New Light on Early Arabic AwfÄq Literature

Bink Hallum

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Chapter 3 New Light on Early Arabic AwfÄq Literature

In: Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice

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Bink Hallum

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 57â161

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004426979_004

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Abstract

In the earliest concrete examples of magic squares from Chinese, Indian, and Arabic literature, the squares are valued not simply as mathematical curiosities but as objects of wondrous powers. Recent research on early Arabic awfÄq (magic squares) literature has identified a large corpus with several known authors, but studies of this corpus tend to focus on mathematical analyses. This article sketches a cultural history of awfÄq, which contextualizes them within wider Islamicate culture, situating awfÄq literature within the oeuvres of the scholars who produced it, and locating those scholars within networks of patrons, colleagues, and institutions. Beginning with magic squares in pre-Islamic cultures and the continuation of those traditions, this article explores Islamicate legends of the origins and transmission of the awfÄq and surveys the corpus of Arabic awfÄq literature from the mid-third/ninth to the late sixth/twelfth centuries in an attempt to grasp the background, context, and significance of the great popularity of awfÄq in talismanic practices associated with the Science of Letters (Ê¿ilm al-á¸¥urÅ«f).

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Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice

Series:Â Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East, Volume: 140

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004426979

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 09 Nov 2020

Subjects
- History
  - Intellectual History
  - History of Science
- Middle East and Islamic Studies

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Chapter 3 New Light on Early Arabic AwfÄq Literature

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Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice

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Chapter 3 New Light on Early Arabic AwfÄq Literature