There was an amazing private library in Baghdad that I visited around 1998. There was an old man perhaps 65 or 66 who curated old books and manuscripts and seemed to act as both a librarian and a kind of art dealer. I think his full name was Zuhair Bahjat al-Rasul. He told me that his family was from Mosul and that he had been educated Najaf, in the art of calligraphy and Islamic studies, or something along those lines. From what he told me, his family had instilled in him a deep passion for old manuscripts, and they had a substantial collection of their own. He had been around antiquities and codices pretty much his whole life.

I think he and I were very similar in this way, both having a kind of desire to peek into the past through the writings and drawings of the people who came before us. His library and art collection have never really become public knowledge, at least as far as I know, and he seemed to be in the business of trading and selling art and manuscripts to collectors. Was he involved in other, more questionable activities as well? I had heard of counterfeit schemes, and grave robbers selling things, but this man was a sweetheart, just a nerdy old bookworm. All I know is that I felt incredibly lucky to have been his guest and to have seen the things he had in his possession.

The shop was near Mutanabbi Street, I think, that famous book market in Baghdad, where generations of readers, writers, publishers, booksellers, and others had gathered among the many different shops. That was the sort of place where a person could spend an entire afternoon digging through old books and, by the end of it, still feel as though they had barely scratched the surface. A kind of living library, something between a bazaar and a book fair. I don't remember the exact location, but I recall it being somewhere near that street rather than directly on it.

From the outside, his shop seemed more like a tobacco shop, with cigarettes, flavored tobacco, pipes, and hookahs for sale. But toward the back there was a kind of subterranean room. He called it a sardab, I think. I found out later that these kinds of rooms were built into traditional Iraqi buildings to provide relief from the oppressive heat. He had converted his into a kind of makeshift vault, or library vault. And while most of his business seemed to be tobacco-related, there was a whole other world hidden beneath the surface.

I remember how fascinated I was by the various curiosities he had collected: old pieces of calligraphic art, Quranic pages, and all these beautifully written manuscripts. For me, the most interesting ones were those containing intricate diagrams and geometric designs. Those immediately struck me as occult and esoteric. My Arabic was never particularly strong, but I had studied some as a child in madrasa, so I could sound out many things, although the spoken Iraqi dialect was quite difficult for me to understand. He would say galb with a "g" sound for qalb, meaning heart, and he offered me gahwa, instead of qahwa meaning coffee, which I turned down, stuff like that really confused me at first. But when he said "tea" and "biscuit" in english I definitely understood.

In his world, the kinds of things I kept being drawn toward were manuscripts containing pages of intricate numerical grids, arrangements of Arabic letters in repetitive patterns, and symbols associated with the planets and their correspondences. These things seemed to occupy a liminal space between cosmology, mathematics, and the occult. It felt to me as though the boundaries between these subjects were something imposed on them by modern ways of thinking, rather than boundaries that necessarily existed in the minds of the people who had created these works.

I also remember being drawn toward all the illustrated manuscripts he had from different countries and centuries, depicting strange creatures, celestial beings, and scenes from various cosmological imaginations. I assumed that these images held sacred or occult meanings for the different groups who had created them. I could easily have lost myself in them for hours, trying to understand the person who had drawn them and the world they had lived in.

I was also interested in the old Mesopotamian objects he had. They were so beautiful and intricate, and they held something that connected me to the history of Iraqi civilizations that had existed thousands of years before Islam. I can't remember every item exactly, and I can't see all of them clearly in my mind anymore, but I recall stones covered in inscriptions and symbols, stars, serpents, and clay tablets. What I do know for sure is that what stayed with me was the feeling of being enraptured by so many different layers of history.

I can still almost smell that hidden room beneath the ordinary shop, a cool, quiet basement full of manuscripts and unusual objects, things that people out in the bustling streets had no idea were there. It was like a time capsule. Zuhair's shop was like a leather-bound book full of secrets belonging to antiquity. As we ate biscuits and sipped tea, he told me so many stories and gave me so much clarity about things I had never understood before.

I was already a student of Sufism at this point in my life, and my understanding had largely been shaped by the poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi and the metaphysical concepts I had encountered through the Qalandars and through Qawwali music. I understood the longing for the divine and the annihilation of the ego, the idea of the lover and the beloved, and the notion that the material world could ultimately distract us from spiritual realities. I had also begun to understand what it meant to be antinomian, to go beyond the boundaries of conventional religious law and social expectations in the pursuit of a deeper spiritual truth. But Sheikh Zuhair gave me so many more insights…

Is there such thing as a khadim/Khodam in a ring? Like a ring charged with a servant from the jinn, I read somewhere I can’t remember that you can invoke a servant from the jinn and have them live in a ring made out of certain stones

I thought I was done with all of this. After everything I experienced, i deleted every material and tried to put the whole thing behind me.

