Islamic Esotericism

ʿAbdallāh ibn Sabaʾ is a figure generally regarded as Islam's first heretic by Sunnī scholars and also vilified by Shīʿī scholars. In this article an anonymous, esoteric work known as Umm al-Kitāb is examined as it contains an exceptional narrative that adopts a strikingly sympathetic approach to Ibn Sabaʾ. It is also argued that the work's unique take on the Ibn Sabaʾ legend sheds considerable light on the date and elusive provenance of this early Shīʿī text.

The Arabic original of the ninth-century pseudo-Platonic Kitāb al-Nawāmīs (The Book of Sacred Secrets) has not been discovered save for fragments from Paris arabe 2577 ff. 104-5, containing only three chapters.  Through a Latin translation completed in twelfth-century Spain we have access to a fuller version of the work. One of the titles given to this translation is the Liber Vaccae (The Book of the Cow) derived from its most notorious experiments that involve the gruesome slaughtering and mutilation of a cow to magically produce a rational animal or bees.  The work contains recipes or experiments for causing extraordinary transformations such as splitting the moon in half, causing the appearance of incredible giants, and prestidigitation. Recent scholarly research on the Liber Vaccae has focused mostly on its reception in medieval and early modern Europe.  This article explores the Indo-Arabic tradition to which Kitāb al-Nawāmīs belonged by associating it with a cluster of related works: Kitāb al-Tajmīʿ (The Book of Assembling) attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (c. 721-815), Ġāyat al-Ḥakīm (The Goal of the Wise) of  Maslama al-Qurtubī (d. 964), Kitāb al-Sumūm (The Book of Poisons) by Ibn Waḥshiyya (fl. 10th century), and finally ʿUyūn al-Ḥaqāʾiq wa Īḏāḥ al-Ṭarāʾiq (The Quiddities of Truths and the Explication of Paths) of Abu al-Qāsim al-ʿIrāqī (d. c. 1260) . The first two texts have been studied in relation to the Liber Vaccae by David Pingree, MaaikeVan der Lugt, Sophie Page, and William Newman; their findings will be re-evaluated under the light of the aforementioned texts of Ibn Waḥshiyya and al-ʿIrāqī which offer new links that inform us further about the prevalence and influence of the ideas contained in Kitāb al-Nawāmīs.

In recent years, the field of "Western esotericism" has been confronted by problems related to the cultural and regional demarcations it has adopted. This field is based on a longue durée narrative that underplays non-"Western" currents, including ones which, through appropriation or reactions to them, constituted major sources for it. One of the most immediate arguments against the use of the qualifier "Western" and an essentialized "West" is European en-tanglements with Islamdom. This article tackles the ambiguous place given to Islam in the narrative of "Western esotericism" and the wider intellectual and historical complex that feeds the exclusionary tendencies expressed by the "Western" in "Western esotericism." It begins by providing a historical background of the West versus East divide in order to grasp the genealogy of the discourse and locate the problems resulting from an esotericism labelled as "Western." Two major components of this narrative within which Islam is usually evoked are then highlighted: first, the sanitization of orientalist perspectives , and, second, the reliance on perennialist sources, especially the writings of Henry Corbin. Finally, the article recommends, on one level, a reflective global approach that takes into account the agency of non-Western actors in the globalization of values and concepts in modern and pre-modern eras, thus allowing us to engage in more suitable comparative practices in the study of esotericism. On another level, I have argued elsewhere that an Islamic esoteri-cism (bāṭiniyya) has a long history dating back to the ninth century at least, based on principles, epistemological paradigms, and social orientations, conceptualized and negotiated (Saif, 2019). I demonstrated there, as I do here, that this esotericism had-and still has-connections with the currents discussed in the study of "Western esotericism," especially through the Traditionalists and Sufism.

Magic is given a prestigious place in Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (“The epistles of the Brethren of Purity”). It is the subject of the concluding epistle, wherein the principal themes of the entire encyclopedia are brought together—the vital powers of the cosmos and its emanationist scheme, salvation, the in telligibility of nature, and the compatibility of philosophy and revelation. Mastering this knowledge gives power to humans over nature and, most importantly, actualizes their potential for spiritual enlightenment, the ultimate magical act and the real goal of the sage. Yet, this epistle is understudied...

This article addresses a desideratum in Islamic intellectual history concerning apocalyptic eschatology. I propose to focus on the Islamic revelatory genre par excellence known as jafr which as a textual tradition comprises the fusion of eschatology and esotericism. As a case study, I have chosen to examine an Ottoman apocalypse known as The Tree of Nu'mān Concerning the Ottoman Empire (al-Shajara al-nu'māniyya fi al-dawla al-'uthmāniyya). This complex revelatory text was composed at some point in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century and was pseudepigraphically attributed to Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 1240), the "Great Doctor" (al-shaykh al-akbar) of Sufism. Importantly, The Tree of Nu'mān shows us that eschatological predictions were central to bolstering Ottoman imperial claims to universal sovereignty, this being an historical phenomenon that permeated Islamic dynasties following the collapse of the central Abbasid Caliphate in 1258. More specifically, end-of-times tractates like The Tree of Nu'mān highlight the reliance of revelatory propaganda on the esoteric sciences of lettrism (ʿilm al-ḥurūf) and astrology (ʿilm al-falak). With these two esoteric pillars, I argue that Pseudo-Ibn al-ʿArabī secured the validity and appeal of his pseudepigraphic apocalypse. A further important contribution of this essay is a new, critical definition of jafr that expands on previous scholarly attempts at understanding this immanently Islamic eschatological genre.

In Islamic mysticism and theurgy, the Seven Seals represent in graphic form the Greatest Name of God; in Jewish Kabbalah, the Seals bear individual Divine Names which collectively form a “Great Name.” We review and compare the primary interpretations and secondary associations for each Seal in Islam and Judaism, from which it is clear that the two traditions have developed largely independent understandings of the individual symbols. Nevertheless, points of convergence – such as the interpretation of the fourth Seal as a ladder and an ascent to/of goodness – do exist. Conversely, the attributes of the third Islamic and seventh Jewish Seals have a surprising amount in common. Collectively, the Seals have been linked via word- and letter-counting to key affirmations of each religion: the Islamic ones to the Shahāda, the Jewish ones to Psalm 46:7,11. In contrast to the Islamic Seals, individual correspondences are rarely given for the Jewish Seals and are inconsistent across sources. Kabbalistic amulets are more likely to employ the Names of the Seals than their symbols, and when present the latter are often much degraded; in contrast, Islamic talismans make frequent use of the symbol series. In Islamic magic, the Seven Seals are associated with the seven Ṭahaṭīl Names, which exhibit possible similarities to the Names of the Seals in Kabbalah. Intriguing overlaps of the Jewish Seal Names with Egyptian mythology and Vedic Sanskrit are explored, but ultimately it is thought more likely that the  seven Names derive from the Names of God’s fingers and eyes (five plus two, respectively) in the Shīʿūr Qōmah of the Hekhalot literature. Fittingly, exegesis of the Seals in both Judaism and Islam contains general themes of hands/fingers and sight/blindness.