain sage said: “In this surah reside a thousand peculiarities (jā1⁄21⁄2iyya) visible and a thousand hidden ones.”

Maslama b. Qāsim b. Ibrāhīm5 said: “The Fatia is the main part (ra’s) of the Qur’an and its pillar. b It contains five Names, which are those by which God distinguished this Surah above the rest of
them. And in it resides the Supreme Name of God, the Name with which when you invoke you are attended to and when you ask it is granted to you.” The people of Science say that the Phitia is found at the head
of the preserved Tablet, in the same way as they are found at the beginning of the sublime Qur’an, and that it is
written on the pavilions of the Throne and the Footstool. The number of its words is equivalent to the number of the letters of the

1 Baqī’ alGarqad, or simply alBaqī’, is the name of the cemetery of Medina, the first cemetery where the graves of numerous descendants of the Prophet are located.

2 A variant of the sayings collected by Amad (not 203823, etc.), in which what is granted to the Prophet are the letters that open the surah of The Cow, or its last two verses (no. 16686, 16803, etc.), or the awqala (no. 7625, 8398).

3 Nor is it found in the aforementioned collections.
4 AlDārimī, no. 3236.
5 Maslama b. alQāsim b. Ibrāhīm alQurÐubī (d. 303 h.) Andalusian traditionist (ISMĀ’ĪL PASHA, Hadiyyat al

‘Ārifīna, ii, p. 432).

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aliphate and that of the letters that open the surahs (fawāti¬ alsuwar)1. And his letters are 132, and that is precisely the value of the name of the Prophet, may God bless him and save him, for Muhammad is the alif and the hamza of the Prophets, since Muhammad is ‘Abd Allāh and Muhammad is ‘Abd al-Ramon2.

The month is twenty-nine days, and sometimes it reaches thirty and sometimes it does not, and that is because it corresponds to “Āmīn”3, since its recitation is not obligatory.

And you should know that the wāw of the union in ﴾ al¬amdu liLlāh ﴿ is the center of its orbit and the axis of its circumference, since it supposes the division in two of the number of its letters and that of its words4. And it symbolizes the spiritual degree of Friendship with God (alwilāya),5 for it is the highest of spiritual degrees and is the inner essence of the prophets.

And [the Fāti¬a] is composed of 21 different letters, these seven letters being absent from it: £ ŷ j z š Þ f, which are called “the absent (alsawāqiÐ) of the Fāti¬a.” And God has sent down in the Book the principle that whoever recites a surah free of these seven letters which are inferior, God delivers him from entering Hell. They are gathered together in two noble verses of the Surah of the Flocks; and you must know that the absent letters are the protection against evil.

A certain Gnostic said: “Whoever writes the Phitia in a glass bowl in the early hours of Friday, with a golden pen and musk and camphor, then erases it with rosewater, puts the filter in a jar (qārūrā) and wets his face with it when he goes to see the kings. princes, ministers, and notables, for he will really obtain their acceptance, affection, and respect, God willing. If it is written in a clean container, erased with water and cleansed with water, the sick person is cured, God willing. And if the forgetful person writes it in a glass container, erases it with rose water and drinks from it for several days, his forgetfulness diminishes, God willing.

And in a reliable tradition it is said7: whoever wishes to recover from any weakness or injury that affects his eyesight, then let him contemplate the crescent moon one first night. And if it is hidden by the clouds, then
try to contemplate it a second or third night. When he sees her, let him rub his eyes with his right hand and recite the Fetia ten times, pronouncing the Basmala at the beginning and “Āmīn” at the end. Then he will recite the surah of the Cult three times, he will say “the cure of every disease is in Your Mercy, O the

1 The number of words contained in the Fatia is 29, the same number as the letters of the aliphate counting the hamza and the surahs beginning with the enigmatic letters called fawāti¬ alsuwar.

2 The letters of Mu¬ammad added together (40+8+40+40+4=132) plus the sum of the names of their letters (90 + 10 + 90 + 90 + 35 = 315) equals 447 (132 + 315), which is equivalent to ‘abd (76) plus the names of the letters of Allāh (111 + 71 + 71 + 111 + 7 = 371; 371 + 76 = 447); and the letters of ‘A¬mad’ (53) plus the sum of the names of its letters (246) add up to 299, which is equivalent to the Name Raṣn.

3 A word that is sometimes recited at the end of the Fatia (on its translation and interpretation, see E. W. LANE, Lexicon, i, p. 102c), so that the total number of its words would then be thirty.

4 That is, the wāw of ‘al¬amdu liLlāh’ separates, on the one hand, al¬amd, which is worth 58, twice the number of words in the Fāti¬a (29), and on the other hand Allāh, which is worth 66, half the number of letters in the Fāti¬a (132).

5 On this occasion, he is simply referring to this spiritual degree, for the term that designates it begins with wāw. 6 Cor. vi. We do not know the verses referred to.
7 The base manuscript attributes these words to the Prophet, which we do not find in the various collections of

¬adī£.

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more Clement of the merciful” seven times, and he will say “O Lord (yā Rabb)” five times, for indeed his sight will be strengthened thanks to Allah, exalted be He!

According to Anas, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and save him!): “When you lie on your side on your bed and recite the Phitia and Surah of Worship, for you have made yourself safe from any misfortune except death [until dawn].”

[Ja’far] Al1⁄4ādiq, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him, has informed us that b there is nothing in the Torah, nor in the Gospel, nor in the Psalms that resembles it. And in it there is a warning, nay, a proclamation that there are many more blessings of their recitation than I
mentioned, and more treasures and singularities than those I pointed out, and if they were put in writing, they would fill the heavy burdens of the camels.

‘Abd Allāh b. Mas’ūd (may Allah be pleased with him): My eyes ached, and the Prophet said to me: “Look at the Qur’an.”

Abu Bakr al1⁄4iddīq, may Allah be pleased with him, said: In every book there is a mystery, and the mystery of God is found in the Qur’an, in the headings of the surahs.

‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: each book has a quintessence (1⁄2afwa), and the Philosophy of the Book has the letters of the aliphate.”

We have shown you the beautiful and wondrous wrappings that we know from these hidden gems and hidden rubies: draw to you the good that is in Your Lord and Your Protector, and bring to you the good guidance and goodness that it infuses by reading the seven verses and the sublime Qur’an, the recitation of which has been prescribed to you in every prayer and you have been commanded to repeat in every prostration.

Ibn ‘Abbās was asked about ﴾ Aliflāmrā’ ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’mīm ﴿ and ﴾ Nūn ﴿, and he said: It is the Name of the Clement (al-Ramān) spelled. And it has been said that they are the Names of the Qur’an said al-Suddī2, al-Kalbī3 and Qattāda4. It has also been said that they are the letters by which God swears, according to Ibn ‘Abbas and ‘Ikrima. And it is said that each letter corresponds to the sign of one of God’s Names and one of His attributes.

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) said about Aliflāmmīm that the alif is a sign that He is First (Awwāl), the lām is a sign that He is Subtle (LaÐīf), and the mīm that He is Glorious (Majad).

1 Referring to the words of ‘Alī (supra, p. 406).
2 ‘Abd al-Ra¬mān al-Suddī (d. 745 CE), famous traditionist and preacher in Kufa, author of a tafsīr.
3 See above, p. 105.4
Qattāda b. Di’āma (d. 735 CE), one of the successors (tābi’ūn) of the Prophet’s companions. Blind of

Its teachings were written by Sa’īd b. Bašīr (d. 784 5 CE).

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Some of these letters are said to symbolize Divine Essence Names, and others symbolize the Attribute Names. And it is said that the alif is His favours (ālā’), the lām His kindness (luÐf) and the mīm His glory (majd).

He said al3⁄4a¬āq1: The alif is from Allah, the lām from Jaibrīl, and the mīm from Muṣammad. And a certain Gnostic scholar mentioned that the alif means ‘I’, the lām means ‘by Me’ (lī), and the mīm ‘of Me’ (minnī). And it is said that some letters allude to the Names of God and others do not.

A certain teacher in divine realities said that Allah put these letters as protection of the Qur’an against addition and omission, and it is that which He alludes to in His words, may He be exalted: ﴾ We have sent down the Remembrance and are its custodians ﴿2.

A certain wise man said that the letters that are pronounced are twenty-eight. Half of them are the letters of Light, and the other half are the letters of Darkness. The letters of Light are: alif, ¬ā’, 1⁄2ād, sīn, kāf, ‘ayn, Ðā’, hā’, rā’, nūn, mīm, qāf, lām, yā’ 3. The rest of the letters are those of the Darkness. The sages already wrote some of these letters on the foreheads of idols, so that people humbled themselves before them by worshipping them, as was their custom.

Whoever engraves these luminous letters and Qur’anic sigils on the first Thursday of the month rajab on the stone set with a ring of noble material and puts it on when he is frightened, for he will be safe from any fear. Whoever goes to see a governor with him, he treats him generously and solves his needs. Whoever rubs it on the head of whoever is angry, is pleased and his anger is calmed. Whoever puts it in his mouth while thirsty, quenches his thirst. Whoever puts it in rainwater and drinks from it strengthens his understanding and improves his memory. Whoever puts it on while being helpless, fends for himself. If it is worn by an unmarried woman, it is married. If it is placed on the head of an epileptic, it is restored. And if she rubs it against the heart of a divorced woman, she gives birth. And if the seal is engraved on some incense and perfumed with it by the bewitched (souls), its spell disappears. Try to understand that and value it in its proper measure, for in it lies the most sublime Mystery of God.

These are the noble Names and the magic square made with them, and they are: ALM, ALR, KHY’1⁄4, Æ©, ÆS, ÆSM, YS, 1⁄4, ©M, Q, N.

Fig. 204

1 3⁄4a¬¬āq b. Muzā¬im (d. 103 h.) unknown author of a tafsīr (ISMĀ’ĪL PASHA, Hadiyyat al’Ārifīna, i, p. 428).

2 Cor. XV:9.
3 These are the fourteen letters that appear at the beginning of some Qur’anic surahs.

and

©MQN ÆS ALR KHY’1⁄4

Nāfi’ Ra¬mān Malīk Mu’àfī A¬ad Malik

Allāh Kafīl Mālik Rabb 1⁄4amad Mukarram

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The šayj Mu¬yī alDīn b. al’Arabī said, God be in His glory: Whoever engraves on a silver ring the friendly letters (almuta¬abba)1 of the Book following the divine order and they are ALR, KHY’1⁄4, ÆS, ©M,
Q, N, the zodiacal ascendant being Taurus and the Moon being in that sign, if he takes it with him, all his needs are solved, God willing, exalted be he!

And this is the way they will be arranged. Try to understand, because it is one of the hidden secrets and treasures preserved.

Fig. 205

The šayj Abūl©asan al©arrānī (may God have mercy on His glory) said: “To nullify the poisons it will be enough for us to have the letters descended at the beginning of the surahs.”

A certain scholar mentioned that he had found in a writing that ‘Abd al-Ramon b. ‘Awf al-Zuhrī2, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote these letters about those goods and properties that he wanted to preserve, and they were protected.

It is narrated from Uṣmān b. ‘Affān, may Allah be pleased with him!, that he said: “My God, protect the ummah of Muhammad by help and assistance, by ﴾ Aliflāmmīm1⁄2ād ﴿, ﴾ Kāfhā’yā”ayn 1⁄2ād ﴿ and ﴾ ©ā’mīm ‘aynsīnqāf ﴿, by ﴾ Qāf and the Glorious Qur’an ﴿, and by ﴾ Nūn and the Calamus and what they write”.

When al-Kayyāl3, God have mercy on him, sailed on the Tigris, he recited these letters which are found at the beginning of the surahs. He was asked about them, and he said: “Whenever they are arranged [or

1 It refers to the fourteen luminous letters.

2 Companion of the Prophet, he participated in the major battles of the fledgling Islam, and according to tradition, he was one of the ten companions to whom the Prophet promised Paradise. He died in 652.

3 A¬mad b. Zakariyya’ alKayyāl or Ibn alKayyāl (9th century), a Shiite Gnostic close to the doctrines of the Ismā’īliya, and of whom not much information is known.

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They recite] somewhere, on land or at sea, the one who recites them is protected as well as his property, and is safe from having to caulk the ship and sink.

And when the scholars (al’ulamā’), may Allah be pleased with them, wanted to travel, one of them would write on his sheet (dustūr) the letters that appear at the beginning of the surahs. And when the sea was rough, he would write them on a piece of pottery and throw it into the water from the boat, so that the sea would calm down, thank God, exalted be He!

A certain virtuous man was traveling with him these letters which are at the beginning of the surahs, and when asked about them, he said: “The blessing of these letters has been shown to me as God protects me with them, enlarging my sustenance, and driving away from me the enemy, the thief, the serpent, the wild beast, and the insect, and protecting myself with them until I return to mine.”

It is related of a certain virtuous person who said: “A slave during the night had a great desire to urinate, urinated in a place where it is not usually done, and then suffered a seizure of epilepsy. So his lord recited: ﴾ BismiLlāh alRa¬mān alRa¬īm ﴿, ﴾ Aliflāmmīm1⁄2ād ﴿, ﴾ Æā’sīnmīm ﴿, ﴾ Kāfhā’yā”ayn1⁄2ād ﴿, ﴾ Yā’sīn by the wise Qur’an! ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’mīm ‘aynsīnqāf ﴿, ﴾Nūn by the Calamus and what they write! ﴿”, and freed her from what affected her, not suffering another epileptic seizure.

And a certain teacher said: “Whoever writes the Luminous Letters in a circular figure of silver, Taurus being the zodiacal ascendant and the moon being in that sign, if he carries it with him, he will never lack silver.” It is not possible for us to give more details about it in this place: God, praise and exalted be He, speaks the Truth and He shows the Way.

It is related of ‘Ali b. Abī Æālib, may Allah have on His glory, who said: “I saw al-Jiḥr one day before the battle of Badr, and I said to him: ‘Teach me something with which I can overcome the enemies.’ And he said: “Recite: ﴾ BismiLlāh alRa¬mān alRa¬īm ﴿, O my God, for the Truth of ﴾ Aliflāmmīm ﴿, ﴾ Aliflāmmīmrā’﴿, ﴾ Kāfhā’yā”ayn1⁄2ād ﴿, ﴾ Aliflāmmīm1⁄2ād ﴿, ﴾ Aliflāmmīmrā’ ﴿ , ﴾ Aliflāmrā’ ﴿, ﴾ Aliflāmmīm rā’ ﴿, ﴾ Aliflāmmīmrā’ ﴿, ﴾ Aliflāmrā’ ﴿, ﴾ Æā’hā’ ﴿, ﴾ Æā’sīnmīm ﴿, ﴾ Æā’sīnmīm ﴿, ﴾ Yā’sīn ﴿, ﴾ 1⁄4ād ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’mīm ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’mīm ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’mīm’aynsīnqāf ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’mīm ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’mīm ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’mīm ﴿, ﴾ Qāf ﴿ and ﴾ Nūn ﴿. O He, O Who there is no more “he” than Him. Lord, forgive me and help me in victory. Truly You are Almighty.” Try to understand, for God, praise and exalted be He, speaks the Truth and He shows the Way.

SSUBLIME ECRETO, RESPLENDENT LIGHT AND SHINING PEARL THROUGH THE PECULIAR VIRTUES OF THE NAMESAND THE SECRETS OF LETTERS [﴾ Kāfhā’yā”ayn1⁄2ād ﴿ ].

On Thursday morning, in the first hour, a square of 5 x 5 engraved in a precious metal such as gold or silver, or on gazelle-skin parchment, will be written on it ﴾ Kāfhā’yā’

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‘ayn1⁄2ād ﴿ five times, and then he will say: “My God, O Noble, O Guide, O Living, O Knower, O Sincere, O my God, solve my problem, which is such and such,” in search of the good and that which is related to good religion.

His saying: ﴾ Kāfhā’yā”ayn1⁄2ād ﴿, is a word in which lies a preserved mystery and hidden knowledge, for the kāf is for ‘Enough’ (Kāfī), the hā’ for ‘Guide’ (Hādī), the yā’ for ‘Creator’ (Bārī’), the ‘ayn for ‘Knower’ (‘Alīm), and the 1⁄2ād for ‘Sincere’ (1⁄4ādiq). And this according to ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him!

And it is related of ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Abbās, may Allah be pleased with him, that in his prayers he said: “O Guide, O Creator, O Patient, O Sincere, do such and such a thing for me,” and said: “This is the most sublime Name of God.”

You must know that if you want to be well received by some governor, authority, or chief, and you want d d not to contradict you and to solve your problem, then also take a scroll of gazelle-skin and write
on it this noble square perfumed with mastic, Santa Rosa cherry (ma¬lab) and Indian aloe. Then put the square on your forehead under the turban, for you will really get everything
you ask for, thank God, exalted be He, and God will grant you victory against your enemy.

On this subject the Prince of the Believers, our lord ‘Alī b. Abī Æālib, may Allah be pleased with him, has composed these verses:

Ten letters of ten meanings that I bring together, five and five, to two figures I refer.

You will see in both a secret, which I asked a teacher.
Then you will be shown in them some meanings that I have already mentioned.

In them is the solution to the problems, and their recitation has already been mentioned. And in them is the defeat of the adversary, they have already been proven 1.

People of science speak about them with their knowledge, and they say: “By this secret you are distinguished and advantaged,

for they are the good guide and are of sublime virtue.” And his science is the secret that I have included.

Whoever traces this noble word on the stone of a silver ring, on Friday with the full moon, and puts it on his finger, there will be for him a light, a good welcome, an affectionate treatment
, kindness and a pillow. And it is traced in this way:

Fig. 206

1 Evidently ‘Alī alludes to his earlier account (previous page). As far as the master referred to is the JiÅr, and the virtues of these letters were proven at the battle of Badr.

1⁄4’YHK YHK1⁄4′ K1⁄41⁄4YH

‘YHK1⁄4 HKY’Y

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And this is the figure of ﴾ Kāfhā’yā”ayn1⁄2ād ﴿ composed by Abū Ya’qūb alKindī1 to obtain b the acceptance of all creatures. Thursday in the hour of Jupiter is to be written on a piece of yellow silk, Jupiter being the ascendant. This is his image:

Fig. 207

Al-Badawī2, God have mercy on him, said: “Whoever writes this word of sublime essence on a silver ring when Venus is in her moment of exaltation, obtains respect and God provides his owner with the affection of the hearts of all people. And whoever puts on the ring when he has a hemorrhage, it is cut off, thank God, exalted be he!”

In his lyrics resides a sublime harmony, and this entails an extraordinary secret for those who are imprisoned or imprisoned. So consider its value, for it is the glittering proof and the shining pearl. And whoever places it on their finger and meets the rulers, they agree to what he asks of them.