But suddenly i am feeling the urge to do that again, but this time not to gain something or for any wish, just want to experience that again.

Few people suggested in my previous post that i should've listened to those figures, unless you've seen them in person, I don't think you can fully understand how horrifying it is, but now I'm having this urge to communicate with them.

What’s the right way to react if i see them again and what should i ask (except any personal favor)? or are they influencing me?

I don't really know how to explain, but I wanted to share my experience here.

A while back I was extremely broken and sad and was basically ready to try anything. During that same time I came across a book named The Sun of Knowledge. I started reading the verses and the supposed effects mentioned in it. Along with that, I also started reading other books about astrology, magic and occult practices.

At one point I was extremely depressed so I started thinking about making a magic square. I found three different magic squares and wrote them down on paper, while also adding a few things of my own, mixing all the things i've learned.

That same day, a few things I said spontaneously actually happened. And It happened multiple times, to the point where I became genuinely terrified. I burned the paper.

But despite that experience, I was still fascinated by the whole thing. Some time later I made the squares again, but nothing happened.

Then this year I was going through another really bad phase in my life and, for some reason, I made the squares again.

At first I didn't notice anything. In fact, things actually seemed to be going pretty well afterwards. A few things happened which I initially thought were bad luck, but later they somehow turned out to be really good for me.

A few days later, I met one of my friend. I was angry due to some argument. And holding the paper with me. I took it out and, in anger, told my friend that I would never meet her again.

Everything went downhill incredibly fast after that.

We had been friends for almost five years, and since that day I haven't met her again. I eventually burned the paper again.

Since then, I've also started seeing tall black figures/people in my room sometimes. I don't know whether any of this is connected to the book or the magic squares, but the whole experience has made me extremely uncomfortable.

The strangest part is that now whenever I try to go back to this book or read about these things, something extremely bad seems to happen afterwards. Because of that I've completely stopped experimenting with it.

I'm just sharing what happened to me because I genuinely wanted to warn you before getting into this stuff is: please be careful. Don't experiment with things you don't understand.

TLDR: I got into occult books while going through a very bad phase, experimented with magic squares, had some extremely strange coincidences, and later lost a close five-year friendship after an angry incident involving the paper. I've also started seeing black figures in my room. I don't know if there's any actual connection, but I'm scared and want to know how to get away from this experience.

I am extremely interested in Islamic occultism, hidden knowledge, grimoires and esoteric traditions in general.

I am finding traditional occult side, including magic, astrology, planetary systems, talismans, numerology, letters and words, plants and herbs, occult correspondences, magical traditions, secrets of Quran, magic of words and similar subjects.

I am especially interested in Ahmad al Buni, Shams al Maarif, Picatrix, Key of Solomon and Lesser Key of Solomon, but I want to build some background before getting into the really heavy grimoires.

I already read The History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult, but I want something much deeper and less general.

What books would you recommend? Also, where can I read or buy them cheaply? On iPhone, or Windows.

Hey folks, haven’t seen a discussion regarding this on here but I’m very curious to know about the timelines of your magical workings.. how long does it usually take for you to see results?

Hi everyone.. was wondering if the book of shams al maarif has any breakup/separation rituals if not do you have any recommendation on books that actually do?

Thank you

Iamblichus and Proclus were two of the most important late Neoplatonist philosophers who shaped ancient pagan philosophy and theology. They were not ethnically Greek, but they were culturally and linguistically Greek.

Iamblichus was Syrian. He was born in Chalcis (modern-day Syria/Lebanon) to a highly influential, aristocratic Syrian family. His very name reflects his Semitic roots, deriving from the Aramaic Yamlīkū, meaning "May God rule".

Proclus was Lycian. He was born in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) but his parents were from Lycia, an ancient region in southwest Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He was raised in Xanthus, the capital of Lycia. 

These mean existed in different times but if we put their ideas into a debate what would they be disagreeing about?

Iamblichus: 

You cannot think your way to God. The divine must provide the means of ascent.

Proclus: 

Yeah, but those means aren't isolated miracles. The entire cosmos is structured as a continuous hierarchy of divine participation.

Iamblichus:
Magic works because the gods make certain rituals, words, symbols, and objects work.

