Unlike their philosophical contemporaries, the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’) (hereon the Brethren) cites the Qurʾān directly in almost every other paragraph of their fifty-one treatises. They were a ninth-tenth century Shīʾite philosophical movement from Baṣra, Iraq. Little is known about the actual group or its members, and their only remains are fifty-one treatises with two summaries. This paper argues that one of the reasons the Brethren employs the Qurʾān is to show how it can be used for theurgical purposes to physically free the body from pains. Following Gregory Shaw, Christian H. Bull, Brian Copenhaver, I argue that theurgy (literally Divine Acts) are “ritual elements that combines intellection (noêsis) that produces union with the divine.”[1] These ritual elements and actions can consist of magic, numerology, talismans, invocations, and prayers. When one does this, they are able to climb out of the physical world and become spiritually and psychologically liberated from the pangs of the world.
Throughout the treatises, the Brethren constantly implore their reader to ‘be in this world, but not of this world.’ In other words, one should be the best human being possible in this world without becoming attached or obsessed with it. It is for this reason that the subtitle of every one of their treatises contains “according to the way of the Sufis.” The Brethren teach their readers how to use the Qurʾān to prevent aspects of the world from physically, spiritually, and psychologically overcome its influence. They defend the use of magic by citing the verses of the Qurʾān. For example, they cite the story when God enables Moses’ rod as a snake to swallow the other rods as snakes. They cite these verses from the Qurʾān to defend their use of magic: 2:102,5:110, 6:7,7:109-112,7:120-121,7:132,10:2,17:47, 17:101,20:57-58,20:63, 20:66,20:73. Almost after every verse’s citation, they would ask the reader “Can you not see how the Qurʾān regards magic as important?”
In the second treatise, the Brethren teach their readers how a pregnant woman can liberate herself from the pangs of childbirth by creating a magic square. They borrow a magic square which is first found in the works of the famous alchemist and chemist Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (d. 800). Jābir ibn Ḥayyān writes of the spiritual liberation that it provides the user and the fact that it represents the “Perfect Man.”[2] The Brethren knew of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān’s thought and probably borrowed this square from his writing.
The Brethren state that forms of magic, such as this square, can allow “the subjects to be joined to the [rank of] kings and the kings to that of the angels.”[3] The magic square described in the second treatise contains numerological symbols which point to God, the family of the Prophet, and the Divine Neoplatonic principles. Every element of this square was crafted with a specific thought in mind. For example, the Brethren placed specific numbers in the corner for an alphabetical reason. In the second magic square, the four letters can be compiled to make the name (budūḥ). Budūḥ is the name of a protective spirit whose name often appears on the tops of doors and walls in order to protect a house.[4] The name was also placed on the arms of individuals for protection.[5] Another interesting element of this square is the fact that two pairs of odd numbers across from each other add up to the number ten (10). The Arabic science of letters does not attribute any qualitative value to zero (∅),[6] and therefore only the number one (1) would be significant. This is an implicit reference to the importance of the One God that the Brethren consistently emphasize throughout their works. Finally, the placement of the number five in the center might also be significant. As addressed thoroughly in the second chapter, the Brethren of Purity are Shīʾites. Religiously, the most important figures for them would have been the Prophet Muḥammad, his daughter Faṭima, his cousin and son-in-law ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and his two grandsons Ḥassan and Ḥusayn.[7] The Brethren also emphasize the number five by dividing certain sciences and practices into five. For example, they state that the esoteric sciences are five, namely alchemy, astrology, magic, medicine, and asceticism.[8] In other words, for the Brethren, the use of this talisman can invoke a spirit that can protect one during the time of pregnancy and allow one to be free of the pains of the physical body and have their spirit be temporarily joined with that of the family of the Prophet and higher spiritual principles.
The magic square shown above is one that has appeared profusely in texts throughout history. Al-Ghazālī (d. 1111) cites in his autobiography, Deliverance from Error. Ibn ‘Arabī (d. 1240) cites it in his Meccan Revelations. And it is found in the works of later thinkers such as Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Būnī (d. 1225).
[1]Copenhaver, 77.
[2]Syed Nomanul Haq, Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist J̄abir Ibn Hayȳan and His Kit̄ab al-Aḥjār (Book of Stones), vol. 158, Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS) (Berlin, Germany: Springer Dordrecht, 1994), 206.
[3]Brethren of Purity, Epistles of the Brethren of Purity. On Magic: an Arabic Critical Edition and English translation of Epistle 52a. Part I, trans. Godefroid de Callatay and Bruno Halflants, Institute of Ismaili Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 14.
[4]Annemarie Schimmel, The Mystery of Numbers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 30.
[5]Schimmel, 30.
[6]Schimmel, 7.
[7]Wilferd Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 15.
[8]Treatise 52a:95.
Unlike their philosophical contemporaries, the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’) (hereon the Brethren) cites the Qurʾān directly in almost every other paragraph of their fifty-one treatises. They were a ninth-tenth century Shīʾite philosophical movement from Baṣra, Iraq. Little is known about the actual group or its members, and their only remains are fifty-one treatises with two summaries. This paper argues that one of the reasons the Brethren employs the Qurʾān is to show how it can be used for theurgical purposes to physically free the body from pains. Following Gregory Shaw, Christian H. Bull, Brian Copenhaver, I argue that theurgy (literally Divine Acts) are “ritual elements that combines intellection (noêsis) that produces union with the divine.”[1] These ritual elements and actions can consist of magic, numerology, talismans, invocations, and prayers.