And he who harmonizes his literal square and his numerical square into a single square, for he is more effective and convenient to obtain the answer, and God is the One Who grants success with His favor, His generosity and His kindness. Understand this preserved secret and this hidden gem. And this is the figure, as you can see:

Fig. 208

One of the righteous said, “May Allah be pleased with them!”: “When the Messenger was sent and descended upon him: ﴾ ©āmīm’aynsīnqāf. Thus it inspires you, as it inspires those who were before you, God, the Mighty, the Wise ﴿3, I knew that in it dwelled a divine secret, so I adopted it as protection against difficulties and terrifying situations, and through them I was provided and protected.” And he said: Ali

1 It must be Abū Yūsuf Ya’qūb b. Is¬āq alKindī (d. 866 AD) the famous “Philosopher of the Arabs”, also the author of works on astrology, medicine, optics or mathematics.

2 This is probably A¬mad al-Badawī (d. 1276 CE), one of the most famous Sufi saints to whom numerous legends and miracles are attributed, especially in Egypt.

‘H1⁄4YK K1⁄4’HY HKY1⁄4’ Y’HK1⁄4 1⁄4YK’H

3 Cor. XLII:1.

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Abī Æālib, may God have on His glory, would pray with them and say: “O ﴾ Kāfhā’yā”ayn1⁄2ād ﴿. Oh ﴾ ©āmīm’ayn sīn qāf ﴿! Grant me Your forgiveness.”

A certain sage said: None of you will pray with this sublime Name and sacred recitation without Allah answering his prayer and solving his need, and it is: “In the Name of God ﴾ Kāfhā’yā’ ‘ayn1⁄2ād ﴿, I beseech You by Your sublime Name to spare me all misfortune.”

And whoever harmonizes ﴾ Kāfhā’yā”ayn1⁄2ād ﴿ and ﴾ ©āmīm’aynsīnqāf ﴿ in a literal square of 10 x 10, writing it when the moon is at its height and in his mansion on a silver plate, sees by the grace of God, exalted be He!, that which cannot be described, for it is one of the preserved secrets. And its wearer does not cease to be loved and treated splendidly by kings and notables, so in it lies an extraordinary secret to solve problems: value it in its proper measure, for it is part of the supreme Lodestone.

And this is the way in which it will be arranged:

QS’M©1⁄4’YHK Y’K1⁄4’S©MQH HQY©MK’S’1⁄4 K’1⁄4HQ©M’YS ‘MQK1⁄4YH©S’ 1⁄4HSY”KQM© MK’YQSH1©⁄4′ ‘©HQSM1⁄4K’Y S1⁄4M’KHY’Q ©©Y’SH’Q1⁄4KM

Fig. 209

The sublime verses that correspond to this square in terms of literal correspondence and numerical b harmony are the following:

﴾ Like the water we make fall from the sky, with which the plants of the earth are mixed and then turned into dry and broken grass that the wind scatters ﴿1.

﴾ He is God, Who is no god but Him, Knower of the Hidden and the Apparent. He is the Gracious, the Merciful ﴿2.

﴾ The imminent day when hearts will reach the throat in anguish. The unrighteous will have no fervent friend or intercessor who can be accepted ﴿3.

1 Cor. XVIII:44. 2 Cor. Lix:22.
3 Cor. XL:1718.

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﴾ Each soul will know what it presents. I swear by the stars when they set, when they take their course and disappear, by the night when they bring their darkness, and by the dawn when they breathe! ﴿1.

1⁄4ād. By the Qur’an that contains the Remembrance! However, those who refuse to believe show their arrogance and rebellion ﴿ 2.

The šayj Zakī alDīn ‘Abd al’AÞīm3, God have mercy on him, said that these letters bring out prisoners and prisoners, and have many other uses.

And the blessed square that harmonizes with them is that of Venus, which is a square of 5 x 5, in its numerical link with them4. So we dispose it for these verses of sublime essence, for Venus is a star of good omen that follows Jupiter (alsa’d alakbar)5 in prosperity and balance, and indicates by its nature growth and increase. It is indicated for love, affection, placidity, joy, friends, siblings and relatives. And since Venus is the fifth ascendant6, that’s why we attribute the magic square of 5 x 5 to Venus.

It is to be written when Venus is in her exaltation or in her zodiacal mansion and the moon in conjunction with one of the zodiacal signs that are appropriate to her, for this celestial bond is in harmony with the noble divine bond [of the letters], so that the celestial and numerical secret is sustained by the preserved and hidden mystery of the divinity and its perfect and sacred light.

And we add to them ten of the most beautiful Names of God, of which five are found in Phitia and five in the Surah of the Flocks. Try to understand this sublime secret and this correct figure, ﴾ God grants His Sovereignty to whom He wills. God is Immense, Omniscient ﴿8.

And this is the way it will be composed. Try to understand and you will prosper, God willing, exalted be He!

1 Cor. LXXXI:1418.

2 Cor. xxxviii:1. Note that each of the Qur’anic quotations begins in Arabic with the letters KHY’1⁄4 respectively and in that order.

3 Zakī alDīn ‘Abd al’AÞīm alMun2irì (d. 656 h.) traditionist and juriconsult who was the teacher of Ibn Jallikān (Wafayāt al’Ayān, trans. of Slane, Paris, 1842, i, p. 89, n. 4).

4 However, at the beginning of the work, Venus (Zura) is attributed the square of 7 x 7, because of her letter zay which is equivalent to seven (supra, p. 10).

5 While Venus is called alsa’d ala1⁄2gar.

6 We believe that it refers to the fact that it is the fifth planet counting from the farthest from the earth, according to the order established by Ptolemy, which is as follows: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

7 Cor. v.8
Cor. II:245.

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‘BÍj»A ÊËihM ÁÎYj»A ÅÀYj»A aBñÍ ©Î°q o°ÄM AgG \Jv»AË ¶B ́qË Ñl§ jÇB3 11⁄4¿	BÀÎrÇ \JuD ÌÇ ÑeBÈr»AË ÜË ÁÎÀY Å¿ o ̈n§ AgG 1⁄2Î»AË Ÿ AËj°: jÎJa ÁÎYi	~iÞA PBJÃ KÎ¬»A Á»B§ “CB¤1⁄4» B¿ “À£B: oÄ ̧»A iAÌ†A ÅÍh»A 1⁄2I ±Îñ» ÅÀYi	ÉI ¡1⁄4NaB ÕBÀn»A ÌÇ ÜG É»G Ü jUBÄ‡A Ôf» LÌ1⁄4 ́»A oÄˆBI Án3C Ý j:h»A Ðg ieB3 Li	Å¿ ÊBÄ»lÃC ÕBÀ: Ðh»A “A ÌÇ gG ÒkàA ÂÌÍ PjzYC B¿ o°Ã OÀ1⁄4§ ÆEj ́»AË x jB “A
~iÞA PBJÃ KÎ¬»A Á»B§ “CB¤1⁄4» B¿ “À£B: oÄ ̧»A iAÌ†A ÅÍh»A 1⁄2I ±Îñ» ÅÀYi	ÉI ¡1⁄4NaB ÕBÀn»A ÌÇ ÜG É»G Ü jUBÄ‡A Ôf» LÌ1⁄4 ́»A oÄˆBI Án3C Ý j:h»A Ðg ieB3 Li	Å¿ ÊBÄ»lÃC ÕBÀ: Ðh»A “A ÌÇ gG ÒkàA ÂÌÍ PjzYC B¿ o°Ã OÀ1⁄4§ ÆEj ́»AË x jB “A	‘BÍj»A ÊËihM ÁÎYj»A ÅÀYj»A aBñÍ ©Î°q o°ÄM AgG \Jv»AË ¶B ́qË Ñl§ jÇB3 11⁄4¿	BÀÎrÇ \JuD ÌÇ ÑeBÈr»AË ÜË ÁÎÀY Å¿ o ̈n§ AgG 1⁄2Î»AË Ÿ AËj°: jÎJa ÁÎYi
Å¿ ÊBÄ»lÃC ÕBÀ: Ðh»A “A ÌÇ gG ÒkàA ÂÌÍ PjzYC B¿ o°Ã OÀ1⁄4§ ÆEj ́»AË x jB “A	‘BÍj»A ÊËihM ÁÎYj»A ÅÀYj»A aBñÍ ©Î°q o°ÄM AgG \Jv»AË ¶B ́qË Ñl§ jÇB3 11⁄4¿	BÀÎrÇ \JuD ÌÇ ÑeBÈr»AË ÜË ÁÎÀY Å¿ o ̈n§ AgG 1⁄2Î»AË Ÿ AËj°: jÎJa ÁÎYi	~iÞA PBJÃ KÎ¬»A Á»B§ “CB¤1⁄4» B¿ “À£B: oÄ ̧»A iAÌ†A ÅÍh»A 1⁄2I ±Îñ» ÅÀYi	ÉI ¡1⁄4NaB ÕBÀn»A ÌÇ ÜG É»G Ü jUBÄ‡A Ôf» LÌ1⁄4 ́»A oÄˆBI Án3C Ý j:h»A Ðg ieB3 Li
BÀÎrÇ \JuD ÌÇ ÑeBÈr»AË ÜË ÁÎÀY Å¿ o ̈n§ AgG 1⁄2Î»AË Ÿ AËj°: jÎJa ÁÎYi	~iÞA PBJÃ KÎ¬»A Á»B§ “CB¤1⁄4» B¿ “À£B: oÄ ̧»A iAÌ†A ÅÍh»A 1⁄2I ±Îñ» ÅÀYi	ÉI ¡1⁄4NaB ÕBÀn»A ÌÇ ÜG É»G Ü jUBÄ‡A Ôf» LÌ1⁄4 ́»A oÄˆBI Án3C Ý j:h»A Ðg ieB3 Li	Å¿ ÊBÄ»lÃC ÕBÀ: Ðh»A “A ÌÇ gG ÒkàA ÂÌÍ PjzYC B¿ o°Ã OÀ1⁄4§ ÆEj ́»AË x jB “A	‘BÍj»A ÊËihM ÁÎYj»A ÅÀYj»A aBñÍ ©Î°q o°ÄM AgG \Jv»AË ¶B ́qË Ñl§ jÇB3 11⁄4¿
ÉI ¡1⁄4NaB ÕBÀn»A ÌÇ ÜG É»G Ü jUBÄ‡A Ôf» LÌ1⁄4 ́»A oÄˆBI Án3C Ý j:h»A Ðg ieB3 Li	Å¿ ÊBÄ»lÃC ÕBÀ: Ðh»A “A ÌÇ gG ÒkàA ÂÌÍ PjzYC B¿ o°Ã OÀ1⁄4§ ÆEj ́»AË x jB “A	‘BÍj»A ÊËihM ÁÎYj»A ÅÀYj»A aBñÍ ©Î°q o°ÄM AgG \Jv»AË ¶B ́qË Ñl§ jÇB3 11⁄4¿	BÀÎrÇ \JuD ÌÇ ÑeBÈr»AË ÜË ÁÎÀY Å¿ o ̈n§ AgG 1⁄2Î»AË Ÿ AËj°: jÎJa ÁÎYi	~iÞA PBJÃ KÎ¬»A Á»B§ “CB¤1⁄4» B¿ “À£B: oÄ ̧»A iAÌ†A ÅÍh»A 1⁄2I ±Îñ» ÅÀYi

Fig. 210

A certain wise man said: “When you look for a certain person, whether or not he is in the region where you are, recite these five verses sixty times, for you will really find him or you will find someone who tells you
his whereabouts, by the power of Allah, praise and exaltation be He! And when you have difficulty

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If you are to solve a need or a debt is claimed from you, recite these verses the aforementioned number of times, because your problem will really be solved with the corresponding person.

A prominent sage said: As for ﴾ Æā’hā’ ﴿, for he has the number fourteen, which is the number of days of light on the moon, and he is a higher amulet (¬iŷab).

And one of the masters of essences said: “When you are afraid of some tyrannical ruler or of some wicked and oppressive person, then take five stones from the ground saying with the first “Kāf”, with the second “Hā'”, with the third “Yā'”, with the fourth “‘Ayn” and with the fifth “1⁄4ād”. Then you shall throw the first stone on your right saying ﴾ His word ﴿, you shall throw the second on your left saying ﴾ is the Truth ﴿, you shall throw the third stone behind you saying ﴾ and His is ﴿, you shall throw the fourth in front of you saying ﴾ Sovereignty ﴿1, and you shall hold the fifth over your head saying ﴾ KāfHā’Yā’Ayn1⁄4ād ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’Mīm ‘AynSīnQāf ﴿, hold your tongue, O So-and-so son of So-and-so, concerning So-and-so son of So-and-so by the right of the Supreme Name, by the right of these noble Names, ﴾ KāfHā’Yā’Ayn1⁄4ād ﴿, ﴾ ©ā’Mīm’AynSīnQāf ﴿, ﴾ Deaf, dumb and blind, will not be able to return ﴿2. For God will indeed knot his tongue with regard to you, God willing, exalted be he, for it is one of the secrets preserved.

Know that, may God help us to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His Names, he who arranges in a square these fourteen noble Names and subtle secrets, crowned each of them with one of the Luminous Letters, and they are these Names: Allāh, Subtle (LaÐīf), Sovereign (Malik), Sincere (1⁄4ādiq), Sufficient (Kāfī), Guide (Hādī), Knower (‘Alīm), Who facilitates (Mujassir)3, Clement (Ra¬mān), Healer (Æabīb), Peaceful (Salām), Living (ayy), Subsistent (©Qayyum), Light (Nūr), on a golden plate while the sun is at its height or in his mansion, for that person rises in rank, increases his power, expands his interior and opens his heart, since it is one of the preserved secrets4. And if he who is endowed with a high spiritual condition constantly recites these Names of sublime essence, he sees by the work of God, blessed and exalted be He, that which cannot be described.

And if you find yourself in a place that makes you afraid, sit down on the ground and recite the five verses, the first of which is: ﴾ Like the water that we make fall from heaven, with which the plants of the earth are mixed and then become dry and broken grass that the wind scatters ﴿5, until the last
of the five. You will recite them eleven times after you have drawn a line around you with your finger. You’ll begin to draw the line on the floor with your finger behind your back as you recite, until you close the circle in front of you. Then you shall complete your recitation ten times, and in the recitation of the first [verse] you will

1 Cor. VI:74.
2 Cor. II:17.
3 This Name corresponds to the letter yā’, since there is no known Name of God that begins with that name.

letter.
4 The magic square will appear on page 419.
5 Cor. XVIII:44. He refers to the five verses quoted shortly before (pp. 4145)

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You will keep reciting eleven times1. Then you will be silent and speak to no one, for God, exalted be He, will hide you from the eyes of the people, and even if all men and jinn were to meet you, God willing, exalted be He!

A certain Gnostic said: You shall recite these five verses sixty times when you go to see some authority, such as a judge or some other person, and when you come to the last of the sixty, you shall say “Kāf” and close one finger of your right hand, then say “Hā'” and close the second, say “Yā'” closing the third, say “‘Ayn” and close the fourth, and you will say “1⁄4ād ” closing the fifth and closing the hand. Then you will do the same with your left hand, reciting ﴾ ©ā’ Mīm ‘Ayn Sīn Qāf ﴿, one letter with each finger until you close your hand. And when you stand in front of that person you will open both hands in his face, for you will see a wonder.

A certain Gnostic, God be pleased with them, said that whoever recites these [five] verses sitting on the ground and then moves his hands around him until they are behind his back, putting one index finger over the other, and begins the recitation ten times while drawing the line with his finger from behind him until he closes the circle in front of him, [and at the end he says]: “Answer, O Servants of these Names, by the right they exercise over you, that you may hide me from the eyes of all people and from the eyes of enemies.” Then he will be silent and will not speak to anyone, for in this way he will be hidden from all eyes, God willing, exalted be He, as long as he remains silent, and when he speaks he will make himself visible. Check it out, because it’s true.

And whoever recites these illuminating secrets and these divine lights 256 times2 and then prays for the Prophet, God bless him and save him, 132 times3, for every need he asks of God will be resolved, there being in it an extraordinary secret for kings and rulers, and for those who desire to attain a high rank. If it is constantly recited by a king, his kingdom is enlarged, the number of his subjects increases, his opinions are heeded, and the people submit to him, for in him resides the hidden Supreme Name of God and His greatest preserved treasure.

And this is how they will be arranged:

1 He seems to say that the first of the five verses mentioned above will be recited eleven times, after the circle has been drawn while the other four are recited ten times. The circle will be drawn with both index fingers from behind the back until closing at the front, as suggested in a similar ritual below.

2 We believe that it refers to the fourteen Names of God listed on the previous page, corresponding to the Luminous Letters, and which are harmonized in the next square. The number 256 is equivalent to ‘Light’ (Nūr), the last of the fourteen Names.

3 Equals Muṣammad.

419

Fig. 211

And you must know that each of these fourteen Names corresponds to a specific arrangement when it is harmonized in a square or in another type of talisman. Try to understand that, for God speaks the Truth and He shows the Way.

You should know that each Name corresponds to letters and numbers, and each number corresponds to a magic square. He who harmonizes in a square the letters and numbers of each Name, reveals the secret [of the Name] before him. As long as the number of a Name is odd, for all its influences point to what the singularity implies. And whenever the number is even, its influence acts on the union and the like. When a Name is harmonized in a square with its letters and numerical values, separating them and unfolding them harmoniously, for that Name is in essence the Supreme Name, producing the same effects as the Supreme and Absolute Name. And to every divine subtlety (the Ðīfa)1 that resides in the Names correspond verses of the Qur’an, on which they depend and with which they are linked.

I have arranged these Names differently and called them Subtleties (laÐā’if), as we will mention below:

1 Also “divine gift” or “beneficial effect”, according to T. Fahd (“La magie comme “source” de la sagesse”, p. 93).

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FIRST SUBTLETY: THERE ARE TEN NAMES THAT SUPPOSE THE SECURITY OF THE FRIGHTENED, THE TRANQUILITY OF THE SORROWFUL, AND THE LIBERATION OF THE IMPRISONED: THE Clement (al-Ramān), the Merciful (al-Raṇ), the Pious (al-Ra’ūf), the Forgiving (al’Afū), the Benefactor (al-Manān), the Generous (al-Karīm),
the One who gives generously (®ūlÆawl), and the Lord of Majesty and Generosity (®ūlŶalāl walIkrām).

It is the stronghold of the beautiful sciences and subtle wisdoms that reside in the glorious Names. And it is the best of the Names in the inner dialogue (almunāŷat) who makes use of them and undertakes his 2ikr, for the mystery is really opened and unveiled before him, he is blessed, and the Sciences and the divine Favor are placed at his disposal, thus obtaining the visionary unveiling of the Truth (kašf). There are six Names: the Sublime (al’AÞīm), the Wise (al-akīm©), the Shrewd (al-Jabīr), the Unbreakable (al-Matīn), the Guide (al-Hādī), the Knower of Hidden Things (‘Allām alguyūb).