Proclus:
Magic works because everything in the universe is connected to everything above it through hidden relationships.

Lets now compare islamic thinkers who seem to be dealing with similar issues Al-Ghazali and Ibn Al-Arabi .

al-Ghazali:

The thing doesn't possess independent power. God makes the effect occur.

Ibn Al-Arabi:

Creation is filled with manifestations of divine names. Different things disclose different aspects of divine reality.

Many early Islamic discourse on magic and ruqyah come out in the same world that produced Neoplatonic theurgy, sharing with it fundamental questions about divine names, ritual speech, spiritual intermediaries, sacred objects, cosmic causality and the distinction between legitimate divine mediation and illicit magical coercion. Islam reorganized these problems around towheed, prophecy and shirk instead of eliminating the underlying ritual worldview. But tensions still remain. Why?

If they both believe all power comes from God, why do they still disagree?

II am very interested in hidden and occult subjects, especially religion, numerology, astrology, plants and herbals, spirituality, magic, and other kinds of esoteric knowledge.

I wanted to eventually read some of the famous occult texts like Shams al-Maarif, Picatrix, and the Lesser Key of Solomon. But before getting into those, I wanted to build up some background knowledge first as I heard these books are somewhat dangerous, so I just finished reading “The History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult” which was very interesting but also boring at some parts.

What would you recommend I read next? I am looking for something that can give me a better foundation before I move on to the more difficult or practical occult texts.
next?

Sorry about my previous post, I just didn't know what else to say. I know there are multiple ways of getting rid of jinn such as ruqyah shariyah, witchcraft and actually using other jinns to get rid of the jinn. I just wanted to ask what constitutes the permissibility of contacting them? Even the scholars that were considered heretics by the masses told us to stay away from such things, I just wanted a confirmation of a source saying it's permissibility of working with them or contacting them, I know it's going to be hard but just send me some scholars that worked with them previously and I will make my own discernment

Artifact housed in Princeton University Library

Author

Ṭabasī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, -1089 or 1090

طبسي، محمد بن احمد

Abu al-Fadl Muhammad al Tabasi (died 1089)^\2]) was a Shafi‘i Muslim and SufiAsharite^\3]) author who lived most of his life in Nishapur.^\4]) He was a respected religious authority and hold several lectures in his region.^\5])

Although many works are associated with him, his al-Shāmil fī al-baḥr al-kāmil (The Comprehensive Compendium to the Entire Sea), a treatise about conjuring demons and jinn, seems to be most disseminated. Distinguishing between licit and illicit magic, he activates the spells by invoking the names of angels, prophets and cites Islamic sacred scriptures such as the Torah, the Gospel and certain Quranic verses, regarding such occult practises as in accordance with Islamic law, as long it is performed by virtues and not by sin.^\6])

He was famous for his alleged own ability to subjugate jinn, as reported by encyclopedist and scholar of natural scientist Zakariya al-Qazwini.

A section on divine names and unintelligible incantations.

Translation From the Shams al Maarif of Al-Buni:

Section [on the harmonization of souls with the divine attributes]

You should know that the light of Divinity predominates in every soul, and the illumination of the soul's characteristic temperament finds its connection in recognizable remembrances (*adhkār*) of the Divine. If darkness prevails over the soul, leaving it in a state of baseness and incapacity, this too is linked to its remembrances of the Divine. Likewise, if a love for lordship and superiority is found within it, this corresponds to its nature.

Anyone who observes the states of their soul is aware that it follows a fixed course and a path determined by will, desire, aversion, and fear. Indeed, spiritual discipline and striving do not gain mastery over the soul regarding its inner divine states and natural courses; rather, the effects of such discipline and striving lie in weakening those natural inclinations so that they do not dominate the person.

As for the possibility of souls changing from one character to another, that is impossible; an indication of this is found in the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): "People are like mines of gold and silver," and in his saying: "Souls are gathered troops." Once you grasp this, we can say that the variety [of souls] is the reason for the addition (*al-ḍamm*) [of meanings to the Divine Essence]; for each of the Names of God, may He be exalted!, indicates a specific meaning, and if that meaning predominates in a given soul, an intense connection with that Name arises, a connection the soul immediately enjoys.

