A Talisman is a small amulet or other object, often bearing magical
symbols, worn for protection against evil spirits or the supernatural.
Demons are ordered in talismans to follow the instructions and to
leave the patient whom they inhabit. Only the most important names
will be mentioned. A spirit of the lower world is assigned to every
day of the week.
EL-MUDHIB, known as abu ‘Abdallah Sa‘id rules over Sunday;
MURRAH el-Abiad abu el-Hareth (Abu n-Nur) over Monday;
abu Mihriz (or abu Ya‘qub) EL-AHMAR – Tuesday;
BARQAN abu l-‘Adja’yb – Wednesday;
SHAMHURISH (el-Tayyar) – Thursday;
abu Hasan ZOBA‘AH (el-Abiad) – Friday; and
abu Nuh MEIMUN rules over Saturday.
As a rule only that name written in capitals is mentioned in
talismans. Every one of these archdemons has many tribes of djinn
under his sovereignty. All the above given names, except Shamhurish,
are of Arabic origin. Abu Murrah is also a name for Satan. Abu
l-Hareth is the nickname of the lion. It was impossible for me to
ascertain if this demon was thought to have the form of a lion. It is
commonly believed that Shamhurish died some years ago. [Muhammad]
Er-Rahawi teaches the same. His successor is named Mutawakill.
In talismans as well as in sorcery the ruling angel is asked to force
the demon ruled by him to obey and fulfill the orders expressed in the
talisman. This is clearly seen in the following talisman of my
collection where we read: “Answer O Meimun by the force of the angel
ruling over you, yauah, Roqia’il and Kasfia’il”. As Kasfia’il is the
angel ruling over Meimun, it is curious that Roqai’il, who rules over
Mudhib should also be called upon.
Buni assigns four ‘afarit [jinn] to the four archdemons. Some authors
think that these names are only synonyms to those of the four
archangels. The names of the ‘afarit are: Damriat (Tamriat) for
Mudhib, Man‘iq (or San‘iq) for Meimun, Wahdelbadj (or Wahdeliadj) for
Barqan and Soghal for el-Ahmar. But I have not yet met with these
names in written talismans. El-Ahmar is also called abu t-Tawabi‘, the
father of all tawabi‘ (pl. of tabi‘, the masc. of tabi‘ah = qarineh).
The names of the “four Heads” (al-arba‘ ru’us), also called the “four
Helpers” (al-a‘wan al-arba‘ah), play a very important role in
talismans. They are Mazar the lord of the East, Kamtam the lord of the
West, Qasurah the lord of the South and Taykal the lord of the sea.
Some authors and talismans wrongly use Haraz instead of Mazar; Ka‘tam,
Katmah and seldom Kadmah for Kamtam; and Tabkal for Taykal. These
names are often met with in talismans. Esh-sheykh Mahmud abu l-Mawahib
el-Khaluti el-Hanafi devotes several pages to the description of their
seals, names, field of action etc. Every one of the four heads has a
special servant from among the seven above named demons. El-Ahmar
serves Mazar, Mudhib – Kamtam, Shamhurish – Qasurah, and Murrah serves
Taykal. These four names are found as a rule around square seals. At
times one meets with one name alone written with unexplicable words or
with the name of the person for whom the talisman was written. The
“four Heads” are called upon to take revenge upon an enemy.
El-Qarineh and imm es-Subian are well known demons, who play a great
role in Oriental superstition. Their names are often met with in
talismans. The belief in el-Qarineh is also taken from Jewish
demonology. Djalalu d-Din es-Siuti gives a list of names for these two
spirits, the enumeration of which may serve in the understanding of
obscure names.
The supposed names of et-Tabi‘ah are: [unvocalized Arabic (w = waw, a
= alif, y = ya)] t-w-s-d, t-w-h, s-l-m-a-s, s-y-w-s, m-l-t-w-s,
l-w-l-b-n, kh-l-‘-s, d-w-s, ‘-n-q-w-d, q-r-w-h, s-l-m-a-n.
Those of imm es-Subian are: q-m-t-n-w-sh, q-w-sh, q-r-q-w-sh,
q-l-n-w-sh, m-q-l-w-sh, h-y-l-w-sh, m-q-r-q-t-w-sh, ‘-m-r-w-sh,
a-y-l-a-q-w-sh, imm m-l-d-m.
How thoroughly confused the different authors are, may be seen from
the fact that as-Siuti makes a difference between et-Tabi‘ah and
el-Qarineh giving each one a list of new names, while it is generally
recognized that these two expressions stand for one and the same
female demon. He further pretends that imm es-Subian is a synonym for
el-Qarineh but a few lines later mentions imm es-Subian as a separate
jinniyeh. The list of by-names given to el-Qarineh are m-l-‘-w-n-h,
f-y-w-s, b-‘-d-w-s, m-r-w-s, ‘-s-r-w-s, m-h-r-w-s, d-n-w-s,
s-r-t-a-w-s, t-r-t-r, b-r-q-w-s. Ed-Damiri writes that God promised to
increase the demons by one for every new-born human being. These are
the qurana (pl. of qarin).
The already quoted book [Sheykh abu l-Mu’ayyed’s] Djawahiru l-Khamsah
assigns to every letter a spirit of the lower world. Their enumeration
is not necessary. The student is referred to the Dictionary of Islam.
It was impossible to detect any rule for the formation of their names.
A great many names of evil spirits end with w-sh, y-sh, t-y-sh or w-s.
In el-‘Inayah [author unnamed], pp. 2 and 3, we read the following:
[Arabic text] “The name of Satan … is taken from the name of the
spiritual power with the addition of t-y-sh at its end. The following
endings may take the place of t-y-sh as they are all names for the
devil, may he be cursed by God: hut, hish, hash, hush, tash, tush”.
Tish [t-y-sh] is the most used and the regular ending.
The following names may at times also be met with in talismans.
f-q-t-sh is the physician of the djinn; Isma‘il is the secretary and
Abu Dibadj the king of the qurana.
In reviewing what has been said we see:
That with the exception of the names of the seven angels which
rule over the days of the week, those of the seven djinn and a few
other names, there is no uniformity in nomination. An angel or demon
assigned by one authority for a special sphere of work is assigned by
another for a completely different one.
Many of the strange names are formed, as in Gnosticism in
doublets, i.e. in the same way as Gog and Magog in Biblical literature
and Yadjudj-Madjudj and Harut-Marut in Arabic. As examples the
following doublets may be cited:
sh-‘-a-b … sh-‘-y-a-b
h-y-l-w-th-a … sh-y-l-w-th-a
sh-y-gh-w-b … sh-a-gh-w-b
s-y-t-w-s … b-s-t-w-s
s-l-t-a-m … m-sh-t-a-m
h-w-s-m … d-w-s-m
d-y-w-m … j-y-w-m
Many of the names discussed above show clearly a foreign
influence, generally a Hebrew one.
With the exception of a few rules there is no method whatsoever to
help in determining the origin or the way of forming the names of the
supernatural powers.
No comments:
Post a Comment