It is a trace of the Supreme Name preserved and hidden, and in them resides the rejection of diabolical suggestions, the mastery of desires and passions, and the protection of painful misfortunes. They are at dawn each day, and they have a magnificent virtue. There are eight Names: the King (alMalik), the Most High (al’Alī), the Sublime (al’AÞīm), the Sufficient (al Ganī), the Exalted (alMuta’ālī), Lord of Majesty and Generosity (®ūlŶalāl walIkrām), the Custodian (alMuhaymin), the Great (alKabīr).

UTILITY: they are to obtain respect and for great confrontations. In them is a part of the Supreme Name concealed, and with them all creatures can be influenced, especially to scatter what is gathered and gather what is scattered. To those who recite them constantly, God removes them from all punishment and helps them to overcome those who oppress them. It is very profitable if they are recited in front of tyrants, the greatest creatures and the most powerful lords, for whoever does so will remain safe, will be treated generously, and the most precious animals and the most impregnable hearts will submit to him. There are ten Names: the Mighty (al’Azīz), the Strong (alQawī), the Capable (alQādir), the Lord of Power (®ūlQuwwa), the Unbreakable (alMatīn), the Almighty (alMuqtadir), the Omnipotent (alAbbār), the Great (alMutakabbir), the Energetic (alŠadīd), the Wealthy (alQadīr)1.

In them resides the Supreme Name of God, the one with which if you pray you are attended to and if you ask it is granted to you. The masters of visionary revelations have a special knowledge of it, and it is one of the most sublime recitations. Everyone who undertakes their 2ikr gets the visionary unveiling and is provided with all the important things they need and want. He who recites them
in the middle of the night is a witness of prodigious things, and he who persists in their invocation, the secrets of the angelic realm (malakūt) are revealed [before him]. In them lies the preservation of soul and
body against what causes pain and against the oppression of enemies, for it is one of the occult recitations. No one perseveres in his recitation unless he perceives the things of the heavenly world and sees secrets of the universe, each world being placed at his disposal, for they are the perfect words. There are ten Names: The All-Encompassing One (alMu¬īÐ), the Scholar (al’Ālim), the Lord (alRabb), the One

1 We correct the original, which repeats alQādir.

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Witness (alṣahīd), All-Reckoning (al-asīb©), the Efficacious (alFa”āl), the Creative (al-Jallāq), the Creator (al-Bārī’), the Shaper (alMu1⁄2awwir).

SEXTA SSUBTLETY: THEY HAVE A PECULIAR VIRTUE FOR MEMORIZING THE SCIENCES AND FOR THOSE WHO WRITE FATWAS. The people of Gnostic knowledge have in them an inner dialogue with God and a remembrance, and in them resides the purification of the hearts of those who practice asceticism, cleansing the weakness (i’yā’)1 of their soul, for they seek the joy of the soul through the channels that make possible their spiritual ascent. There are ten Names: the Innovator (al-Badī’), the Hidden (al-BāÐin), the Guardian (al-afī©), the Perfect (al-Kāmil), the Initiator (al-Mubdi’), the One Who brings back (al-Mu’īd), the Helper (al-Mugī£), the Glorious (al-Majīd), the Sincere (al-1⁄4ādiq), the Immense (al-Wāsi’), the Subtle (al-LaÐīf).

SOPTIMAL SUBTLETY: IT IS ONE OF THE MOST SUBLIME RECITATIONS THAT THE VISIONARY REVELATION PROVIDES TO THOSE WHO RECITE THEM. In them resides the Supreme Name of God, and whoever invokes them continually has the Veil removed in the middle of the night and witnesses prodigious things. And if he knows the way in which it is to be invoked with them, he obtains with them the riches of Eternity and has in them a means of approaching the Truth. There are ten Names: the Giving (alWahhāb), the One Who Extends Sustenance (alBāsiÐ), the Living (al©ayy), the Subsistent (alQayyum), the Light (alNūr), the One Who Reveals (al Fattā¬), the Seer (alBa1⁄2īr), the Mighty (al’Azīz), the Lover (alWadūd), the Immense (alWāsi’).

OCTAVA SUTILITY: It has an immediate influence on those who ask for their means of subsistence, to feed the cattle and to bring back the lost animals. Its virtue is to solve the difficulties in obtaining the means of living and subsistence, putting in front of its faces the blessing of the good obtained by the acts, and obtaining everything it needs. It is a very profitable recitation for those who are in the lower spiritual degrees, for they are sublime Names. And there are nine Names: The One who accepts repentance (alTawwāb), the One who forgives (alGāfir), the One who calculates everything (al-asīb©), the Organizer (alWakīl), the Sufficient (al-Kāfī), the Provider (al-Razzāq), the Peace-Maker (al-Salām), the Guardian of faith (alMu’min), the Presto (al-Sarī’).

There are fifteen Names about the knowledge of the Visible World and the Spiritual World, of the Mystery of the predestined and of the positions occupied by the Upper World and the Lower World. He who makes continual use of his recitation in a state of abstinence, witnesses the high aspiration and impulse of his soul towards hidden things, which he could not know for himself. And souls draw near to him, influencing hearts in subtle ways. And if he is frightened, he will find himself safe and protected from those who oppress him. These are the Names: The One Who Gives Life (alMu¬yī), The One Who Gives Death (alMumīt), The Restraint (alQābiÅ), the Resuscitator (alBā’i£), the Heir (al-Wāri£), the Healer (al-Šāfī), the Kind (al-Barr), the First (al-Awwal), the Last (al-jir), the Visible

1 The term also means “weariness, exhaustion.” 2 Lit. “on an empty stomach”.

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(alÝāhir), the Hidden One (alBāÐin), the Most Holy (alQuddūs), ﴾ has not begotten, has not been begotten, and there is none like Him ﴿1.

And you must know that these divine Subtleties are swift in their influence and prosperous in the acceptance of prayers. It is recommended that each Subtlety be engraved on a gold seal of a gold ring, or on the silver seal set in a gold ring, or on the silver seal of a ring of the same material. And when he wishes to undertake the 2ikr of some Subtlety, he will put on his corresponding ring and recite them.

[ONTHE VIRTUES OF SOME QUR’ANIC VERSES AND FORMULAS TO DEAL WITH DIABOLICAL SUGGESTIONS.]

His words, praise and praise be to him!: ﴾ And if you are stirred up by an incitement from Satan, seek refuge in God – as far as he says and then you will clearly perceive ﴿2. These verses are for diabolical suggestions, for fear, shuddering, bad feeling, nightmares, and terror.
Whoever is affected by any of these situations, let him write on seven sheets of
paper the verses with rose water and saffron on Friday at sunrise, and every day he will swallow a leaf with a little water, for he will really be cured of it, God willing, exalted be He!

It is narrated in 1⁄4a¬ī¬ of al-Bukhārī and Muslim that according to Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him!, the Prophet said: “Satan comes to any of you and says: ‘Who created such a thing, and who created such a thing? to say, “Who created your Lord?” and when he comes to that question, he must seek refuge in God and His prophet.”3 And in another version of 1⁄4a¬ī¬ it says: “Men continually ask one another until they say: God created all things, but who created God? Whoever finds himself in such a circumstance, let him say, I believe in God and in His Messenger.”4

Al-Tirmi2ī says that according to ‘Ā’iša, may Allah be satisfied with her!, the Prophet said: “Whoever is confronted with any of these diabolical whispers, let him say: ‘We believe in God and in His Prophet’ three times,
for that will turn away from him.”5

Muslim narrates that ‘Uṣmān b. Abī al’Ā1⁄26 said: “O Messenger of Allah, Satan has placed himself between me and my prayer and my recitation, confusing me.” And the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and save him) said: “That is the devil who is called Janzab, and when you feel him near, seek refuge in Allah and spit

1 Cor. CXII:34. Each of the three statements contained in these verses would form a Name, thus being fifteen in all, as is said at the beginning of the paragraph.

2 Cor. vii:200201.
3 Bujārī, no 3034; Muslim, no. 191; A¬mad 20864.
4 Muslim, no. 190.
5 I do not find this “goodbye” in alTirmi2ī’s collection, and it seems to be a version of the previous one.
6 Companion of the Prophet who died in the year 50 of the Hijrah (‘ALĀ’ ALDĪN MUGULTAY, Ikmāl tah2īb alkamāl fī

Asmā’ Alriŷāl, IX, p. 158).

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three times to your left.” So I did that, and God took him away from me.”1 And the šayj Mu¬yī alDīn al Nawawī said in his Šar¬ Muslim2 that Janzab is with a jā’ punctuated3, a nūn with sukūn, then a zay with a vowel a, and finally a bā’ with a single diacritical period. And scholars disagree on the vocalization of the letter jā’, since some pronounce it with the vowel a, and others with the vowel i, these two being the best known variants, and still others pronounce it with the vowel u. This is what Ibn alA£īr tells in his Nihāya alGarīb4, and it is known that it is pronounced with a vowel a or i.

And Abū Dawūd narrates that Abū Zumayl5 said: “I asked Ibn ‘Abbas: ‘What do I find within me?’; and said, “What is it?” I said, “I swear to God I can’t talk about it.” Then
he said to me: “Do you have any doubts?” and laughed. Then he said: “No one could escape from them until Allah, exalted be He, sent down: ﴾ And if you are in doubt what We have sent you down … ﴿ the rest of
the verse”6. And then he said to me: “If you find any doubts within yourself, say: ﴾ He is the First and the Last, the Visible and the Hidden, and He is the Knower of all things ﴿7.

Saying “There is no god but Allāh” is recommended for one who is a victim of Satan’s whispers during ablutions, prayer and the like, because when the Devil hears the Remembrance, he slipsaway, i.e., he retreats and moves away, and “There is no god but Allāh” is the main part of the Remembrance. That is why the Lords of Creation (sādat aljalq)9, the quintessence of the Ummah, chose that the path of the rightly guided and the discipline of the disciples should be in the diction of “There is no god but Allāh” at the time of their spiritual retreat. They commanded them to recite it constantly and said: the most effective way to avoid diabolical suggestions is to give oneself to the Remembrance of God constantly.

The Jaykh A¬mad b. al-Jwārizmī10 said: “I complained to Sulayman al-Dārānī11 about the whispers of the devil that disturbed me, and he said: If you want to take him away from you the moment you feel them, then feel joy, because when you are happy he moves away from you. There is nothing more hateful to the Devil than the joy of the Believer, while when you feel sadness he intensifies his whispers.

1 Muslim, no 4083.

2 Famous jurist and traditionist born in Damascus (1233 AD), author of the main commentary on the 1st Muslim (Šar¬ Muslim, Cairo, 1283 h.). He died in 1277 AD. C.

3 That is, it is not a ”.

4 Majd al-Dīn ibn al-Atīr (d. 1210 CE), his dictionary on unusual terms in the sayings of the Prophet, entitled Alnihāya fī garīb alhadīt walatar, has been published in 5 volumes in Cairo, 19635.

5 Simāk b. alWalīd Abū Zumayl, a little-known personage who appears as a reliable transmitter (£iqat) of some prophetic sayings in the collections of Muslim alTirmi2ī and other traditionists (‘ALĀ’ ALDĪN MUGULTAY, Ikmāl tah2īb alkamāl, vi, p. 112).

6 Cor. x:94.
7 Cor. LVII:3. The anecdote is recorded in Abū Dawūd, no. 4446.
8 See Cor. cxiv:4, where the Devil is called “the whisperer who sneaks away” (alwaswās aljannās).
9 In the original we read sādat aljulla, “lords of sincere love”, and we correct that in the text they are described

as “quintessence of the Ummah”, relying on the definition of the Lords of Creation given by J. Nurbakhsh (Sufi Symbolism, iii, p. 238): “Those friends of God who possess the nature of the prophets […]. A tradition says: In this community (Ummah) there are forty persons of the nature of Abraham, seven of the nature of Moses, three of the nature of Jesus, and one of the nature of Muhammad. All of them, each according to his rank, are the Lords of Creation.”

10 Unidentified, it could refer to Ahmad b. JaÅruyah (d. 864 CE), a celebrated saint of the city of Balkh (A. J., ARBERRY, Muslim Saints and Mystics, p. 227).

11 Abū Sulaymān alDārānī (d. 830 CE), a Sufi authority cited by authors such as Ibn ‘Arabī or alSarrāŷ.

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The šayj Mu¬yī alDīn [b. al’Arabī] said, and thereby corroborates what some scholars say, that only he who has full faith is spared from the suggestions of the Devil, for the thief will not propose to enter an empty building.”

According to Abu al-Dardā’1 [the Prophet said]: “To whom he recites seven times every day: ﴾ But if they turn their backs on you, say: Allah is enough for me, there is no god but Him, to Him I entrust myself and He is the Lord of the Immense Throne ﴿2, Allah frees him from that which distresses him concerning this life and the Hereafter, be sincere or a liar”3, and in another version he says: “he does not die crushed, or drowned, or burned, or by iron”4.

And al-Lay£ b. Sa’d5 relates that according to Abū Ma’šar6 a man had broken his leg, so a person came to him and said: Put your hand where it hurts and say: ﴾ But if they turn their backs on you, say: God is enough for me, there is no god but Him, to Him I entrust myself and He is the Lord of the Immense Throne ﴿. And his leg recovered and healed by the virtue of this verse.

And whoever writes it, carries it hanging and meets a powerful person, solves his problem, God willing, exalted be He!

ONTHE ATTRACTION AND SYMPATHY OF HEARTS

You shall write: “O Allāh” seven times, “O Gracious” (Raṇen) seven times, O Merciful (Raṇim) seven times, and then you shall write: “My God, soften So-and-so’s heart towards So-and-so and infuse in him pity, compassion, esteem, sympathy and acceptance, ﴾ But if they turn their backs on you,
say: Allah is sufficient for me, there is no god but Him, to Him I entrust myself and He is the Lord of the Immense Throne ﴿, ﴾ and when Ibrāhīm said: My Lord! Let me see how you resurrect what is dead. He said, “Don’t you think? And he said:
Of course it is, even Mighty, Wise ﴿7. In this way So-and-so comes before So-and-so, complacent
and submissive, ﴾ we have removed your veil so that your eyesight, today, is sharp ﴿8″. You shall write it with saffron, pepper, and lead, and spit it seven times over the head of whomever you want, and in whatever way is easiest for you, either while he is asleep or awake, in a close approach such as that of husband and
wife, or in whatever manner it may be. And if you can’t get to their head, then turn it away from that person, where you see them and they can’t see you. You will say “Allāhu akbar!” seven times at each turn and you will take him with you, for God will indeed push him to follow you by submitting to you. God is the
One Who grants success. “Acts are only valid with intentions, and each one will be rewarded for what they proposed.” And it is to be
written on Thursday at sunrise on his amulet (al¬irz).

1 Companion of the Prophet, died in Damascus in 652 AD.
2 Cor. IX:130.
3 Abū Dawūd, no. 4418, where it says “one who recites it seven times every sunrise and sunset.” 4 Version that we did not find.
5 A well-known Egyptian traditionist and jurisconsult. He died in 791 AD.
6 This would be Abū Ma’šar alSindī (d. 787 AD), a traditionist and author of a K. alMagāzī. 7 Cor. II:259.
8 Cor. l:22.

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APARTADO: And this is the Name soon [in the answer]: AHL, AHLA, ‘LH, the Essence, the Spirit and the Science, O Benign, O One Who unites everything (Wa1⁄21⁄2ūl), bring So-and-so to So-and-so, and bring affection between them, BHLÆĪF, ŠLĪÆĪ’, ASMAÆŪN, AÆŪN HKŠ, BRQŠ, HYŪRŠ, BHLHLYŪR, ALARKYĀ1⁄4, HYŪRŠ, YARŪŠ, ALŠQ, ALŠQŪM, MHRAQŠ, YŠL©Æ, YŠLYŪŠ, B’RNQŪŠ, QLŠAQŪM, ‘LŠAQŠ, MHRAQŠ. Answer, O servants, by the Preserved and Hidden Name. Answer, O Sālim. Answer, O Mīmūn.”

You will write it on Wednesday on reed sheets with clinopodium water, saffron and rose water, along with the name of whoever you want. Then you will hang it in the wind and perfume it with frankincense. Your food during the spiritual retreat will be bread and oil, and you will retire for seven days to a place where there are no people, carrying out a proper retreat in which you will fast for the day and break the fast with what we have already mentioned without being completely satisfied. You will recite them at the end of each of the five sentences and you will have them for whatever you want: for the epileptic seizure of the partner, to attract the absent, to turn the paper into gold or silver and everything you want. So feel lucky and don’t reveal your secret to anyone, because you will get what you expect and what you want will be fulfilled for your benefit.

This is the Seal of Obedience, and in it is found the Name Presto and the high ascendant. You will write in 1180 a name, and that is what you will write the ascendant on; This number is in three letters, and in it there is anticipation and delay. Try to understand, because the walls have ears and listen attentively1. This is the seal:

APARTADO [ABOUT THE NAMES OF UMM MÙSÀ]: You will write these names on the pillow of the spouses who are quarrelling, and they are the names of um Mūsà2, peace be upon him! You will write them on Friday when the imām sits in the mimbar and having begun the call to prayer, with saffron

1 Cor. LXIX:12. The meaning of the paragraph is uncertain, and the manifest secrecy of its words does not help its interpretation. He seems to suggest that in the following figure the name of the planetary ascendant should be written in the place where three letters with a value of 1180 occur, which I cannot identify (and they would have to be a gaynqāf fā’ or gayn1⁄2ād1⁄2ād, or by substituting the gayn for šīn, which in the Islamic East was worth a thousand). We are also not sure that the number 1180 is correct, or that the names of the figure are, which in general coincide with some of the previous invocation. On the other hand, if the number were 1081 (altering the order of the figures is a common error), it would be equivalent to Mars (alMarrīj). In any case, it is noteworthy that manuscript D (prior to the base ms.) does not contain this paragraph but does contain the figure, with some variants (see Annex II, p. 511).

2 Although the expression “peace be upon him!” suggests that she is the mother of Moses, we wonder whether she could refer to the mother of the Shiite caliph Muhammad al-Mahdī (756788 A.D.), a powerful woman to whom some blessing was attributed (see E. Honigmann* “Karbala’,” in EI 2).

Fig. 212

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aromatic water, rose water, crushed yellow cloves and frankincense, and cloves rubbed in the aromatic rose water […] Then fold the writing, spread it with aromatic civet and put the writing inside the pillow on which they sleep, for they will really love each other, God willing, exalted be He!

And this is what you will write: “ÆSŪM ÆSŪM, ‘YŠŪM ‘YŠŪM, ‘LŪM ‘LŪM, KLŪM KLŪM, 1⁄4YŪM 1⁄4YŪM, QYŪM QYŪM, DYŪM DYŪM. Praise be to Him by the Mention of Whom hearts are reassured1. Be still, O heart of So-and-so son of So-and-so, for the love of So-and-so son of So-and-so. My God, reconcile So-and-so son of So-and-so and So-and-so son of So-and-so, just as You reconciled So-and-so and his companions2. O Who introduced love for Yūsuf into the heart of Zulayja3, O Who introduced love for Mūsà into the heart of Āsiya bint Muzā¬im4, O Who brought love for Muhammad into the heart of Khadīŷa bint Khuwaylid and ‘Ā’iša bint Abī Bakr al1⁄4iddīq5, introduces love for such a person into the heart of such a person, just as you introduce night into day, day into night, and the masculine into feminine, ﴾ even if you had spent all that is on earth you would not have succeeded in uniting their hearts, yet God united them. He really is Mighty, Wise ﴿6. There is no power or strength except in God, the Sublime, the Most High!”