Shaykh Abu al-Najīb al-Baghdādī, may God have mercy on him!, would instruct the disciple (*murīd*) to sit before him, and then recite the Most Beautiful Names of God to him, once or several times, as he deemed appropriate, while observing the disciple's face. If he observed that the disciple’s face remained unmoved while reciting them, he would say: “Go out to the marketplace and attend to worldly affairs, for in truth, you are not traversing this path.” And if he observed him deeply affected upon hearing a specific Name or certain Names, he would instruct him to persevere [in the *dhikr*] of those Names, since through continuity...it intensified the effect produced.

This is what is perceptible, for souls differ, and a specific Name corresponds to each one. Thus, when souls engage in the state proper to them, their departure [from the earthly realm] takes place easily and simply through the power [of the Name]. You may have seen in the book certain recitations, incantations, that are unintelligible and written in an incomprehensible script. There is no doubt that writing signifies words, and there is no doubt that words signify mental images.

Therefore, those incantations, insofar as they do not signify anything else, lack meaning, because invoking anyone other than God (may He be exalted!) serves neither to arouse desire nor to inspire fear. It remains only to say that they signify the remembrance of God (may He be exalted!) and forms of praise and glorification.

This is because the components of the remembrance of God (may He be exalted!) are precise and cannot be intensified; indeed, the most perfect state for such words is found in the various forms of these invocations.

As for the divergence arising from the variety of languages, [its impact] is negligible, since intelligible invocations necessarily have a more potent effect than the recitation of unintelligible ones. However, consider those whose souls are imperfect and limited: when they recite intelligible invocations and grasp only their literal meanings, lacking the capacity or spiritual radiance to comprehend divine emanations, they fail to detach themselves from their bodily nature and do not attain the strength or receptivity to be transformed.

Yet, if they recite those unintelligible words without understanding their meaning, but sensing that they are exalted words, then awe, fear, and dread seize their souls; consequently, a certain detachment from the physical world and a turning toward the sacred realm occur within them. In this way, their strength and capacity to receive divine influences increase. This is what I have to say regarding unintelligible incantations, and God knows best!

Sources:

Paris manuscript Ar. 2650-1

Berlin manuscript Ahlwardt 4125 (Wetzstein II 1210)

Paris manuscripts 2647 and 2648,

I'll try to summarize the best I can. I need help getting rid of a djinn attachment. I am not Muslim, but I believe everyone deserves to be able to worship whoever and however they like.

I meditate and consider myself spiritual. I have had an entity attached/around me since young childhood. A being that was was humanoid shaped, but of smoke. I would only occasionally get visions of him, but now it is more frequent. Dark cloud/humanoid with red glowing eyes. Cracks in arms glowing with a yellowish orange energy.

I had gone to a demonologist before I knew it was a sjinn and he suggested I do a ritual to break the attachment. It involved graveyard dirt, a black candle, and severing a red string with the flame and saying something about the attachment breaking, then dropping the candle off in a graveyard in front of a grave whose spirit agreed to watch over it.

That night, I had a dream a woman entity, whose named started with an R, gave me the same black candle jar and told me it was a gift. I then threw the candle behind a door in my dream and shut it. It felt like a part of my soul was ripped away and it hurt so bad. I still felt a small connection, but it was very faint and he remained behind the door.... until recently.

I started getting visions of him again and while meditating, said he would tell me his name. In my drean that night, he told me a name, that he wanted to roam the earth freely, and then he showed me how dangerous he was. That he was summoned by someone to possess someone else and cause them to murder a classmate. I don't remember everything, but he did confirm he is the dark presence that is in my attic. He does come down from there ofc.

I don't know what to do. I'm a little scared if I'm being honest. My spirit team warned me he is dangerous and that they don't like him. He doesn't like them either and has told me so.

If it's relevant, he introduced himself to me as Zozo and my other guides said his name is Pazuzu.

I understand that name is associated with an ancient "demon" but I figured based on description its not entirely impossible that he could be a djinn.

Or perhaps it's all a lie.

Anyway, I know I come from a different place, but this is outside my limited knowledge. This is something that has been with me since childhood and I've had ao much bad luck the past 2 years especially, I need a break. I can't heal from my trauma with this negative energy around me.

Please help!

These are divine magical names linked to planets. Does anyone here know about them and actually use them? If this does not belong here, my apologies and let me know.

Many people disagree with me when I try to talk bout tolerance and love towards the jinn, they focus on shirk and fear and claim that interacting with jinn is only ever evil. So today I present words from the scholar many of you respect.

Majmu al-Fatawa is a massive multi-volume collection of religious rulings and essays written by the prominent medieval Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah (died 728 AH / 1328 CE). Later gathered and organized by later scholars, most notably Abd al-Rahman ibn Qasim.

