Description
Book SynopsisIslamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice brings together the latest research on Islamic occult sciences from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, namely intellectual history, manuscript studies and material culture. Its aim is not only to showcase the range of pioneering work that is currently being done in these areas, but also to provide a model for closer interaction amongst the disciplines constituting this burgeoning field of study. Furthermore, the book provides the rare opportunity to bridge the gap on an institutional level by bringing the academic and curatorial spheres into dialogue. Contributors include: Charles Burnett, Jean-Charles Coulon, Maryam Ekhtiar, Noah Gardiner, Christiane Gruber, Bink Hallum, Francesca Leoni, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Michael Noble, Rachel Parikh, Liana Saif, Maria Subtelny, Farouk Yahya, and Travis Zadeh.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations and Tables Notes on Contributors Transliteration, Style, and Dates 1 Introduction Liana Saif and Francesca Leoni Part 1 Occult Theories: Inception and Reception 2 The Three Divisions of Arabic Magic Charles Burnett 3 New Light on Early Arabic Awfāq Literature Bink Hallum 4 A Study on the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s Epistle on Magic, the Longer Version (52b) Liana Saif 5 Sabian Astral Magic as Soteriology in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s al-Sirr al-maktūm Michael Noble 6 Lettrism and History in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Bisṭāmī’s Naẓm al-sulūk fī musāmarat al-mulūk Noah Gardiner 7 Kāshifī’s Asrār-i qāsimī: A Late Timurid Manual of the Occult Sciences and Its Safavid Afterlife Maria Subtelny Part 2 Occult Technologies: From Instruction to Action 8 The Kitāb Sharāsīm al-hindiyya and Medieval Islamic Occult Sciences Jean-Charles Coulon 9 Toward a Neopythagorean Historiography: Kemālpaşazāde’s (d. 1534) Lettrist Call for the Conquest of Cairo and the Development of Ottoman Occult-Scientific Imperialism Matthew Melvin-Koushki 10 Power and Piety: Islamic Talismans on the Battlefield Maryam Ekhtiar and Rachel Parikh 11 Calligrams of the Lion of ʿAlī in Southeast Asia Farouk Yahya 12 A Stamped Talisman Francesca Leoni 13 Bereket Bargains: Islamic Amulets in Today’s “New Turkey” Christiane Gruber 14 Postscript: Cutting Ariadne’s Thread, or How to Think Otherwise in the Maze Travis Zadeh Index