And if you wish, write them after sunrise on Friday.

APARTADO: They asked ®ūlNūn alMi1⁄2rī, God have mercy on him!, by the names of um Mūsà, peace be upon him!, and he said: There are many stories we have about them, and what I have found to be true is that when you want to make use of them, you will fast seven days and do not talk to anyone. Every day of them you shall give alms to three poor people, and you shall perfume your place of prayer in the morning and evening with frankincense, frankincense, and aloes, and you shall recite the names at the end of each prayer seven times. When the time is completed you shall recite them inwardly, and you shall not invoke them before a padlock, chain, or lock without it being opened before you in the twinkling of an eye, thank God, exalted be He!

Here’s what you’ll say: “In the Name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. Lord of Halbā bint Ragbā, the believer, the sincere, um Mūsà, peace be upon him!, by God, the Mighty, the Wise, HLYA, the Great, the Great, the Guardian, the Sublime, by Whom the heavens (alaÐbāq) are opened, the horizons are illuminated and the boundaries are revealed. Open this bolt and this bond, and if you wish, you will say “to So-and-so son of So-and-so to love So-and-so son of So-and-so.” By God, the Mighty, the Great, the Great, the Custodian, the Sublime.”

And in another narration it is said that the names of um Mūsà, peace be upon him!, with which locks and bonds are undone are: “ÆSŪM ÆSŪM, AYŪM AYŪM, ©YŪM ©YŪM, QYŪM QYŪM, DYŪM DYŪM. My God, O one who opens the sky with the pouring rain7, open such and such and you will mention the bolts, shackles or hearts you want. You can really do everything. My god

1 Allusion to Cor. XIII:29.
2 Allusion to Cor. IX:118119.
3 V. Cor. XII:2034. Woman of the biblical Potiphar.
4 The name that tradition gives to Pharaoh’s wife (cf. Famada, nos. 2536 and 2751), which is mentioned in Cor.

XVIII:9 and LXVI:11.
5 MuỢmmad’s first and third spouses. 6 Cor. VIII:64.
7 Cf. Cor. LIV:11.

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AŠBĪH AŠBĪH ŠBĪH, ZYDŪ©, BDĪ©, ÆĀ©ŪL, M©ĪL LH, TKĀMD, SLĀM, MĀYŪ©Ā, M©LLŪT, UM A©RAH, ŶNŪDHĀ, ©ĀBŪRH, BŪR©, BDĪ©Ā, ©ĀNĪT NŪNH, MRDŪDH ©, QĀL, MŶ, M’Ŷ, ÆFF, LFF, KFF, SHF, F’ĪL, YĀLĪÆĀ, WÆĀYA, DBĀ, LKRĪRH. [I conjure you] to respond, to come and obey God, His Messenger, His Power and His Dominion. Open this bolt: if it is made of iron, make it jump, and if it is made of brass, copper, or wood, break it. By the right of these Names over you, and if you wish, say: open So-and-so’s heart to love and affection for So-and-so.”

He ended thank God, exalted be he!

APART IN WHICH I WILL MENTION THE SEALOF SULAYMĀN

You must know that whoever wears this ring is protected by God, as long as he is careful not to commit sins, is in a state of purity and with clean clothes, and is silent and fearful of God, for then he will be promptly cared for. And it is the Seal of Obedience that only the strong in God (al’azīz) can attain.

Wahb b. Munabbih1, “God be pleased with him!” said that the Seal of Sulaymān was written on four pillars, on the right side being “I am God, I do not cease to be”; on the left side “I am God, the Living One, the Subsistent”; on the third side “I am God, the Mighty, there is no mighty one except Me and the one whom I cover with my Seal”; and on the fourth side is written the verse of the Throne, surrounding “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” God bless and save him!

A PARTADO: and it is said that the Names that were found on the Seal of Sulaymān, peace be upon him!, are these: “There is no god but Allāh, only Him, without an associate. I am God, I am One in Sovereignty and Dominion, AYL AYL AYL. I am God, I am Strong in Power and Omnipotence, YĀH YĀH YĀH. I am God, Living, Subsistent, I do not sleep, AYH AYH AYH. I am God, Shrewd, Capable, everything obeys me, ANŪJ ANŪJ ANŪJ. I am God, the Gracious, the Merciful, DĀ’ŪŶ FY’ŪŶ MĀ’ŪŶ. There is no god but Allah is my fortress, whoever enters it is safe from my punishment. I protect myself by the Names of this Seal and by the Lord of Power and Imperative. I take refuge from my enemies in the Lord of Power, Strength, and Kingdom. I entrust myself to the Living One, Who does not die. I inflict harm on those who wish me with ﴾ there is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime. God is enough for us, what an excellent Protector! 2 Say: Allah, King of Sovereignty! until His saying without limitation 3.

It has been said that these Names were found on the embroidery of the robe of Sulaymān4, peace be upon him!, and they are a great blessing, particularly to royalty and government. They are: “AYL AYL AYL. I am God, I am One in Power, Strength and Omnipotence, YĀH YĀH

1 Yemeni traditionist who lived in the first half of the eighth century, and to whom some work on the prophets of Islam with a marked Judeo-Christian influence is attributed.

2 Cor. III:173.
3 Cor. III:267.
4 According to manuscripts B and D, they were found in the embroidery of the Prophet Yusuf’s robe, and in the ring or signet

of Sulaymān.

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YĀH. I am God, the Living, the Susbistente, the Subsistent who does not sleep, AH AH AH. I am God, the One, the Dominator, Living, Capable, nothing makes me perish, ANŪJ ANŪJ ANŪJ. I am God, the Mighty, there is no mighty one but Me, My Power is above the comparable and the equivalent, DĀ’ŪŶ FY’ŪŶ DĀ’ŪŶ. There is no god but Allah is my fortress, whoever enters it is safe from the punishment of Allah. I protect myself in the Lord of Power and the Kingdom, I take refuge in the Lord of Strength and Imperative, I entrust myself to the Living One, the one who does not die, I strike at him who strikes me and wishes to harm me, deceive me, betray me or falsely accuse me with No power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime. I seek refuge in God and entrust myself to God and His sacred, hidden, and glorious Names, AH AH AH, LŪ’ĀLYH, DĀYŪM, ÆASŪM, QYŪM, for the truth of ﴾ ©ā’Mīm’AynSīn Qāf ﴿, for the truth of ﴾ KāfHā’Yā”Ayn1⁄4ād ﴿, and for the truth of the ©awāmīm and the noble verses they contain. In them I take refuge and in the Power of God, with which he created Muhammad, God bless and save him!”

A PARTADO: And these Names are said to be some of the Names of the Shining Light, whose light predominates over all light. And when Sulaymān, peace be upon him, took his seat, the jinn trembled with respect and fear of these Names, which are: ﴾ There is no god but Allāh, the Decree belongs entirely to God ﴿2, no one can overcome God, Light, Light, Light. Praise be to Him whose Light prevails over all light. There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime. KHY’1⁄4, ŶHLĀS, WA©1⁄4LĪ, R©SMĀ, KSÆSÆĪ, MÆÆHÆÆ, HÆĀHÆ, HYF. Answer, ﴾ There is no god but Allah ﴿ shines and I seek light. ÆŪB, ÆŪB, Most Pure, Most Pure (Subbū¬), HYÆŪB, HYÆŪB, Most Holy, Most Holy (Qaddūs), Lord of the Angels and of the Spirit. He sits on the Throne and to Him belongs the Sovereignty. He has the most beautiful Names, no one can hinder what He decrees or hinder what He grants, doing in His Kingdom what He wills and decreeing in His creation what He desires, for He can do all things.”

It will be written on a scroll of gazelle or sheepskin with musk and saffron, and it will be perfumed with the most aromatic of incense.

And this chapter is derived in 71 sections indicated to go to see the sovereigns and the rulers, to meet the authorities, to the imprisoned and the bewitched, to the deserted roads3, to the difficulties in childbirth, to fever, to the repudiated, to the slap, to the love between man and woman, for the love of brothers, sisters, and mothers, and for buying and selling, for their dispositions are numerous. So conceive of His power, strive to preserve it, and beware of committing sin, for in them resides the Supreme Name of God, and they are the Names just mentioned and the seals that were on the pendant of Sulayman, peace be upon him!

1 Paraphrasing Cor. XXV:58.
2 Cor. III:154.
3 That is, the paths that inspire fear.

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And he narrates to©Ijari1 that Ka’b al’Bār2, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “On the carpet of Sulayman, peace be upon him, there were names with which the jinn were struck down and frightened, those who obeyed and were punished. And in the center of the carpet were four names in the Hebrew language forming a square3, by virtue of which the jinn and the demons submitted without disobeying for a single moment. The spirits charged with holding the carpet up were four powerful jinn (‘afārīt),4 who were Sulayman’s most important ministers among jinn. Sulayman’s ministers, peace be upon him, were three hundred men, the most important of them Ā1⁄2af b. Barajyā, and three hundred jinn, of whom the most important are these four: ÝMRYĀÆ, 1⁄4N’YQ, HDLYĀŶ and ŠŪGĀL. To these names the jinn and the demons owe great obedience, so conceive their dignity and virtue, do not despise them, and do not reveal them to any of God’s creatures. Beware of commanding the four jinn to submit, and instead you will say: “O the four servant spirits and venerated ministers, [I invoke you] to ordain and appoint whoever will solve my need and as much as I please, by the right of the Prophet of God Sulayman, and by the right of Him Who said: A jinn ‘Ifrīt said: I will bring it to you before you get up from your seat, I have strength for it and I am trustworthy ﴿5, It is from Sulayman, and it is “in the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Do not rise up against me, but come to me in submission ﴿6, quickly, calmly, and serenely.”

You will write each name on its corresponding day, in a state of ritual purity, with clean clothes and in a place without impurity. You will write it on its corresponding earth time and perfume it with the most aromatic and best incense. Then, in the evening, you will expose it to the air under the stars by reciting Surah Yā’ Sīn and Surah of Sovereign7. Each of these four names corresponds to a day:

To the first, which is ÆAYŪM, on Sunday. His hour is the first, with the rising of the sun, and his servant is the ‘ifrīt 3⁄4MRYĀÆ. The owner of the hour is alMu2hib alKibrīt, and this is his name: HŠÆŠLHKŪŠ, nine letters.

The second corresponds to Tuesday and its first hour. His servant is the ‘ifrīt ŠWGĀL and the owner of the hour is al-A¬mar Abū alTawābi’ 8, and this is his name: KŠKŠLY’ŪŠ, nine letters.

The third corresponds to Wednesday and its first hour. His servant is ‘ifrīt DYBĀŶ9. The owner of the time is Burqān, his planet is Mercury, and this is his name: B©ŠHŠLÆŪŠ, nine letters.

And the fourth corresponds to Saturday and its first hour. His servant is the ‘ifrīt 1⁄4N’YQ. The owner of the hour is Mīmūn Abū Nūj, and this is his name: ŠÆLÆÆLKŪŠ, nine letters. And there are nine letters in each name because it is the highest number, the most powerful and the last of them.

1 Unidentified.

2 Yemeni Jew converted to Islam around 638 (16 AH), and great authority in Jewish-Islamic traditions.

3 Lit. “four closed names”.

4 Plural of ‘ifrīt, a name usually used to refer to an evil and rebellious genius, although in this case it is distinguished from the jinn by its greater power.

5 Cor. XXVII:40.
6 Cor. XXVII:3031.
7 Cor. xxxvi and lxvii.
8 Lit. “Father of the female genii”, who accompany the women. 9 Shortly before called HDLYAŶ.

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And this is the figure of the stamp:

And it is said that this is his incantation and the words to be spoken: “My God, O Mighty One, there is none strong but Thee, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Creator of night and day, Who sends the clouds and the winds. O Lord of lords, Who emancipates slaves, He Who is able to do what He desires and wills, nothing is hidden from Him, He fears no consequences, no reward awaits. The Ruler in His Power, the Merciful in His Mercy. I implore you, by the verses of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful, Lord of the Faithful Spirit, Jibrīl, of the exalted and exalted angel, Mīkā’il, of the angel who blows the horn, Isrāfīl, and of the feared angel for whom hearts tremble, ‘Azrā’īl, and of all the bearers of the Throne, to ordain the one who solves my need and what pleases me. By the truth of the prophet of God, Solomon, peace be upon him, and by the truth of him who said: “Which of you will bring me his throne before they come to me in subjection? A jinn said ‘Ifrīt up to His trustworthy saying ﴿1, ﴾ It is from Sulaymān as far as it says subdued ﴿2. My God, I beseech Thee by these spiritual beings who honor Thee, to subordinate to me the four ‘ifrīt with Thy Power and Thy Majesty, by HŠHŠ, MHŠHŠ, FÆŪŠ, LYHŪŠ, KŠKŠ, LYŪŠ, ŠJŠLŪÆ, Š©ŠÆ, JŶŶ, JŶŶ, answer, obey and do as I command you.

APARTADO: and it is said that the seal that Sulaymān carried in his hand, in which his sovereignty resided, in which was the Supreme Name of God and which was written in the heart of Ādam, peace be upon him!, was like this:

1 Cor. XXVII:3940. 2 Cor. XXVII:3031.

Fig. 213

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Fig. 214

[APART ON THE PECULIAR VIRTUES OF SOME VERSES FOR NAVIGATORS]

Among the peculiar virtues of the glorious verses is His saying, exalted be He: ﴾ He said, “Embark on it!” And may they be in the name of God their course and their arrival. It is true that my Lord is Forgiving and Compassionate ﴿1. This verse is for those who have a ship that is at sea and want to save it from sinking into the depths. That verse will be engraved on a teak wood plate and nailed to the front of the boat and in another copy it says: on the back of the boat, for it will really have in it an amulet (irz) and a protection, God willing, exalted be He!

And in the book of Ibn al-Sinnī 2 it is said that, according to al-asan©b. ‘Ali, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless and save him) said: “The safety of my community when they embark on a ship is that they recite: ﴾ Let their course and their arrival be in the name of Allah. It is true that my Lord is Forgiving and Compassionate ﴿, ﴾ They have not appreciated God in His true magnitude ﴿3 until the end of the verse; and so in other copies: when they embark and not […], let them recite ﴾ Let their course and their arrival be in the name of God. It is true that my Lord is Forgiving and Compassionate ﴿, ﴾ They have not appreciated God in His true magnitude ﴿. He will stand at the stern and looking towards the bow he will point (yumī’) to the left and to the right and say: Abū Bakr and ‘Umar. Then he will point to the stern and say: ‘U£mān. And finally

1 Cor. XI:41.
2 Unidentified. 3 Cor. xxxix:64.

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he will point to the bow and say: ‘Alī. Then he will say: “In the Name of Allah we beseech Him, with ﴾ Kāfhā’yā’ ‘ayn1⁄2ād ﴿ we are sufficient, and with ﴾ ©ā’Mīm’AynSīnQāf ﴿ we protect ourselves, ﴾ Allah surrounds them behind them. This is a glorious Recitation, in a preserved Tablet ﴿1.

Ibn ‘Abba’s said to his companions: “Whoever recites when he mounts his mount or a ship: “In the Name of Allah, the King, they have not appreciated Allah in His true magnitude, when the whole earth is in His fist on the Day of Resurrection even than they associate with it. ﴾ He said: Get on board! And may they be in the name of God their course and their arrival. It is true that my Lord is Forgiving and Compassionate, and then He turned to His companions and said if He perishes or His ship sinks, then let the responsibility be upon Me.

Ibn Šabak said: “I came to the coast of Barabararš4 and found in the harbor twelve ships laden with provisions. I went into one of them, said the words, and recited the verses. Then the ships began to sail with a favorable wind well into the night of the5th, and then the wind blew strongly and a great swell arose, but that wind did not reach the coast because it deviated from the ship in which I was, while of the other ships there was no trace left.

And ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar said: “The assurance of not perishing or sinking for one who sails on the sea is that he recites: “In the Name of Allah, the Sovereign, the Gracious, the Merciful. • They have not appreciated God in His true magnitude • the verse to the end. ﴾ He said: Get on board! And may
they be in the name of God their course and their arrival. It is true that my Lord is Forgiving and Compassionate ﴿.
﴾ When you and those who are with you have boarded the ship, say: Praise be to God, who has saved
us from unrighteous nations ﴿6. God really holds the heavens and the earth so that they do not fall – the verse to
the end.”

And in another version, Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be satisfied with both, said: “Who says when he embarks on the sea: ‘In the Name of God, the Sovereignty belongs to God, O One to whom belong the seven fearful heavens, the seven ashamed lands, the mighty submissive mountains, and the immense seas humbled before Him. Protect me, You are the best Protector and You are the most Gracious of the merciful. They have not appreciated God in His true magnitude until His words, praise and exaltation be He! of what they associate with ﴿. May God bless and save our Lord Muhammad, his family and companions, and all the prophets, the Messengers and the angels who are close to him. ﴾ He said: Get on board! And may they be in the name of God their course and their arrival. It is true that my Lord is Forgiving and Compassionate ﴿. Then Ibn ‘Abbas turned to his companions and said: “If he is shipwrecked, then let the debt of his death fall on me.”

1 Cor. LXXXV:2022. 2 Cor. xxxix:64.
3 Unidentified.
4 Uncertain reading.

5 Lit. “towards the third of the night”. 6 Cor. xxiii:28.

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
: ONTHE PECULIAR VIRTUES OF THE VERSE OF THE THRONEAND ITS DIVINE BLESSINGS.

Know that, may God help us in obedience and in the understanding of His mysteries, that the Names have allusive meanings, and one of the most virtuous (al1⁄2āli¬ūna) masters of the mystical states, of Information and of the divine Names gave an account of the most sublime Names, saying that the most sublime verse of the Book of God is the great and venerated verse of the Throne, by His saying: ﴾ His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth ﴿. And that in ﴾ Aliflāmmīm ﴿ there is a great meaning, since the alif is from “Allāh”, the lām from ﴾ to Him (lahu) belong the heavens and the earth ﴿, and the mīm from ﴾ King of Sovereignty ﴿.

And you must know that when this verse descended upon the Prophet, God bless him and save him, forty thousand angels descended with it for the glory and greatness of his power. So conceive the value of what came before you, for it is the saving verse, protective, defending, and preserving. She is really the lady (sayyida) of the Qur’an, and she is a third of it. This is what has been handed down in some reliable traditions, in which it is said that whoever recites it at the beginning of the night is not approached by any demon, and in the same way who recites it at the beginning of the day. And the Lord, the Obeyed One (al-Muḥ’)1 mentioned it so that the hidden meaning of the verse of the Throne might be understood.