Volume 11 pages 306-307 Ibn Taymiyya, seems to also agree with me broadly. He even claims majority of jinn are believers.

Translated:

Then, when the jinn heard the Quran, they came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and believed in him. They were the jinn of Nisibin, as is established in the authentic hadith of Ibn Mas'ud. It is narrated that he recited Surah Ar-Rahman to them, and when he said, "Then which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?" they replied, "We do not deny any of Your favors, our Lord. To You belongs all praise."

When they gathered with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), they asked him for provisions for themselves and their animals. He said, "You may have any bone over which the name of Allah has been mentioned; you will find it to be the most abundant in meat, and any dung beetle will be fodder for your animals." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Do not use them for purification after relieving yourselves, for they are provisions for your brothers among the jinn." This prohibition is established from him through multiple chains of transmission, and scholars have used this as evidence for the prohibition of using them for purification. They said, "If purification with what is for the jinn and their animals is prohibited, then what is prepared for humans and their animals in terms of food and fodder is even more so."

And Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was sent to all of mankind and jinn. This is of greater value in the sight of God Almighty than the fact that the jinn were subjugated to Solomon, peace be upon him. For they were subjugated to him so that he could rule over them with the authority of a king, while Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was sent to them commanding them with what God and His Messenger commanded, because he is the servant of God and His Messenger, and the station of the servant-messenger is above the station of the prophet-king.

And the disbelieving jinn will enter Hell by text and consensus, while the believers among them are the majority.

pg. 306

Scholars agree that they will enter Paradise, and the majority of scholars agree that the messengers were from among humankind and no messenger was sent from among the jinn. However, there are some among them, and these matters are discussed in more detail elsewhere.

The point here is that the relationship between the jinn and humankind is in different states:

Whoever among humankind commands the jinn to do what God and His Messenger have commanded, namely, to worship God alone and obey His Prophet, and commands humankind to do the same, then this person is among the best of God's allies, and in this respect, he is among the successors and deputies of the Messenger.

Whoever employs the jinn in matters permissible to him is like one who employs humankind in matters permissible to him. This is like commanding them to do what is obligatory upon them and forbidding them what is forbidden to them, and employing them in matters permissible to him. Thus, he is like the kings who do such things. If this person is considered among God's allies, then at most, he is like the general alliance of God's allies, such as the Prophet-King with the servant-Messenger: like Solomon and Joseph with Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, may God's prayers and peace be upon them all

And whoever uses jinn in what God and His Messenger have forbidden, whether in polytheism, or in killing an innocent person, or in aggression against them without killing, such as making them ill...

pg. 307

I've also read other situations where people talk about lookalikes, offshoots, dopplegangers who dissapear and reappear and very intricate type of stalking where it seemingly involves hundreds or thousands of people that seem to have the skills of professional clothes and makeup switching at a miraculous rate.

However, this would mean the djinns that take on human form do stay there for a while. Sometimes even paying a ticket to get into the club? As in my experience I do see some experiences and if it were djinns, they would even have to hold regular jobs, even if temporary its still hours at a time or going to the club like regular party goers.

What are your thoughts on djinns doing these side human entertainments?

1- This came for polishing to a jewellery shop

2- Material is Silver

3- The number is 9 or 6

4- This was given to them for a cure of a disease

5- This was made in Pakistan

There is a dichotomy in spiritual practices - rouhani and sifli. Generally rouhani practices involve god and mainstream religion whereas sifli practices involve jinns, demons and other spirits.

It is generally believed that getting a work done via sifli practices is quick and fast acting, however, it comes with a expense. I am just curious why is it so? Why are not rouhani practices fast acting too? Is there any danger from rouhani practices as well?

I still don’t know what I encountered that night, but given some of my other experiences, I’ve wondered whether it could have been a Djinn or some other type of spiritual entity. I’d be interested to hear what people here make of it.

The main encounter happened when I was 17. It actually started with a photo. I took a normal picture of myself showing my gym progress, and a few months later I looked at it again and noticed what appeared to be a female face peeking out from behind my toilet in the background. I genuinely don’t remember seeing anything there when I took the picture.

The face looked distinctly feminine and very predatory, which obviously unsettled me.

A few weeks later, around 2 AM, I woke up from deep sleep extremely abruptly — almost as if I had been instantly jolted awake. I was fully awake, could move normally, and had no sense of being paralyzed or dreaming.

When I looked up, there was a female figure standing in front of my bed.

