Magic and Divination in Early Islam

by Savage-Smith,Emilie

• ISBN13: 9780860787150
• ISBN10: 086078715X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-28
• Publisher: Variorum

Summary

Magic and divination in early Islam encompassed a wide range of practices, including belief in jinn, warding off the evil eye, the production of amulets and other magical equipment, conjuring, wonder-working, dream interpretation, predicting the weather, casting lots, astrology, and physiognomy. The ten studies here are concerned with the pre-Islamic antecedents of such practices, and with the theory of magic in healing, the nature and use of amulets and their decipherment, the arts of astrometeorology and geomancy, the refutation of astrology, and the role of the astrologer in society. Some of the studies are highly illustrated, some long out of print, some revised or composed for this volume, and one translated into English for the first time. These fundamental investigations, together with the introductory bibliographic essay, are intended as a guide to the concepts, terminology, and basic scholarly literature of an important, but often overlooked, aspect of classical Islamic culture.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
General Editor's Preface	xi
Introduction	xiii
1. Beliefs in Spirits among the Pre-Islamic Arabs
Joseph Henninger	1	(54)
2. Hermes and Harran: The Roots of Arabic-Islamic Occultism
Francis E. Peters	55	(32)
3. The Theory of Magic in Healing
Michael W. Dols	87	(16)
4. The Rod of Moses in Arabic Magic
A. Fodor	103	(22)
5. The Decipherment of Arabic Talismans
Tewfik Canaan	125	(54)
6. Islamic Seals: Magical or Practical?
Venetia Porter	179	(22)
7. Weather Forecasting in the Arabic World
Charles Burnett	201	(10)
8. Islamic Geomancy and a Thirteenth-Century Divinatory Device: Another Look
Emilie Savage-Smith and Marion B. Smith	211	(66)
9. Ibn Taymiyya on Astrology: Annotated Translation of Three Fatwas
Yahya J. Michot	277	(64)
10. The Role of the Astrologer in Medieval Islamic Society
George Saliba	341	(30)
General Index	371