The verse of the Throne contains one hundred and seventy letters, fifty words, and seven sections (fu1⁄2ūl). Whoever recites it the number of times of its letters one hundred and seventy, wanting to be interceded for him before a powerful person, whoever he may be, finds his intercessor.

To those who, finding themselves in an adverse situation, recite it one hundred and seventy times in the middle of the night, in a state of ritual purity and oriented towards the qibla, God comforts them with alacrity.

Whoever recites it the number of times of his words to understand something in which your light is insufficient […] and is protected from diabolical inspirations.

Whoever recites it the number of times of his sections on Friday after the evening prayer (al’a1⁄2r) in a place without noise, in a state of ritual purity and oriented towards the qiblah, and finds in his heart a condition that he does not recognize and a feeling of baseness, so he prays to Allah, that he will be taken care of in everything concerning this life and the Hereafter.

Whoever recites it in the middle of the night 225 times is free from his enemy, for God, exalted be He, destroys him.

1 Both epithets of the Prophet.

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Whoever recites it 313 times to seek and attract sustenance obtains it and is loved by all creatures.

And for those who are distressed by some issue and recite it 313 times, God frees them from what worries them, whether it is related to this life or to the Hereafter, and opens before them the door of blessings as long as they continue to recite it.

To him who recites this noble verse and writes it with the letters separated in a glass bowl with saffron, rose water, and musk, and drinks from it the number of days of its letters, during which he will make a fast that will break it, God grants him the faculty of speaking with the mastery of the genera of Wisdom. The beginning of this work will take place in the month of Nīsān1, and if some water is added it is better. When one wants to break the fast with the verse, as we mentioned, one will recite the verse of the throne seven times and say: “My God, I beg You by the Truth of this noble verse, to inspire me with Your divine Knowledge, I beg You to grant me knowledge,” and you will mention it, because God will actually grant your request.

I pointed this out to one of the brothers, so he made use of it, and had scarcely completed the number of recitations mentioned when God revealed to him all kinds of knowledge, he got what he had asked for, and much more. God guides whom He wills.

And one of its peculiar virtues is that when you wear new clothes, you will recite them on a seam of the garment and when you put it on you will say: “My God, in the same way that you clothe me in new clothes, I beg you to make me live happily and grant me a long life”, because really the angel servants of this noble verse ask for the forgiveness of those who wear that garment until they take it off. And if you add to this the surah of Decree2, then it is more effective.

Another of the peculiar virtues of this noble verse is that when you go to visit a sick person, ask him about his illness, and if it is a headache and another pain, you will write the verse with the letters separated and hang it over him in the area of pain. And if the patient tells you that his condition is inside him or all over his body, then trace the well-known magic square of the verse in a glass bowl, writing it with musk, saffron and rose water. Then he writes the noble verse also with the letters separated, and next to it he writes the verses of healing, which are: ﴾ He will heal the breasts of believing people ﴿3. ﴾ A cure for what is in the breasts, a guide and a mercy for believers ﴿4. ﴾ Contains a cure for men ﴿5. ﴾ With the Qur’an we bring down a cure and mercy for the believers ﴿6. ﴾ And when I am sick it heals me ﴿7. • Say: For those who believe, it is a

1 Corresponds to the month of April. 2 Cor. xcvii.
3 Cor. IX:14..
4 Cor. x:57.

5 Cor. XVI:69. 6 Cor. XVII:82. 7 Cor. XXVI:80.

and

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guide and a cure ﴿1. Then you shall erase the writing with honey, recite the noble verse on it seven times, and give it to the sick man to drink, for he will certainly be cured, God willing, may He be exalted!

Another peculiar virtue of this verse is that whoever has a phlegmatic type of affection, will take seven pinches of white salt, reciting with each of them the noble verse seven times, and will take them on an empty stomach for seven days counted, because God will really make that which affects him disappear.

And it is said of a certain person who saw in his dreams horrible things that terrified him, so he went to one of the masters of the spiritual disposition and complained to him about what happened to him in his dreams. Then the šayj said to him: “When you go to bed, seek refuge in God from the stoned Devil three times2, then recite the verse of the Throne three times, and when you get to where it says ﴾ and it does not cause him fatigue to keep them. He is the Most High, the Sublime ﴿, repeat it three times and sleep, for you will really get rid of what happens to you.” That same thing that person did and after that nothing disturbed him again.

Another peculiar virtue of the verse of the Throne is that when you want to go to some ruler or powerful man and fear his wickedness, for when you go to him you will say “Let the faces be distorted (šāhat al wuŷūh)”3 three times, you will recite the verse of the Throne three times and then say: “My God, send down through Your beauty, Your affection, Your generosity, and the features of Your Lordship, that which will overwhelm hearts, humiliate souls, dazzle eyes, and stupefied minds, and that before which every proud and oppressive person will humble himself. O Mighty, O Forgiving, O Allāh,
O One, O One. My God, protect me from that which You have decreed to me, prolong my existence with one
of the subtleties of Your Name ‘the Guardian’ (al©afīÞ) so that the eyes
of creatures are dazzled. Clothe me with the breastplate of Thy protection and Thy safekeeping. Hang on my shoulder the sword of
Your victory, Your dignity, and Your defense. Put on me the crown of Your Glory and Your Nobility. Cover me with the
mantle of grace and your vigor. Embark me on the ship of salvation until the moment of death, and prolong my existence with one of the subtleties of Your coercive Name. Distance from me with them those who wish me evil out of all Thy creatures, just as Thou didst subdue the sea to Mūsà
b. ‘Imrān. Soften their hearts before me, as You softened the iron for Dāwud4, peace be upon him, so that they may speak only by Your permission, for their foreheads (nawā1⁄2ī)5 are clasped in Your fist, turning to where You wish. O Who transforms hearts, O Knower of hidden things,
I appease the wrath of So-and-so son of So-and-so, or if you wish: I appease the wrath of people with There is no god but
Allah, and I draw their hearts with Muhammad is the Messenger of Allāh, may Allah bless him and save him!
﴾ When they saw it, they were amazed and cut their hands without realizing it. Said:

1 Cor. XLI:43.
2 That is, he will say three times: “I take refuge in God from the stoned Devil (a’ū2u biLlāh min alŠayÐān alRaŷīm).
3 According to one tradition, when the Muslims were about to be defeated at the Battle of Unayn ©, the

Prophet uttered these words and then threw a handful of earth in the faces of the enemies, so that they were blinded and fled (cf. Muslim no. 3328; al-Dārimī, no. 2344).

4 In reference to Cor. xxxiv:10.
5 Lit. “the locks of hair that fall on the forehead,” alluding to Cor. xi:55, etc.

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God preserve us! This is not a human being but a noble angel! ﴿1. There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime ﴾ as protection against every rebellious demon ﴿2, ﴾ protection: Decree of the Mighty, the Knower ﴿3. ﴾ We have protected them from all the stoned demons ﴿4, ﴾ We have sent down the Remembrance and are its guardians ﴿5, ﴾ Man has angels who take turns in front of him and behind him guarding him by the Decree of God ﴿6, ﴾ God behind them surrounds them. This is glorious Preaching, in a Preserved Tablet ﴿7, ﴾ We are its guardians ﴿8. ﴾ We free him from anguish. This is how we save believers ﴿9, ﴾ I am not a protector for you ﴿10, ﴾ Every soul has a protector ﴿11, ﴾ but if they turn their backs on you, say: God is enough for me, there is no god but Him, to Him I entrust myself, He is the Lord of the Sublime Throne! ﴿12, ﴾ God watches over them, you are not their guardian ﴿13. Guardian, Guardian, Guardian (©afīÞ), O Guardian (©āfiÞ), O Guardian, protect us my God, watch over us with Your gaze that does not sleep, shelter us in Your shadow that does not depart, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Lord of the worlds.”

Then you and those who are with you shall be silent without saying a word, for even if a large group comes to meet you with the intention of harming you, they will not harm you or disturb you, and God will hide you from them. I myself have tried it numerous times, try to understand and you will succeed.

Know, brother, may Allah guide us to the understanding of His mysteries, that this noble verse and the sublime Names descended from under one leg of the Throne, and when it descended upon the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and save him, seventy thousand angels descended beside her, glorifying and exalting her. It is the saving verse from terror, from fear, from the evil of men and jinn, and whoever recites it in a place that inspires fear is safe, protected and guarded, because it is the
verse of the Custody (al-aras). And it has seventy-two possible provisions, the mention of which I will omit for
fear that they will fall into the hands of the ignorant who do not know its power, so that reprehensible acts will be committed and the appropriate thing will not be done with it. We have opened a door for anyone who wants
to enter this treasure of sublime essence: ﴾ God guides those who want to the right path ﴿15.

Among the peculiar virtues of the verse of the Throne, when a person goes on a journey, then when he leaves his house let him say: “Alif alif alif, with ﴾ Say: He is God, One ﴿ and the verse of the Throne I protect goods, family and children. Alif alif, ﴾ Say: He is God, One ﴿ and the verse of the Throne at my right hand and at me

1 Cor. XII:31.
2 Cor. xxxvii:7.
3 Cor. XLI:11.
4 Cor. XV:17.
5 Cor. XV:9.
6 Cor. XIII:12.
7 Cor. LXXXV:2022.
8 Cor. xxii:12; XXII:63.
9 Cor. XXI:87.
10 Cor. VI:105; XI:86.
11 Cor. LXXXVI:4.
12 Cor. IX:130.
13 Cor. XLII:4.
14 Compare what was said at the beginning of the chapter. 15 Cor. II:213; xxiv:44.

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left, with them I guard myself from anyone. I cover myself with the sublime veil of God that surrounds everything. I take refuge in the eternal strength of God. I defend myself with the sword of the Prince of the Believers, ‘Alī. I cover myself with the mantle of ‘Ā’iša, mother of the believers. I enter the chambers of ﴾ In the Name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful ﴿, whose bolts are ﴾ Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds ﴿. Then he shall recite the verse of the throne and say: He is God, One 1 three times and he shall spit on his right and on his left2. And if you want to cut it short, then he will recite what we have mentioned and then spit in the palms of his hands and rub them on his head, face and all over his body, because God will really save him from everything that frightens and worries him until he returns home.

Another of its peculiar virtues is that whoever recites it at dawn God saves until nightfall, and whoever recites it at dusk He saves until dawn. If you recite it on the head of an epileptic (ma1⁄2rū’) eleven times, it is restored on the spot; and if the deceased resists and does not leave the body, it will be consumed (i¬taraqa)3.

Another of its peculiar virtues is that if it is recited at the end of the prayers, all the sins and faults of the one who performed the prayer are erased.

If it is recited when standing before a tyrant or some oppressive ruler, and then it is said: “My God, O Living One, O Subsistent, O Creator of the heavens and the earth, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity, I ask Thee for the Truth of this noble verse and the mysteries for understanding which they contain, that you stop his mouth and silence his tongue with regard to me, so that he can only say well or be silent. Your good is in front of you, O So-and-so, and your evil is under your feet.” Then he will go to him, for God will actually stop his mouth and do him no harm, God willing, exalted be He!

Another of its virtues is that if you fear the wickedness of someone who has brought you harm, then pray after the sunset prayer (almagrib) two rak’at with the Fatia and the verse of the Throne, When the last prostration comes, recite the verse of the Throne three times while you are prostrating, and when you get to where it says: ﴾ and it does not cause fatigue to keep them. He is the Most High, the Sublime – repeat it three times or seven times, and you will say in the middle of your recitation: “My God, stand between me and So-and-so son of So-and-so in the same way that you stand between heaven and earth, and stop his mouth with regard to me, in the same way that you restrained the beasts in front of Dāniyāl, Peace be upon him! By the right of these noble Names.” Then you will be safe from his wickedness, and his mouth will be shut with regard to you, so that he will not be able to say anything about you that is not good.

Another of its virtues is that when you are in a crowd and want to save yourself from their wickedness and offenses, recite the noble verse three times, spit on your hands three times and rub yourself

1 That is, the surah of the Cult.
2 The verb nafa£a also means ‘to blow’.
3 In medieval folk medicine, epilepsy was nothing more than being possessed by a jinn, so in this

This is the practice known as arq aljainn, “burning the jinn”, and which was the subject of whole chapters in some treatises of the so-called popular medicine, although it usually consisted of some kind of inhalation or incense (see DOUTTÉ, Magie et Religion, pp. 222224).

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with your hand your face and your whole body while you say: “My God, deliver me from the evil of these people, O Protector, and save me from their offenses, O Preserver”, for God will indeed save you from them and they will not harm you, God willing, exalted be He! And if you recite this sublime verse at night, you are safe until dawn; and if he recites during the day he is safe until nightfall.

It is told of a man who took shelter in an abandoned house, and when it was dark he heard […] and a jingle, so the man looked and saw a black figure from under whose nostrils fire was coming out, crawling on the ground directly towards him. He said, “When I saw him I was very scared, so I was inspired to recite the verse of the Throne, and every word I said he said with me, until I got to where it says ﴾ and it doesn’t cause him fatigue to keep them. He is the Most High, the Sublime ﴿, and then he did not recite it, so I repeated it several times and he disappeared without seeing him again for the rest of the night. When dawn broke I saw that in one of the corners of the house there was ash. I was amazed by this and went to tell what happened to one of my devotee brothers, and he said: “It was really an ‘ifrīt who wanted to harm you, and this noble verse caused it to burn, because you were inspired by its recitation.” When I heard that, I adopted the recitation of the verse as wird and as 2ikr night and day, and by his blessing I saw wonderful things.”

Another of its peculiar virtues is for female genies and devils (alquranā’ wal tawābi’), because whoever wears it is safe from it. And [it is better] if His words are added to it: ﴾ God surrounds them behind them. This is a glorious Preaching, in a Preserved Tablet ﴿1, ﴾ God is better protection, He is the most Gracious of the merciful ﴿2, ﴾ Man has angels who go taking turns in front of him and behind him guarding him by the Decree of God”3, ﴾ But if they turn their backs on you, say: God is enough for me, there is no god but Him, to Him I entrust myself, He is the Lord of the Sublime Throne! ﴿4, ﴾ As protection against all rebellious demons ﴿5. ﴾ We have protected them from all stoned demons ﴿6, ﴾ Protection: Decree of the Mighty, the Knower ﴿7. And you shall write next to it the surah of the Cult and the two protective surahs (almu’awwi2atān), for it is indeed a magnificent talisman (¬iŷāb) for female jinn and other jinn, God willing, exalted be he!

And among its peculiar virtues, if it is put into the goods, they are protected and their owner is safe from thieves, etc. And if the noble verse is traced on the magic square of the sun, whether numerical or
literal, and at the hour of the sun, and then placed on the bundles of commodities, then they really increase
and produce great profits. And if this square is placed in the money box, it is protected andthe money that is in it will not
run out as long as the noble square continues to be there.

1 Cor. LXXXV:2022. 2 Cor. XXI:64.
3 Cor. XIII:12.
4 Cor. IX:130.

5 Cor. xxxvii:7. 6 Cor. XV:17.
7 Cor. XLI:11.

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And one of the peculiar virtues of this noble verse is: ﴾ Aliflāmmīm. Allāh, there is no god but Him, the Living One, the Subsistent One ﴿1, for in it resides the Supreme Name of God, and it has the number 483. He who arranges it in a square by the secret of harmonic fitting, engraving the square on a noble material at the first hour of Friday, for if he carries it with him, he sees by the wonders of God’s
work that which cannot be described, as far as acquiring glory, magnificence, and respect in the eyes of the people. So in it lies a wonderful secret to go and see judges,
kings, notables, and ministers, and ask for their needs. This is how it will be arranged:

Fig. 215

109 138 186 50

139 112 47 185

48 184 140 Kāfī

He said to©’Alī (may Allah be pleased with him): “I bear witness that whoever recites this noble verse and twenty other verses, Allah, may He be exalted, protects him from every rebellious demon, from every wicked person, from every treacherous thief and from every dangerous beast. They are the verse of the Throne and three verses of the Surah
of the Wall, [from] ﴾ Truly your Lord is God ﴿2, ten verses from the beginning of Surah The
Rows 3, three verses from Surah The Clement [from] ﴾ Jinn and men together! If you can step outside the confines of heaven and earth… ﴿4, the [three] last verses of Surah Reunion5, and the end of Surah “Perish!”6.

Another of the peculiar virtues of the noble verse of the Throne is that when one of you is distressed by something, then let him perform ablutions in the darkness of the night and pray two rak’at, each with the Fateia and the verse of the Throne three times. And when he utters the taslīma, he will recite the noble verse seven times and then say this blessed prayer: “My God, you really hear my words, you see the place where I am, you know the intimacy and the external in me, and nothing that concerns me is hidden from you. I invoke you with the prayer of the unfortunate, the poor, the one who asks for help, the one who implores help and the one who recognizes his sins and faults. I make to You the supplication of the unfortunate, I make to You the supplication of the despicable sinner, the supplication of the one whose neck bows before You, his lesson is due to You, his cheek droops before You, and his nose is lowered before You digging into the earth, that You may revitalize our hearts, open our breasts, and make our efforts to improve be pure before Your noble face and be the means to attain bliss (alna’īm). Lead us, our Lord, to that which alone pleases Thy pleasure, bring us to a good end, and place us tomorrow among those whom Thou hast favored from among the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the virtuous, what excellent companions!7 Deliver us, God

1 Cor. III:1.
2 Cor. VII:53. 3 Cor. xxxvii. 4 Cor. LV:31. 5 Cor. lix.
6 Cor. Cxi.
7 Cor. IV:68.

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My friend, of that which distresses us concerning this life and the Hereafter, do not make enemies or envious people rejoice in our misfortune, do not put misfortune in our faith, do not let earthly life be our greatest concern or the sum of our knowledge, and do not give the authority to punish our faults to those who do not fear You and do not have pity on us. Fill our ears and eyes with joy, revitalize us, open for us the doors of the goods you bestow and ﴾ provide for us, You are the Best of Providers ﴿1. ﴾ Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in the faith, and do not put in our hearts any grudge against those who believe, forgive us, our Lord! Truly You are Gracious and Compassionate ﴿2. ﴾ Our Lord, forgive us our faults and that we have gone beyond the limits in what is our concern; establish our steps and help us against the unbelieving people ﴿3. ﴾ Our Lord, give us what is good in this life and what is good in the Last, and deliver us from the punishment of the Fire ﴿4. By Thy Mercy, O most Gracious of the Merciful!

Another of the peculiar virtues of this noble verse is that if it is written on the shroud of the dead in three places, next to his head, in the middle and next to the feet, then really that deceased person will not be tormented in his tomb, and the two angels5 will treat him with benevolence at the time of interrogation, for it is the most sublime verse of the Qur’an and begins with the Name Sanctified, exalted and glorified be He Who says: ﴾ Allāh, there is no god but Him, the Living, the Subsisting One ﴿. So conceive of its power, and pray with it for the important things and to solve the needs.

