Licit Magic - The Touch and Sight of Islamic Talismanic Scrolls - A PhD thesis by Yasmine F Al-Saleh (2014).pdf

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"Licit Magic": The Touch And Sight Of Islamic Talismanic Scrolls

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Alsaleh, Yasmine F. 2014. "Licit Magic": The Touch And Sight

Of Islamic Talismanic Scrolls. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard

University.

August 28, 2017 4:40:30 PM EDT

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http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12274637

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“Licit Magic”: The Touch And Sight Of Islamic Talismanic Scrolls

A dissertation presented

Yasmine F. Al-Saleh

The Committee for Middle Eastern Studies

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in the subject of

History of Art and Architecture and Middle Eastern Studies

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

February 2014

Dissertation Advisor:

Professor David J. Roxburgh

Professor Gülru Necipoğlu-Kafadar

Yasmine F. Al-Saleh

“Licit Magic”: The Touch And Sight Of Islamic Talismanic Scrolls

Abstract

The following study traces the production and history of the talismanic scroll as a medium

through a Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk historical periods. My dissertation understands the

protocol of manufacturing and utilizing talismanic scrolls. The dissertation is a study of the

Qur’an, prayers and illustrations of these talismanic works. I begin by investigating a theory of

the occult the medieval primary sources of the Neo-platonic tenth century Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ and

al-Bunī (d.1225). I establish that talismans are generally categorized as science (‘ilm). Next, a

dynastic spotlight of talismanic scrolls creates a chronological framework for the dissertation.

The Fatimid talismanic scrolls and the Ayyubid pilgrimage scrolls are both block-printed and are

placed within the larger conceptual framework of pilgrimage and devotion. The two unpublished

Mamluk scrolls from Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah are long beautiful handwritten scrolls that

provide a perspective on how the occult is part of the daily life of the practitioner in the

medieval Islamic culture. Through an in depth analysis of the written word and images, I

establish that textually and visually there is a template for the creation of these sophisticated

scrolls. Lastly, I discuss the efficacy of these scrolls, I use theories of linguistic anthropology

and return to the Islamic primary sources to establish that there is a language of the occult and

there are people that practiced the occult. The word of God and the Qurʾān empower the scrolls I

studied. As for the people who practiced the occult, I turn to the tenth century Ibn al-Nadim and

iii

Ibn al-Khaldun (d.1406), the people of the occult are understood. Yet, keeping in mind, that there

is always a tension with the theologians that condoned practices of Islamic magic.

This study illuminates new perspectives on the study of the occult. It becomes apparent

there is a conceptual relationship between the occult and devotion. The talismanic scroll and its

contents recontextualizes ideas about piety, belief, and concerns for the medieval Muslim

believer be they supplications to God and the prophet Muhammad, or concerns about health,

Licit Magic - The Touch and Sight of Islamic Talismanic Scrolls - A PhD thesis by Yasmine F Al-Saleh (2014).pdf

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