Letters, numbers and squares in Islamic esotericism
ʿIlm al-ḥurūf, the science of letters: the abjad numerals and chronograms, the magic squares (wafq) of the mathematicians and the talisman-makers, the buduḥ square, al-Būnī and the disputed Shams al-maʿārif, Ibn Khaldūn's judgement on the letter-magicians, and the Beautiful Names of God and the prayer beads — as history, with the respect a living faith is owed.
5 lessons · about 64 minutes of reading · 1 free
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ʿIlm al-ḥurūf — the belief that the Arabic letters carry the powers of creation — from Jābir's balance to Ibn ʿArabī, al-Būnī and Ibn Khaldūn's critique.
The old order of the Arabic letters and their numbers from 1 to 1000, the eastern and western variants, 786 and 66, and chronograms that hide a year in a line of verse.
The "harmonious arrangement of numbers" from Jābir's childbirth charm and the buduḥ to the mathematicians of Baghdad, the planetary squares, and how to build a square for any number.
The Sufi of Būna, the most famous and most disputed grimoire of the Islamic world, and why scholars now speak of a "corpus Būnianum".
The ninety-nine names of God, the lists and their differences, the Greatest Name, the misbaḥa and its counts, and the names in the letter-sciences.
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