It is also said of a certain virtuoso who was in a ship against which a mighty wind had risen, and with which anyone could hardly save himself from death. So he wrote the verse of the Throne on a piece of paper, hung it to the wind, and stretched out his hands towards God saying this prayer: “My God, I beseech You by Your sublime Name ﴾ Allāh, there is no god but Him, the Living, the Subsisting One – until the end of the verse. I beseech Thee, my God, by Thy blessing, to deliver us from the misfortune that afflicts us, Thou art the Knower of hidden things and the One Who takes away the worries. And I ask You, my God, for the salvation of Your noblest beloved, Muhammad, God bless and save him!” And as soon as he had finished his prayer, God, may He be exalted, relieved them and brought them a favorable wind, so that they sailed in peace and safety.

And among the virtues of this noble verse, whoever will God heal him of every disease that is in his body and of all pains and sufferings, [then let him write it in a vessel with musk, saffron and rose water], and he will write next to it His saying ﴾ If We had brought
this Qur’an down to a mountain, you would have seen her humiliated and torn in two, for fear of God ﴿ until the end

From Surah6. And His saying ﴾ Why is it not a recitation that makes the mountains walk or the earth

1 Cor. V:116.
2 Cor. LIX:10.
3 Cor. III:147.
4 Cor. II:199.
5 The angels Munkar and Nakīr. 6 Cor. lix:2124.

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open or let the dead speak? On the contrary, God has the Mandate of everything ﴿1. And when he has finished writing, he shall recite the verse of the throne seven times, and he shall vaporize the writing with everything that has a pleasant smell, and he shall drink [the filter made with the writing] for three days in the morning and in the evening, for Allah, exalted be He, will heal him and restore him from all that afflicts him. And also if it is written and hanged, then it is more appropriate and effective: God is the One Who heals, the Sufficient, the One Who heals.

Another of its virtues is for ophthalmia and eye affection, if it is written and worn hanging. The verse of the Throne will be written three times and His saying: ﴾ God is the light of the heavens and the earth. His light is as far as God says he knows all things ﴿2. And you shall write: ﴾ Say: He is God, One ﴿3, in the eye there is redness, God is sufficient for me, the Lord. O my Help in adversity, by Thy Glory free from offspring, for there is no doubt about God, and none equals Him. I conjure thee, O inflammation (ramad) of one who suffers from ophthalmia, who persists in the veins and in the skin, verily I conjure thee by Yūsuf b. Ya’qūb and his torn robe4, by the right of the Torah of Mūsà, the Gospel of ‘Īsà and the Psalms of Dawūd, and by the right of the sublime Qur’an and Muhammad, God bless and save him, lamp of Existence and Messenger of the Venerated Lord. Disappear, O inflammation, from the bearer of this writing, by the right of God. There is no God but Allāh, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allāh. For a thousand alif, there is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime. God bless and save our Lord Muhammad, his family and his companions.”

And among the virtues of this noble verse, for you shall write it for the weeping of children and cause them to wear it hanging: You shall write the noble Fatia with the separate letters and in the same way the verse of the throne three times. And you shall write: ﴾ God is Invincible in His Command ﴿5, ﴾ But if they turn their backs on you, say: God is enough for me, there is no god but Him, to Him I entrust myself, He is the Lord of the Sublime Throne! ﴿6. 1⁄4R 1⁄4R 1⁄4R 1⁄4R 1⁄4H 1⁄4H 1⁄4H 1⁄4H, silence, O creature, be silent for the holiness of the Venerated Lord. ﴾ All voices will humble themselves before the Merciful. They will only hear a murmur ﴿7. ﴾ All faces will humble themselves before the Living One, the Subsisting One, and he who bears injustice will have lost ﴿8. ﴾ On that day there will be shining faces laughing joyfully ﴿9. Do you wonder at what is told to you? And do you laugh instead of crying, while you are distracted ﴿10 and silent? Be silent, O creature, by the right of the Revered King and the Lord Lover. K H Y ‘1⁄4 © M ‘ S Q. ﴾ And God surrounds them from behind. However, it is a sublime Recitation contained in a Protected Table ﴿11, Protected, Protected. 12 I protect whoever hangs this writing God willing, exalted be He, from the evil of what he has created, and I immunize him for God’s sake,

1 Cor. XIII:32.
2 Cor. xxiv:35.
3 Cor. CXII:1.
4 Cor. XII:25.
5 Cor. XII:21.
6 Cor. IX:130.
7 Cor. xx:105.
8 Cor. xx:108.
9 Cor. lxxx:3839.
10 Cor. LIII:5860.
11 Cor. LXXXV:2022.
12 Use the verb a’ā2a, which means “to protect with an amulet or talisman.”

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the Living One, the One Who does not die. Alleviate, O O my God, the affliction and harm of the bearer of this writing, by protecting him with There is no god but Allāh, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and by the truth of ﴾ In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful ﴿. Say: I take refuge in the Lord of the dawn. Of the evil of what he has created. Of the evil of the night when it gets dark. And of the evil of those who blow in the knots. And of the evil of the envious when he envies ﴿1. For a thousand alif, there is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime.

Another of its virtues is to knot tongues: the verse of the Throne will be written on a Hindu parchment with the letters separated, and next to it these Names will be written: “NŪŪ, then FŪŪ, and then NŪŪĀ, ﴾ and they will not speak ﴿2. Every king is a slave (mamlūk) before God, every rich man is poor and a beggar before God, every powerful man is insignificant before God and has no escape from God. I implore help against you, O So-and-so son of So-and-so, from God, the Sublime. ﴾ All voices will humble themselves before the Merciful. They will only hear a murmur ﴿3. ﴾ And the way to what they wanted was closed to them ﴿4. ﴾ On that day they will not speak and will not be allowed to excuse themselves ﴿5. God is sufficient for you against them, He is the Hearer, the All-Knowing. KHY’1⁄4 ©M’SQ Q N BKM BKM BKM BKM BKM ‘MY ‘MY ‘MY ‘MY ‘MY ‘MY ‘MY. ﴾ They cannot see ﴿6. ﴾ And they will not speak ﴿7. ﴾ We have put a barrier in front of them and another behind them and we have veiled them, they cannot see ﴿8. I knot your tongue, O So-and-so son of So-and-so, because of that with which God binds the heavens so that they do not fall on the earth, except by His permission; 9 because of that with which God restrained the beasts before Dāniyāl, peace be upon him; because of that with which God prevents the […] from having offspring, and by that with which God restrains the devastating wind: ﴾ of the things that it lashes leaves nothing, except woodworm ﴿10. And I knot all the teeth of creatures and persons, of every being female and male of the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve, concerning the bearer of this writing, so that they speak of him only well, or be silent 1⁄4M BKM ‘MY ﴾ And they shall not speak. God has restored those who refuse to believe their own hatred; they have not achieved any good. God is enough for believers in combat. God is Strong, Powerful ﴿11.

Another of its virtues is that when you have an enemy or a tenacious adversary, you either fear the malice of an unjust ruler or a tyrannical wicked, and you want to restrain his wickedness or cause him to perish if he is worthy of it, for when it is Friday night, get up in the middle of the night or in the last third, Do the ablutions and pray two rak’at with whatever intention you want from the ones we mentioned. In the first you shall recite the Phitia once and the verse of the throne nine times, and in the same way in the second, and when you say the taslīma, you shall say the verse of the throne nine times also. Then you will say:

1 Cor. CXIII.
2 Cor. XXVII:87.
3 Cor. xx:105.
4 Cor. xxxiv:54.
5 Cor. LXXVII:3536. 6 Cor. XXXVI:8.
7 Cor. XXVII:87.
8 Cor. XXXVI:8.
9 Cor. XXII:63.
10 Cor. Li:42.
11 Cor. xxxiii:25.

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“My God, Thou art the Intense in violence, the Severe in punishment, the Sublime, Lord of Dominion, the Exalted above opponents and adversaries, the free from companions and descendants. I ask you
for the oppression of enemies and the repression of tyrants, you plot against whom you want, you are the
best plotter. I beseech Thee by Thy Name, before whom they bow their heads, with whom Thou hast brought
down from their fortifications, and St. Thou hast struck terror into the hearts of the enemies,and fills the wretched with unhappiness
. I ask you to strengthen me by one of the subtle essences of this Name that
invades my enemies, in the elements of their whole and their parts, so that I may be able
to do what I wish with those who do me harm, so that no wicked person can harm me, nor can any oppressive tyrant harm me. Make my anger yours, united with your own anger, weaken the eyes of my enemies on me, press their hearts and put between them and me a wall in which there is a door, inside
which is mercy, and outside of it is torment. Verily Thou art Energetic in chastisement, Injurious in punishment. This is how your Lord rebukes when He punishes a
city that is unjust. It is true that His punishment is painful and severe ﴿2. And of the verses of the Qur’an that are proper ﴾ But God punished them because of their transgressions and there was no one to protect them from
God ﴿3. ﴾ Truly the violence of Your Lord is great ﴿4. ﴾ He rebuked them with increasing punishment
﴿5. ﴾ Thus was the root of the people of the unrighteous cut off. And praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds! ﴿ 6. And you shall say: My God, I ask you by the blessing and the secret of that with which I beg you, b to oppress my enemies and me who desires evil, ﴾ Who is the Ruler over His servants ﴿7, repress So-and-so son of So-and-so, for I really demand his slaughter from you. Deliver me from their wickedness and drive away

from me his perfidy and his malice, O Lord of the worlds.” For God will really protect you and defend you from him, being safe from his wickedness. And if he tries to attack you, he dies immediately. And if the one who performs the prayer is endowed with a proper spiritual state, as soon as he rises from his place his problems will be solved. Try to understand, ﴾ and who forgives and is reconciled, for their reward depends on God ﴿8. ﴾ God helps with His help to whom He wants ﴿9. Every servant who implores God by this invocation at the first hour of the Sabbath and conjures up those who do him wrong, gets him punished on the spot.

Another peculiar virtue of this noble verse is that when you have need of any of the basic things, then you will enter a mosque and pray two rak’at: the first with the Fatia once and the verse of the Throne seven times, and in the same way in the second. And when you say the taslīma, stand up, climb up the miʹrab, grab it with your hands from the sides, shake it and say “O Lord” seven times, “O Exalted” seven times, “O Patient, O Patient, O Bountiful, O Merciful” seven times, and “O One Who solves needs” seven times. Then you will say this blessed prayer: “Lord, grant that I may do without what is not You, with a wealth above all fortune that the visible part of a created being or the hidden part of something demands. Make me reach my inner essence, lift me up to the Lotus

1 Cor. xxxiii:26. 2 Cor. xi:102.
3 Cor. XL:21.
4 Cor. LXXXV:12. 5 Cor. LXIX:9.

6 Cor. VI:46. 7 Cor. VI:19. 8 Cor. XLII:37. 9 Cor. III:13.

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From my limit1, make me witness Existence (alwuŷūd) by vision (alru’ya) and rejoicing at the secret of descent to the last spiritual degrees and perfection to the first, so that speech is interrupted, creature activity is calmed, the gayn point is erased, and the one replaces the two. My God, make me a partaker of the secret which You have given to many of Your servants, and support me thereby by a shining light that dazzles the sight of every envious man among the jinn and men. Grant me a lofty ladder to every spiritual abode and cause me to dispense with all that is not Thee, with a richness that reaffirms my need of Thee, while Thou art the Rich, the PraiseworthyOne. My God, I ask you to solve my need, to facilitate my affairs, to restore my fracture, to fix my disorder and my mediocrity, and to solve my problem, which is such and such.” And you will ask whatever you want concerning getting out of poverty, facilitating something, or clarifying some troubling or distressing matter and everything you desire, for He is the Most Generous of all those who are asked of them and the Best of those who concede. Let your thought and your intention be right, and thus you will obtain what you desire. And the verse of the Qur’an that corresponds to this prayer is ﴾ Did he not find you an orphan and shelter you? And did he not find you lost and guide you? ﴿3. Try to understand this extraordinary allusion, for God speaks the Truth and He shows the way.

Another of the peculiar virtues of the noble verse of the Throne is when you need something from some powerful person and you want to get it, for you will abstain that day from eating fatty food, or if you prefer you will fast all that day, so that it is better; and when the time comes to break your fast, you will take something that is sweet. Then you shall say the sunset prayer (almagrib), and at the end you shall sit in the place of your prayer and begin with the recitation of the verse of the Throne. You shall not speak to anyone at any time and remain so until the evening prayer (al’išā’). Then you shall sit down and recite the verse of the throne seventeen times, saying after each time, “My God, submit to me the heart of So-and-so son of So-and-so or So-and-so son of So-and-so.” You will do this until you complete the number of times mentioned, and you will say: “My God, O Living One, O Perpetual, O Eternal, O Lover, I ask you to bring affection and love to the heart of So-and-so, son of So-and-so, to solve my problem, to constrain his heart by affection and affection for me, and increase your efforts until you are obedient to me and do not contradict me as far as I am concerned. By the right of Your Name ‘the Lover’, and by the right of the secrets of this noble verse. Be concerned, O servant spirits of the verse of the Throne, to draw the heart of So-and-so son of So-and-so to the heart of So-and-so son of So-and-so, stimulate the spirituality of affection and love between him and me. ﴾ They love each other as they love God; but the love for God of those who believe is stronger ﴿4. Even if you had spent everything on earth you would not have been able to unite their hearts, yet God united them ﴿5. • I have deposited in you a love from Me so that you may be brought up under My gaze • 6.

Then you will write on a clean paper what we will explain below, being the writing with musk, saffron and rose water. You will write ﴾ In the Name of God, the Gracious, the

1 Cor. LIII:1416. 2 Cor. xxxv:15. 3 Cor. xciii:68. 4 Cor. II:164.

5 Cor. VIII:64.
6 Cor. xx:3839.

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Merciful ﴿, and under it three verses. And you will write: “ÆMŪŠ ÆMŪŠ YĀÆŪŠ YŠÆŪŠ YSÆŪŠ S’ĀB S’YĀB HYLYŪ¢Ā ŠLYŪ¢Ā ĀHYĀŪŠ ‘LŠĀQŠ MHRĀQŠ ŠĀ’ŪB ŠYGŪB Y©ŪM S©ŪM MR©ŪM DYMŪM DYŪM ĀHYĀ ŠRĀHYĀ ĀDŪNĀY Ā1⁄4BĀŪT ĀL ŠDĀY. I take the meanings from the letters and the harmony of the blessings of the Revered King and the existing Good. O spirits servants of these names and letters, stimulate the spirituality of affection and love between So-and-so son of So-and-so and So-and-so son of So-and-so, by the right of those sublime Names of God with which I invoke you, and take the places where his heart and mind (lubb) meet, so that he can pronounce nothing but my name, see only my figure and listen only to my voice and my words. ﴾ Come and do not be afraid, you are one of those who are safe ﴿1. ﴾ I deposited in you a love from Me ﴿2. WD©B WD©B, Wudd Wudd Wudd, love is attracted, attracted (maŷlūb), like drunkenness in hearts. It attracts, approaches, makes loved and makes loved. Offer the garment of affection, the crown of respect, and the light of Gnosis through the glorious Names and sublime incantations. HYHYŪH ĀHYĀHYŪH, every tyrant humbles himself out of respect for the Glory of God, and debases himself every powerful before the Command of God. ﴾ Do not be afraid, I will be with you hearing and seeing ﴿3. ﴾ Do not be afraid of being caught or afraid ﴿4. ﴾ And when they saw it, they were amazed and cut their hands without realizing it. They said, “God bless us!” This is not a human being but a noble angel ﴿5. Be concerned, O servant spirits of these Names, to solve So-and-so’s need of So-and-so. ﴾ They shall not disobey God in what He commands them, but they shall do what they are commanded ﴿6. Do what, O So-and-so, son of So-and-so, to solve my need, which is such and such. By the right of Him Who said to heaven and earth, “Come unto Me willingly or by compulsion,” and they said, “We come unto Thee obediently.” In this way So-and-so son of So-and-so will obey So-and-so son of So-and-so in whatever he asks of him, without contradicting him in any way. Obey, O angel who owns this day and this hour, you and your helpers, and be all of you to help So-and-so son of So-and-so to solve his need of So-and-so son of So-and-so. By the right of these sublime verses and these noble incantations, and by the right of the King, the All-Knowing. Listen and obey, O So-and-so son of So-and-so, and solve the problem of So-and-so son of So-and-so, and you will only speak well about So-and-so son of So-and-so or you will be silent. ﴾ On that day they will not speak or be allowed to excuse themselves ﴿8. Apologize, O So-and-so son of So-and-so, and resolve for him whatever he asks and desires, by the right of Allah, the Praiseworthy, the Glorious, and by the right of ÆHÆHŪB ÆHÆHŪB LHŪB LHŪB, life of all things, no servant offends you unless he burns in flames, nor any powerful s.in that he should be degraded and perish, HYD HYD WHĀ WHĀ Huwa Huwa Huwa ĀH ĀH YH BYH WH WH, ﴾ He is the Ruler over His servants ﴿9. To Him belong haughty Sovereignty and haughty Glory. You are He, He, and You are Capable of all things. I ask You, my God, to put at my service Your noble angels who are servants of these Names and obedient to these incantations. Obey and obey what you are commanded to do in order to help

1 Cor. XXVIII:31. 2 Cor. xx:3839. 3 Cor. xx:45.
4 Cor. XX:76.

5 Cor. XXII:31.
6 Cor. LXVI:6.
7 Cor. XLI:10.
8 Cor. LXXVII:3536. 9 Cor. VI:19.

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So-and-so son of So-and-so towards So-and-so son of So-and-so, resolve everything he asks and be at his entire disposal without contradicting him in any matter. Hayya alwa¬ā al’aŷal alsā’a. And may God bless you.”

And you will write this noble square that we mentioned below. Then you shall fumigate the paper with good-colored Hindu aloewood, benzoin, mastic gum, pepper, unpowdered saffron, nadd wood, marshmallow seeds, seven grains of acerolo (tuffāh aljabal),1 seven grains of agenuz, and seven grains of the incense of the churches. And when you fumigate the paper, you will fold it by rolling it up with the name of whomever you want and say, “I roll your tongue, O So-and-so son of So-and-so, the same way I fold this paper.” Then you will turn the paper around the head of whoever you want three times, and if this is not possible, then you will turn the paper away from him in any case. Then the applicant will put the writing under the turban, between the eyes, and go to see whoever he wants, in the event that the name of only one person has been written. But if it is desired for all human beings, both male and female, then he will fumigate himself with the incenses mentioned and put himself under the turban, for he will really see the amazing thing in the affection that all creatures will show him. The indispensable condition for this is that one persists in the recitation of the verse of the Throne every day seventeen times, thus seeing the miraculous.

