Islamic Alchemy and Magic

Islamic Alchemy and Magic

In Islam, artistic representation of living beings is prohibited, a stance also reflected in the treatment of magical objects. Notably, the Holy Quran does not explicitly forbid such depictions; rather, it is the Prophetic Tradition (Hadith), a compilation of the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and actions, that warns against attempting to emulate God’s creative power, suggesting…

The lost book on Alchemy by Agathodaimon, the teacher of Hermes
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The lost book on Alchemy by Agathodaimon, the teacher of Hermes

In antiquity, a fascinating Hermetic work focused on alchemy was lost, leaving us with only fragments to piece together its wisdom. Zosimos, the renowned alchemist from Panopolis in Upper Egypt, who lived during the late third or early fourth century, serves as our witness to this enigmatic work. Zosimos mentions the lost Hermetic work in…

Alchemy and the Arabic Hermetic Tradition

Alchemy and the Arabic Hermetic Tradition

The English word ‘alchemy’ derives from the Arabic al-kīmiyāʾ, itself a loan-word from Syriac kīmīyā which in turn was taken from the Greek χημεια, meaning ‘the art of casting metals’. The earliest surviving alchemical texts in the West, which are written in Greek, hardly ever use the word χημεια and refer to their practice as ‘The Work’, ‘the divine and sacred…

The Son of the One

The Son of the One

The name of Ibn Sab’in is an enigma. The unusual meaning of Ibn Sab’in (Son of Seventy) and that of his pseudonym, Ibn al-Dāra (Son of the Circle), suggest a connection with esoterism. Both Ibn Sab’in and Ibn al-Dara refer to the number seventy, which was written as a circle in the numerical system reserved for court documents in Muslim Spain and…

The Hermetic teachings of Ibn Sab’in

The Hermetic teachings of Ibn Sab’in

Ibn Khaldun (d. 808/1406) described Ibn Sab’in as a radical monist whose ideas constituted ‘overt heresy and unwarranted innovations, and to justify them, the most extravagant and detestable interpretations of the literal meaning of orthodox doctrine’. However, he has also been described as the author of works ‘the likes of which no one has ever…

A short biography of the last hermetic master Ibn Sabin

A short biography of the last hermetic master Ibn Sabin

His full name was Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Al-Haqq b. Ibrahim b. Muhammad b. Nasr Al-‘Akki Al-Mursi Al-Riquti Al-Ishbili Al-Qastallani Al-Sufi Qutb Al-Din. He used the name Ibn O (Son of the Circle), hence the name Ibn Sab‘in with which he is known in the history of Islamic thought. The earthly life of Abu Muhammad ‘Abd…