And this is the square:

Fig. 216

Another of the virtues of the verse of the Throne is for the love and union of those who hate each other. To do this, you will begin the work at an hour that is a good omen for what we have just mentioned, and you will write the names of those who hate each other on a sheet of paper that you will place in front of you. Then you shall take forty frankincense grains that are the size of pepper, and forty mandrake grains. Then you shall divide the incense into two halves, with twenty grains of each incense in each half, and burn two grains at a time until you have completed the forty times, while reciting the verse of the Throne [each time]. And every five times you recite it, you shall say: “Take care, O servant spirits of this noble verse, to bring love and affection between So-and-so son of So-and-so and So-and-so son of So-and-so, by the right that this surah exercises over you and its blessing on you, and by the right of Him who said to heaven and earth: • Come to Me willingly or by force; and they said, “We come to You obediently.” • 2. When you have finished the recitation, you shall write the square which we shall mention next on one of these sheets, and write next to the square these noble verses and these sublime Names: “My God, I ask thee, O Living One, O Subsistent, O Whom the eyes do not see, nor do the categories determine, nor do descriptors describe him, nor do those who attribute adjectives qualify him. O He Whose Command is between the kāf

1 V. DOZY, Takmīla, ii, n. 177. 2 Cor. XLI:10.

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and the nūn of ﴾ Really when he wants something His command is to say: I know (kun), and it is ﴿1. I ask you, O my God, to convey love and affection between So-and-so son of So-and-so and So-and-so son of So-and-so, by the right of these noble verses: ﴾ They love each other as one loves God; but the love for God of those who believe is stronger ﴿2. ﴾ Even if you had spent everything on earth you would not have been able to unite their hearts, yet God united them. He is Powerful, Wise ﴿3. ﴾ And he is tenacious in his love of goods ﴿4. • I have deposited in you a love from Me so that you may be brought up under My gaze • 5. My God, O Who created in the fourth heaven an angel half of ice and half of fire, without fire melting the ice nor ice quenching fire, and the angel proclaims with the tongue of Ability “Most pure (Sabbū¬), Most Holy (Qaddūs), Lord of angels and the Spirit!” My God, O Who united snow and fire, bring harmony between the heart of Your servant So-and-so son of So-and-so and So-and-so son of So-and-so, You are Really capable of what You desire.”

And this is the square:

Fig. 217

And you must know, God help me to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His Names, that another of the peculiar virtues of the noble verse of the Throne is for love, acceptance and respect before the powerful. When you want that, trace this square that I’ll show you next on a gazelle-skin scroll, and it will be written with
musk, saffron, and rose water.
You shall write around the square the
verse of the Throne and perfume it with
incense as you write it and carry it
with you, with Hindu aloewood,
benzoin and peony.

Fig. 218

1 Cor. xxxvii:81. 2 Cor. II:164.
3 Cor. VIII:64.
4 Cor. c:8.

5 Cor. xx:3839.

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You must know, God help me to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His Names, that I will also mention a peculiar virtue of the verse of the Throne related to the matters of affection and harmony with the powerful, and to instill respect in their hearts. It is profitable to go to see kings and ministers when it is carried with you and recited, and it is these verses and Names with which you will say this blessed invocation: “My God, I ask you, O Deity of the first and the last, O Who hears the prayer of the needy! I ask Thee, O O my God, by the right of Allah, there is no god but He, the Living, the Subsistent, to save me from So-and-so son of So-and-so and make him fall in love with So-and-so son of So-and-so. ﴾ Neither drowsiness nor sleep affect him ﴿, in the same way neither drowsiness nor sleep affect So-and-so son of So-and-so, and so he spends the whole night delirious for love of So-and-so son of So-and-so. ﴾ Whatever is in the heavens and all that is on earth is his, ﴿ that in this way the heavens and the earth oppress So-and-so, son of So-and-so, so that he sees nothing in his dreams except his figure accompanying him and the mention of him in his mouth, because of the intensity of the perpetual love that unites them. ﴾ Who can intercede for someone with Him except with His permission? ﴿ In this way, may this noble and sacred verse intercede for So-and-so, son of So-and-so, not with the intercession of creatures, but with that of the word of Truth. ﴾ He knows what is before men and what is behind them ﴿, so that So-and-so son of So-and-so knows that So-and-so son of So-and-so is before him, and not behind his back, obedient to his charge, ready for his call, attentive to his words, accommodating in his requests, harboring in his heart a solid affection for him. ﴾ They do not encompass any of His knowledge unless He wills. The footstool of His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth ﴿, so that the love of So-and-so the son of So-and-so encompasses the heart of So-and-so the son of So-and-so, just as His Throne embraces the heavens and the earth. I stretch out your heart and its heartbeat, O So-and-so son of So-and-so, over So-and-so son of So-and-so, in the same way that His Throne spreads over the heavens and the earth, until it cannot be contained. I submit you, O So-and-so son of So-and-so, to the will of So-and-so son of So-and-so, so that you may settle all his affairs, whatever he asks and what he wants without asking questions or hindering. ﴾ And it does not cause Him to support them, He is Most High, the Exalted ﴿, My God, I ask You, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, to make love for So-and-so son of So-and-so dwell in the heart of So-and-so son of So-and-so, so that he will obey Him and not refuse to obey Him in anything, by the right of this noble verse. Take care of So-and-so son of So-and-so, O spirit servants of this noble verse, stir his heart and soften all his limbs for the love of So-and-so son of So-and-so, for the right of this noble verse. ﴾ They love each other as they love God; but the love for God of those who believe is stronger ﴿ 1. ﴾ Even if you had spent everything on earth you would not have been able to unite their hearts, yet God united them. He is Powerful, Wise ﴿2. • I have deposited in you a love from Me that you may be brought up under My gaze • 3 O So-and-so son of So-and-so, by the right of these noble verses.”

It is said of a certain virtuous man who when the night became dark, he went to his mi¬rāb and prayed what God wanted. And at the end of his prayer he said this blessed prayer with this noble verse: “[My God], You are You, hope is over except in You, goods are exhausted except in You, and the roads are lengthened except those that lead to You, O Security of those who have no more trust than that placed in You! I will

1 Cor. II:164.
2 Cor. VIII:64.
3 Cor. xx:3839.

449

I pray, O my God, by Your sublime supreme Name, ﴾ Allāh, there is no god but Him, the Living, the Subsisting One ﴿, You are the Living One, the Perpetual One in Eternity. ﴾ Neither drowsiness nor sleep affects him ﴿, for drowsiness and sleep are for created beings, not for the Creator. ﴾ Yours is all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth ﴿, You are the Deity of the heavens and the earth and You are the One Who sustains (Qayyūm) the heavens, there is no god but You. ﴾ Who can intercede for someone with Him except with His permission? ﴿ Who is capable of what You are capable of? To all creatures Submit Your greatness. O Who knows what is before men and what is behind them, and they do not embrace anything of His knowledge unless He wills. The footstool of His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth ﴿. Thou art the One Who embraces all things with mercy and wisdom, 1 Thou art the Knower of all, and it does not cause Him to bear them out, He is Most High, the Sublime ﴿. Our Lord, our Lord, our Master, our Master, our Protector, our Protector, Thou art the Giver and the Denier, Thou art the One Who takes away and the One Who lays in, and Thou art the Hearer and the One Who sees, Nothing that is on earth and in heaven is hidden from You. I ask Thee, by the hidden essence of Thy kindness and by the majesty of Thy might, to bless and save our Lord Muṣammad, the greatest Beloved Good, the revered Prophet and the glorified Messenger, our lord and our Prophet Muṣammad, God bless and save him! And I pray to you for the dignity of the good and pure people of his house, for the dignity of all his companions, and for the dignity of the followers and of those who follow them in doing good until the Day of Judgment. I ask you to put me in their group, under their banners, and to help me with the help they receive. Amen, O Lord of the Worlds!”

Whoever supplicates God in a low voice and in the middle of the night with this blessed prayer, and asks God for something, whatever he asks is granted, for God is the Owner of immense Favor. Try to understand.

Another virtue of this noble verse is that when any of you has any earthly or otherworldly need, then let him get up in the middle of the night and pray four rak’at, reciting in each of them the Fatia once and the verse of the Throne ten times. Then he will raise his hands and face to heaven and invoke with this prayer: “My God, I ask you, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Living One, O Subsistent, O He Who is not affected by drowsiness or sleep. I ask You, my God, by the sanctity of the verse of the Throne, to do such and such for me, and to make me achieve all my desires, my goals, and what I ask of You.” Then you will make your request and name it, for God will really find it right to resolve it. And finally you will pray for the Prophet, God bless him and save him, at the beginning and at the end of your work, for then it will be prosperous, God willing: it is God Who grants success.

Another property of the verse of the Throne is that whoever recites it during the day, God protects him during that day, and whoever recites it at night, God protects him during that night.

And to the one who recites the verse of the Throne at the end of each prayer, God forgives all his sins.

Another of its virtues is that to those who recite it at the end of each prayer, God forgives their sins and erases the faults they have made since the previous prayer.

Whoever recites it when he goes to sleep thus obtains protection against the stoned Devil.

1 Cf. Cor. XL:6.

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Whoever recites it when he is angry and spits on his left, the Devil withdraws along with his evil influence, and the wrath disappears from him at the command of God, exalted be He!

We will now mention this blessed invocation with the verse of the Throne, and we have omitted
its explanation and what refers to it so that it does not fall into the hands of one who does not know Him, and invoke with it
being attended, for it is a sublime invocation of enormous power and wonderful essence. You will say: “﴾ Allāh,
there is no god but Him. He is One in perpetuity and eternity, and there is no essence of the created beings themselves
together with His essence, nor their attributes together with His attributes, nor their names together with His Names, nor their actions together with His actions. No one equals Him, and in reality there is no more beauty than
His beauty, no more glory than His, no more perfection than His, for He perseveres eternally in His perfection. The Living, the Subsistent, the Eternal upon His Throne in the eternity of His sovereignty, and all
creatures are led to the knowledge of Him, and know that He is One in His Sovereignty, One in
His Perpetuity. Exalted be His Perpetuity, together with the diversity of understandings and religions of men, for they will all return to the true essence of His knowledge, and will know that He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Giver of Life and the Giver of death, and the Command is entirely dependent upon Him. And
as for the Gnostics and the realized (almu¬aqqiqūna), for indeed they are perplexed in
the truth of the knowledge that illuminates their hearts and their gazes, by the Information (aliÐÐilā’) of the knowable realities of His creations. They are perplexed in the seas of His love and that which
fills them, submerged in the waves of the depths of the seas of the choppy waters of His Power, and
they recognize the inability to perceive rationally the Knowledge of Him. They dive into the
seas of His Kingdom and then they know and recognize that there is no god but Him, and that indicates that He is Living, Subsistent, that fills their hearts with life and illuminates their perceptions and their minds, and they see nothingin the universe but Him, and they see
nothing in the universe but Him, and so they remain in incapacity.﴾ Neither drowsiness nor sleep affect him ﴿, that is, he is not affected by weakness when creating beings, nor
sleep when perceiving knowables. ﴾ Really when he wants something His command is to say:
I know (kun), and it is ﴿1. ﴾ Praise be to Him in Whose hands is the dominion of all things and to Whom you shall return! ﴿ 2. All beings sanctify Him by acknowledging Him as free from abode, from equivalent, from association, from beginning and end, from union and separation. ﴾ There is nothing that resembles Him ﴿3, He makes things possible, the return of creatures and what Heit is a guide to Him, for He is the First and the Most Extensive [in His existence], Unique, One, By Himself alone in that which remains hidden from eyes and intellects. ﴾ All that is in the heavens and all that is on earth is His, and all things that exist bear witness to Him and His creations, knowing that He is the God of the heavens and the earths. ﴾ Who
can intercede for someone with Him except with His permission? ﴿ He is glorified by the inhabitants of the heavens
and the earth, ﴾ there is nothing that does not glorify Him by praising Him, yet you do not understand His glorification ﴿4. And everyone who is endowed with speech is then gifted with His permission, and everyone who speaks
is then with His knowledge. He knows all things and riches above needing anything,
because he needs everything from Him and submits to Him, being insignificant in front of Him. ﴾ Knows what’s in front of the

1 Cor. xxxvii:81. 2 Cor. xxxvi:82. 3 Cor. XLII:11.
4 Cor. XVII:44.

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men and what is behind them, and they encompass nothing of His knowledge. Glory be to Thee! We have no knowledge other than that which You have taught us ﴿1. ﴾ He knows what is on land and in the sea. Not a single leaf falls without His knowing it, nor is there seed in the depth of the earth, nor anything wet or dry that is not in a clear Book ﴿2. They do not encompass any of His knowledge unless He wills. He encompasses everything with His knowledge ﴿3. ﴾ And God surrounds them behind them. However, it is a glorious Recitation in a preserved Tablet ﴿4. His power encompasses the Kingdom of His glory, and everything leads to Him. ﴾ Our Lord, Your mercy and knowledge embrace all things ﴿5. The spirits vanish, their faces are deformed, they are perplexed in the forms of their confused figures, because they dispose of created things and their effects, and they are formed in the molds of spiritual essences, when they witness the variety of forms existing in the molds of composition and in the circular form of the intermediate worlds; when Authority (al-ukm) becomes visible in the sign that is shown to it, the external part of the visible in Science being the Capacity, and its hidden part the Command and the mystery of divine support; and upon receiving the means of the Authority and being able to dispose of it. ﴾ The footstool of His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and it does not cause Him fatigue to maintain them, He is Most High, the Sublime ﴿. Spread upon us by Thy eternal subsistence a knowledge and understanding with which we may freely dispose of beings. There is no power or strength except in You. My need for You and my poverty before You have increased, do not frustrate the hope I have placed in You. You are the Immense, the Bountiful, the Magnificent Lord.

I ask Thee, by the fountain of life of spiritual beings and by the lights of the secrets of Thy supreme Name, the one by whose visible appearance Thou dissipates the longing of the hearts of those who receive the Love of manifest proof, and are perplexed in the medicines that procure the healing of their consciences (sarā’ir) and in the lights of their essences, so they proclaim: O Who ﴾ The footstool of His Throne spreads over the heavens and the earth, and does not cause Him fatigue to keep them, He is Most High, the Sublime ﴿.

I ask Thee, O my God, O Immense, the Knower, O Most High, O Sublime, O Generous, O Merciful, O Merciful, O Patient, O Who is Allāh, there is no god but Him, the Living, the Subsistent. Neither drowsiness nor sleep affect him. All that is in the heavens and all that is on earth is His, and He does not cause Him to keep them, He is Most High, the Sublime ﴿. I ask you, my God, by the right of these sublime verses and noble Names, to enlighten our hearts, to enlarge our sustenances and cleanse our behaviors. O Who pleases hearts, O Who hides defects, O Who removes anxieties, O Who forgives sins, O Knower of hidden things, Thou knowest concerning my supplication, repentance in my solitude, forgiveness of my error, and forbearance of my sin, for Thou art, my God, Who knows best my longing, Who is informed of my intention and Who knows my inner self (Ðawīya), Lord of Sovereignty, My Lord,

1 Cor. II:31.
2 Cor. VI:60.
3 Cor. LXV:12.
4 Cor. LXXXV:2122. 5 Cor. XL:6.

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Who grabs me by the lock of my forehead1, Goal of my search, Hope in my adversity, Who accompanies me in my solitude, Who takes pity on my lesson, Who exempts me from my error and Who answers my prayer. And if I have broken what You commanded me and I have committed what You forbade me, then with Your Glory You protect me and with Your veil You cover me. O the noblest of the generous, O Goal of seekers, O King of the Day of Judgment, Thou knowest what is hidden in intimacy, and Thou art the Sole Who disposes the affairs of the insignificant and the mighty, for if I succeed in resolving my need, it is by Thy favor.

I ask You to intercede for me, to have mercy on me with Your Mercy, O most Gracious of the merciful. I ask Thee, O my God, by the right of this noble verse and these comprehensible Names, to bless and save our lord Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and to grant me my supplications and what I request of Thee, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Lord of the Worlds!”

Another virtue of the noble verse of the Throne is that when the servant of God is very sinful and wants to stop committing faults and sinning, let him get up on the nights of the full moon of whatever month, which
are the 13th, 14th and 15th of the month, clean his clothes and his room and get up in the middle of the night. Then he will perform ritual ablutions and pray four rak’ats, reciting the Fatia once
and the Throne verse seven times in the first, and reciting the other ones as in the first. And when he pronounces the taslīma, he will sit and ask God’s forgiveness seventy times and pray for the Prophet, may God bless him and
save him!, seventy times as follows: “My God, grant to our Lord Muhammad a blessing and a salvation with which you will deliver us from all catastrophes and misfortunes, with which you
will resolveall our needs, blot out our doubts, lift us up to the highest of rungs, and bring us
to the most extreme of the limits of goods in life and in death, with a blessing
that I preserve for the day of Great Terror2 and the fear of that day. And bless and save his family, his relatives and companions.”

Then you will begin to recite this blessed prayer by saying: “My God, You are the Forgiving One with whom you turn in repentance, you are the one who draws near to the one who repents and who removes the darkness from the veil. You know the treacherous looks and what the breasts enclose.3, You can do everything, matters depend on
you and evils are prevented by you. My God, I ask You by the mystery of Your Name
for a mystery of Your Mystery, a light of Your Light and a breath of Your Decree that will calm me down for what
You have predestined, help me with a grace from You that will put me on my guard when I am careless and let
me know when I ignore, show me the way to You, and be my traveling companion in this life and in the return. For You is my effort, in You lies my support, to You is my return, and in front of You is the place where
I bow down. You know the truth of my problem and my request, next to You is my secret and my exterior,
You rise above created traits, You are oblivious to shortcomings and defects and Your Science is free
from doubts. I ask You, my God, for an indulgence with which You will erase my fault, ponder my act, improve my visible actions, cleanse my interior, undo my disorder, purify my intimate conscience, facilitate my purification, bless my soul and with which You cleanse me of my vileness. Grant me the light from You

1 Cor. xi:55.
2 Cor. XXI:102. 3 Cor. XL:19.

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with whom I can walk among the people, verily Thou art the Giver, Who gives the lights and discovers the secrets, beside Thee every thing has a measure1, O Living One, O Subsistent, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity! May God bless and save our Lord Muṣammad, his family and companions.”

Another virtue of the noble verse of the Throne is that whoever fears the consequences of some matter, and
wants to know them and know how to avoid them, then wash and wear clean clothes. He will also clean the room in which he retires, and when he has prayed the evening prayer (al’išā’), he will pray two rak’at before
the witr prayer, reciting the Fatia once and the Verse of the Throne eleven times each. And after pronouncing the taslīma he will recite the verse of the Throne twenty-one times, the surah of Decree2 once, the surah of
Cult3 three times and the two protective surahs4 times. Then he will say, “My God, I see a good omen
in Your eternal word, make me see what is hidden. My God, make me see tonight what I
ask of you and what I have not asked of you, explain to me the way out of this matter that I fear and distrust. My God
, if there is a good thing for me in it, make me see white and green, and if there is an evil for me in it, make me see black and red. Send me one of the spirit servants of this verse, the verse of the Throne, to make known to me in my dreams that which remains hidden from me. My God, Thou art the Truth, make the truth clear to me, O Truth of the Truth! You really can do everything.” And you will name what you want and what you request.

Then you will pray the witr, lie on your right side and pray for our Lord Muhammad, God bless him and save him, as much as possible, and you will sleep with your mind set on your problem, for God will send you one of the spirit servants of this verse who will inform you of everything you want to ask for. and it will clarify your problem, what is good for you and what is bad. And if you don’t see that night what you want and ask for, then repeat the work a second night and a third, then you will really see what you request. Try to make your intention pure, for intention precedes act, and God guides whom He wills on a straight path, so recognize the power of what is conferred upon you, for it will really enable you to do without much knowledge.

Another virtue of the noble verse of the Throne is that when someone is harmed by the passion, affection and love he feels for a person, and fears that people or his family will find out, he will write the verse of the Throne five times in a glass container with musk sukk, saffron and rose water. Then you will put it in the air under the stars after you have written the name of the person whose love you want to forget. And when the sun is rising, the writing will be dissolved in rosewater and the filter will be drunk on an empty stomach, doing this […] times for three days, because God will really make you forget that person and will tear love from your heart. The intention precedes the act, and he who has a pure intention obtains what is desired.

And you must know, God help me to obey Him and to understand His mysteries, that the verse of the Throne has many peculiar virtues and sublime blessings that are of benefit to the fearful

1 Cor. XIII:9.
2 Cor. xcvii.
3 Cor. CXII.
4 Cor. CXIII, CXIV.

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when he is trembling and trembling, for really that happens to him by God’s command, exalted be He!

It shall also be written for the pain of the heart, the palpitations, the pain of the liver, and the pain of the belly, and you shall write [the verse of the Throne] as mentioned before in a clean vessel three times, and he who suffers from evil shall drink of it, saying as he drinks, “I seek the cure of such a disease,” and he shall say the disease, for truly God, Exalted be He, by the blessing of the noble verse He will heal and heal you, God willing, for God is the Healer and the Healer.

And it is also beneficial in making the pain of the spleen disappear. For this purpose the noble verse will be written and hung over the spleen, for God will heal and heal it with the blessing of the noble Names.

Another peculiar virtue of the verse of the Throne is for headaches and headaches. The verse of the Throne shall be written on a gazelle-skin scroll if possible, or a clean piece of paper, and next to it His
saying: ﴾ If We had brought down this Qur’an to a mountain, You would have seen it humiliated and torn
in two, for fear of God. These are the examples with which we call the attention of men so
that they can reflect ﴿1, until the end of the sura. And His saying: ﴾ To Him belongs that which dwells in the night
and in the day. He is the One Who hears and the One Who knows ﴿2. Be calm, O ailment, migraine, headache, and stabbing pain,
in the bearer of this writing, as the Throne of Clement is calm, and by the secret of these noble, blessed, and sublime letters Ŷ Ŷ Ŷ Æ L K L M N ‘ 1⁄4 1⁄4 D And, make the anguish of him to
whom I recite these Names be calmed. By the truth of these Names: Allāh is the Healer, Allāh is the Healer.
Allah is sufficient for you against them, He is the Hearer, the All-Knowing. There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime.” This virtue is one of those that have been bought and it is true.

And you must know, brother, may God help me to obey Him and to discover the secrets of His Names, that this noble verse, the verse of the Throne, has innumerable virtues, because it is the most sublime verse in the Book of God, and one of the most magnificent is the one I will mention to you below:

I was sitting opposite my teacher Abū ‘Abd Allāh alAndalusī4, and we were discussing some knowledge when a man came before us trembling like a leaf in the wind. Then he waved and fell to the ground kissing the šayj’s hand and crying. Then the šayj said to him: “What is the matter with you, that makes you cry?” And the man said, “My lord, I am afraid of a certain enemy who is seeking to do me harm, and I cannot prevent it. So I have come before you, my lord, thinking that you could ease my uneasiness and make my anguish disappear.” When the šayj heard the man’s words, he said to him: “Rejoice, for God willing, after today you will not be afraid of anyone.” Then he went to get a piece of paper and wrote on it:

1 Cor. LIX:21.
2 Cor. VI:14.
3 Cor. II:136.
4 Unidentified.

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“He took refuge in God from the Devil stoned. In the Name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. c God bless and save our Lord Muhammad, his family and his companions with a great blessing.” He then wrote the Fatey of the Book, the verse of the Throne, the surah of the Cult, and the two protective surahs. He then wrote: ﴾ Do not be afraid, you are one of those who are safe ﴿2. ﴾ Do not be afraid of
being overtaken or be afraid ﴿3. ﴾ Do not be afraid, I will be with you hearing and seeing ﴿4. ﴾ Do not fear,
you are safe from unjust people ﴿5. Two men of those who feared God and whom He had favored said, “Appear before them through the door, and when you have entered through it, you will be victorious.”
And abandon yourselves to God, if you are believers ﴿6. ﴾ Do not be afraid, you are the tallest ﴿7. My God, guard me with Your gaze that does not sleep, surround me with Your immovable protection, and cover me with Your power over me, so that I may not perish, for You are my hope. Lord, with what blessings
You have favored me, my gratitude to You being insufficient, and You have continued without denying me Your favors.
O Who observes my faults without making me ashamed, O Lord of kindness that never ceases, O
Who gives favors that are never taken into account. I ask you, my God, to bless our lord Muṣṣṇd and the family of our lord Muṣṣṇd, and to preserve and protect me from my enemies and
from anyone who wants to cause me harm or harm: return his harm against him, put his goodness before my
eyes and his wickedness under my feet, and so whoever wishes me evil, betrays me or intrigues against me, then make
it turn against him and affect him. God has restored those who refuse to believe their own
hatred; they have not achieved any good. God is enough for believers in combat. God is Strong, Irresistible ﴿8. 1⁄4M BKM ‘MY, ﴾ they will not be able to see ﴿9, ﴾ they will not be able to speak ﴿10, they will not speak, ﴾ the
day they will not speak or be allowed to excuse themselves ﴿11, ﴾ 1⁄4ād ﴿, ﴾ Qāf ﴿, ﴾ Nūn ﴿. God is sufficient for you against
them, He is the Hearer, the All-Knowing. There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime.”

Then the šayj folded the leaf, handed it to the man, and said to him, “Put it in your turban, for you will be safe from all misfortune,” and the man was not seen again with any evil.

And you must know, brother, that everyone who carries these Names of sublime power God saves him from all that he fears. If you go to see an unjust judge with them, you are safe from his wickedness, overcome all who dispute with him and dominate him with his blessing and his virtues, well known to the wise and to those who are aware of His power, for God grants His Help to whom He wills and God is the Lord of immense Favor.

1 Cor. CXIII, CXIV. 2 Cor. XXVIII:31. 3 Cor. XX:76.
4 Cor. xx:45.

5 Cor. XXVIII:25.
6 Cor. v:25.
7 Cor. xx:67.
8 Cor. xxxiii:25.
9 Cor. XXXVI:8.
10 Cor. XXVII:87.
11 Cor. LXXVII:3536. 12 Cor. II:136.

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BTO PROTECT ONESELF FROM ENEMIES AND TO FEAR HIGHWAY ROBBERS AND OTHER PERSONS:

A certain virtuous man said, God have mercy on him!: “On a certain journey we stopped by a river. Then some people came and told us that all those who stood here were plundered, so my companions moved out of fear, while I stayed because of a tradition that I heard from [Abd Allāh] Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, according to which the Prophet said, Allah bless him and save him: “Whoever recites thirty-three verses of the Book of God, no wild beast or stubborn thief harms him that night, and he and his family and his goods are safe until dawn.”1 When it got late, I was still not asleep when I saw a group of people brandishing their swords and approaching, but they did not come before me. When I woke up I set off, and then an old man on horseback caught up with me and said, “Are you a genius or a man?” I said to him, “I am a man of the sons of Adam.” Then he said to me: “How is it that tonight we have come for you more than seventy times, and we always found between us and you an iron wall blocking our way?” And I said: Ibn ‘Umar told me that the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever recites thirty-three verses from the Book of Allah, is not harmed that night by any wild beast, nor by any stubborn thief, and he is under the protection of Allah until dawn.” When he heard that, the old man got off the horse, kissed my head and promised God never to do that again.” And these are the verses that you will say:

Four verses from the beginning of the surah of the Cow to where it says ﴾ those who will succeed ﴿2. The noble verse of the Throne. Two verses after her, as far as she says ﴾ immortals ﴿3. And three verses at the end of the Surah of the Cow from which it says ﴾ To God belongs all that is in heaven and on earth; whether you manifest what is in yourselves or conceal it…﴿ , to the end of Surah4. Three verses of the Surah of the Wall, from ﴾ Verily your Lord is God, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days ﴿, as far as he says ﴾ to benefactors ﴿5. Ten verses from the beginning of the surah of the Rows to where it says ﴾ viscous ﴿6. The end of Surah of the Night Journey, from ﴾ Say: Call on Allah or call on the Merciful, however You invoke Him ﴿ until the end of Surah7. Two verses from the Surah of Clement, from: ﴾ Geniuses and men together! If you can get out of the confines of heaven and earth, do it… But you will have no way out except with a power ﴿, as far as it says ﴾ help one another ﴿8. The final verses of the Surah of Reunion, from ﴾ If we had brought down this Qur’an to a mountain, you would have seen it humiliated and torn in two, for fear of God. These are the examples with which we call the attention of men so that they can reflect ﴿, until the end of Surah9. And [three] verses of the Surah of the Jinn, ﴾ The temples belong to God ﴿10, and ﴾ He really, exalted

1 Not found in the aforementioned collections. 2 Cor. II:14.
3 Cor. II:255256.
4 Cor. II:283285.

5 Cor. vii:5355.
6 Cor. xxxvii:111. 7 Cor. XVII:109110. 8 Cor. lv:3134.
9 Cor. lix:2124.
10 Cor. LXXII:18.

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may the Majesty of our Lord have not taken a companion or a son ﴿ as far as he says ﴾ a huge lie ﴿1.

And you should know that these verses are called “the verses of the guard” (al-aras), and it is said that in them lies the cure of a hundred diseases, such as tuberous leprosy, albarazo, and others. And it is related of Muhammad b. ‘Ali2, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “I recited them for an old man who was suffering from an attack of hemiplegia, and Allah caused it to cease in him, by His command, may He be exalted, and by the blessing of His eternal word. Try to understand.

And whoever writes this noble magic square on a seal or silver plate in the first hour of Friday, which is from sunrise until the shadow is twenty-eight feet long, for he who does that sees miracles in his person, and it is for love, acceptance, respect, and the enlargement of sustenance. This is his image:

294 294 237 223 263 251 250 210 197 209 199 249 236 226 263 262 253 222 292 269 249 264 198 248 225 297 228 206 221 264 22 207 203 247 230 291 222 290 256 258 219 259 205 246 206 248 28 223 289 225 231 218 261 257

23 244 204 227 288 24 254 712 266 216 265 265 223 212 202 287 339 229 241 228 286 267 255 215 214 201 242

Fig. 219

﴾ Wherever you are, God will gather you all. God is Mighty over all things ﴿

BENDIMENT TO GO BEFORE KINGS, WISE MEN, MINISTERS, JUDGES, RULERS, SCRIBES AND HIGH DIGNITARIES.

It shall be composed in the exaltation of the sun or in that of Jupiter on a plate of gold, silver or copper, and it shall be engraved in the state of fasting, and it shall be perfumed at the time of being engraved, at the time of being carried with it and at the time of use, with a stick of Hindu aloe. benzoin, mastic gum, nadd and saffron. Try to understand and you will prosper, God willing, exalted be He!

And this is the way they will be composed:

1 Cor. LXXII:34. See the original text, from which we make this reading so that we count thirty-three verses.

2 We believe that this is Muhammad b. ‘Ali al-Bāqir (c. VIII), fifth imām of Twelver Shiism, to whom several miracles are attributed.

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Fig. 220

It is related of a certain virtuous man who said: “I had a need of God and I remained thirty years praying to God for it. Nevertheless, I never gave it up, and one night I lay down on my bed (maŷa’) and fell asleep, when suddenly someone said: “Take these spells that are under your head and pray with them for your need, for it will really be resolved for you.” Then I awoke and found these spells written on a sheet with the letters separated: I joined them together, and this is what you will see. Everyone who prays with them for a need, is resolved thanks to God, exalted be He!

And they are these verses:

By the submission of hearts in bowing down before Thee without denial, O my Lord!

By Thee, O Dear One, for nothing
equals Thee in the solemnity of promises.

By Thy footstool crowned by light
beside Thy sublime and glorious Throne.

For there is under Thy Throne existing
before the creation of heaven and the sound of thunder.

So because you never cease to be
a God known by Oneness.

And after concluding these verses you will say: “I ask you, my God, to bless and save our Lord Muhammad and the family of our Lord Muhammad, and to solve my problem, such and such,” for God will really solve it, if He wills, exalted be He!

459

And this blessed invocation follows with the verse of the Throne in which You will say: “O Living One, O Subsisting One, You are Allāh, Who is no god but You, and I have been one of the unrighteous1. I ask You for Your
eternal subsistence to sustain me in You and with You. I ask You for Your life, life for my heart and peace in
it in this world, in the Other and in what is between the two. Keep all this in me, O One Who is
not weary of maintaining anything, O Most High, O Sublime, until I find Thee and Thou art satisfied with me, finding me in the best of situations and in the sweetest tranquillity, without affliction or punishment in reward, neither in this world nor in the Hereafter. By Thy Mercy, O most Gracious of the merciful!”

Then you will say: “God, I ask you for health against fear, the mastery of desires, the reception of Science and the continuity of reflection (alfikr). I ask of you, my God, the secret of secrets that protects us from evil, so that our sin and our defect may not be constant.
Give us life and guide our deeds with these words which You set before us in the tongue of Your Messenger, and with which You tested Ibrāhīm, Your friend, which He fulfilled, and said: “I will make
you a leader and an example to men.” He said, “And will you also do it to my descendants?” and
said, “My covenant does not extend to the unrighteous ﴿5. So put us among the righteous of their descendants and of the descendants of Adam and Noah, and walk us in the paths of those who lead the God-fearers.
My God, I have done great evil for myself, and You alone forgive sins: forgive me, have mercy on me, and accept my repentance, ﴾ There is no god but You, praise You! Truly I have
been one of the unjust ﴿6. O Allāh, O Most High, O Sublime, O Patient, O All-Knowing, O Hearer, O Seer, O Desirous, O Capable, O Subsistent, O Gracious, O Merciful, O Who is YĀH
YĀH. O First, O Last, O Visible, O Hidden, blessed be Thy Name, Lord of Majesty and Bounty. My God, bless me with Thy sublime Name, the One with Whose Name nothing can harm
on earth or in heaven, He the Hearer, the All-Knowing. Grant me a secret from Thee
by which sins will cause no harm, and put in it for me a direction by which the needs of the heart, mind, spirit, longing, soul, and body will be resolved. Inscribe our names under Thy names, our attributes under Thy attributes, and our actions under Thine on the path of peace, of the fall of repentance, of the descent of grace, and of the manifestation of leadership. Find yourself with me in those leaders whom I choose from among Your knowers so that I may be

1 Cor. XXI:86.
2 Cor. II:284.
3 Cor. III:6.
4 Cor. III:2627. 5 Cor. II:123.

6 Cor. XXI:86.

And you must know, brother, may God guide me to His obedience and illuminate our hearts with the light of knowledge, that I myself often undertook the continuous recitation of the verse of the Throne and the last verses of the Surah of the Cow, from which it says ﴾ The messenger believes ﴿2 until the end of the surah. Then the first verses of the surah of the family of ‘Imrān up to where it says ﴾ the Wise, the Mighty ﴿3, plus the two verses from ﴾ Say: Allah, King of Sovereignty ﴿ to where it says ﴾ without limitation ﴿4.

and

460

Guide. Enrich me in such a way that you give wealth for me to whom you wish. Give me life so that you will give life through me to whom You desire from Your servants. Make me the treasure of forty [days] and one of the most precious fearful, and forgive me, for that is not attained by the unjust. ﴾ Æā sīn mīm ﴿. ©﴾ ā’ mīm ‘ayn sīn qāf ﴿. ﴾ He has let the two seas meet freely. Between the two there is a space that they do not cross ﴿1.

Then [you shall recite] the Fatia to the end and the surah of the Cult three times. Whoever recites these verses and incantations and asks for some need he has of this world or of the Other. We have only opened the door for whoever wants to enter the treasury of longing sighs, and God bestows His favor on whom He wills.

And after that You will say: “O Allāh, O Truth, O Light, O Manifest, open my heart with Your light, instruct me in Your knowledge, protect me with Your custody, make me heard, make me understand, make me perceive You and create by Your grace a means by which You can solve my poverty, by which You will strengthen me above vileness, with which you will make me prosper in this world and in the Hereafter, and with which you will bring me to the contemplation of Your noble face in the Garden of delight. Truly You are Capable of everything, there is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime.” And he who recites these verses and incantations, as we have just said, obtains what he asks of Allah, exalted be He, by His grace and His generosity.

And another of the virtues of invoking with the noble verse of the Throne according to some virtuous ones, God be satisfied with them!, is that whoever invokes with it for all their problems and worries is attended, and it is this blessed prayer in which you will say: “Praise be to God, Who appoints in the worlds the chief sages of the sciences, and He makes His closest and most intimate companions from among the common people bearers of the Qur’an. It relieves the spirits of the poor from fatigue, effort, and hardship. It makes the world like a dark blue robe, and the devotees are its embroidery. Whoever obeys him is praised, and whoever disobeys him is execrated. Where will the wicked flee when the oppressed invoke him against him, and impute him before a Sovereign of great dignity, before whom kings rise? For by His wrath the water and the air, the night and the day, the sun, the moon and the stars, the heat and the cold, the clouds, the trees, the rainy clouds and the mists, are filled with anger, and death and life stand by His gate, as a servant stands before the Lord. • Allāh, there is no god but Him, the Living One, the Subsisting One • It directs existence day after day, making centuries go by, one people after another disappearing. It silences the vowels of those on earth and in heaven without there being an allusion (išāra) or an obscure pronunciation (rawm) for them2. He satisfies those who overdo it and starves those who fast, and He causes all those people to perish while He is the Eternal, the Perpetual in eternity and perpetuity. ﴾ Neither drowsiness nor sleep affects you ﴿. Master of what is above the highest and what is below the lowest, of length and breadth. He decides the salvation, appearance, commission, and duty imposed upon His servants, and He claims that duty from them. ﴾ Yours is all

1 Cor. lv:1718.

2 On these two terms in relation to the pronunciation of Arabic vowels, see v. LANE, Lexicon, s. v. šwr and rwm.

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