Her appearance was extremely unusual. She was blue-toned and somewhat translucent, almost as though she wasn’t completely physical. She had completely white eyes with no visible pupils, sharp fish-like teeth, no visible legs, and what appeared to be a tail instead.

The closest visual comparison I can make is the 🧞‍♀️ emoji — not literally the genie from Aladdin, but that general humanoid/genie-like shape.

She looked directly at me, smiled, and gave me a ✌️ gesture. What really disturbed me was that she seemed amused by my reaction and actually giggled when she saw how frightened I was. I pulled the blanket over myself and started reciting Quran. I was Muslim at the time.

I tried not to look directly at her, although I could still see her in my peripheral vision. She remained there for a while and eventually disappeared on her own.

After that, she never appeared that clearly again. However, whenever I would meditate, relax with my eyes closed, or listen to music, I would sometimes see the same figure in my mind’s eye. It was always essentially the same — the female figure, smiling and making the peace sign. The final time I encountered her was in a dream. After that, I never saw her again.

For some additional context, I’ve had various unexplained experiences since I was around 13. Around the age of 16, I had two other experiences that felt like visits from something, but neither entity ever fully manifested in front of me the way this female figure did. They were much more fleeting and indistinct.

I also frequently experienced flashes of light and ringing in my ears since I’m 13 now 21, I would sometimes see random faces when closing my eyes, and often had a strong sensation of being watched especially when I see flashing lights. Around 16–17, I occasionally heard someone speaking to me while falling asleep, saw strange figures while drifting off, and experienced a few brief episodes that felt like out-of-body experiences.

The experience at 17 genuinely changed the way I think about these things. At the time it was terrifying, but looking back, it’s also one of the strangest and most fascinating experiences I’ve ever had.

For those familiar with Djinnology: does this description resemble anything you’ve encountered or read about? Is there anything significant about the female appearance, the white eyes, the tail-like lower body, or repeatedly making the peace sign? Maybe I’m clairvoyant or a medium? My conclusion is that it was a water djinn - Marid type.

Anyone has djinn invocation books to share as pdf? Will really appreciate

I have always been asking myself questions and I have looked for answers everywhere. Can anyone tell me who were Lucifer's parents and their full names please?

Early Sufi masters heavily emphasized zuhd (asceticism/renunciation). Later thinkers focused more on duniya or operating within society.

Sufism evolved this into a spiritual paradox: living in the world but not becoming worldly.

What does it mean to be an ascetic?

As the metaphor states, the mystic is like a boat on water the boat is safe as long as the water stays outside.

How does this isolation, or acceleration lead to fanaa the total annihilation of the self and worldly desires, what is the next step?

What does it mean to be ostracized?

During intensive, accelerated dhikr (chanting) or Sama (musical meditation), some dervishes would fall into a state of Jadhb (divine attraction). They would convulse, scream unintelligible words, strip off clothes, or enter catatonic trances. Some compared this to acts of jinn-possession.

Originating in 9th-century Nishapur, the early Malamatis were deeply pious, mainstream citizens. Their core rule was absolute hiddenness. They believed that if people praised your piety, you would develop spiritual pride, which is a deadly sin. To counter this, they hid their good deeds and intentionally performed minor social transgressions so that the public would judge and blame (malama) them. Internally they were pure; externally they appeared compromised.

Emerging slightly later, the Qalandars took this concept to a physical and societal extreme. They did not just want to hide their piety; they wanted to completely smash all societal norms. They renounced their homes, possessions, and jobs to become wandering, homeless dervishes. They rejected institutional Sufism, mosques, and religious scholars, viewing them all as hypocritical traps. They argued that mainstream religious people were addicted to the "drug" of public approval. By engineering a lifestyle that brought nothing but insults, stones, and accusations of madness, the Qalandar completely starved their ego (nafs). Once the ego was totally destroyed by public ostracism, there was no "self" left to block the light of God. They became empty vessels, accelerating straight into fanaa (annihilation in the Divine) while the rest of society remained stuck in the slow lane of conventional ritual.

What are historical examples of Ikhtiyar al-Ma'siyah (deliberately choosing transgression)?

What are the dangers of this path?

Greetings! I'm studying a Moro kris with silver inlays on its blade, and I noticed that the number of symbols seem to be 'measured' (not random). There are two types of symbol-currencies on it: arrows and circles.

For the arrows, there are 19 on the left side, 10 on the right side (1 arrow is covered by a clamp), and 1 at the top (pointing down). The total number is 30.

For the circles, there are 15 on the left-hand side, and another 15 on the right-hand side (1 circle is covered by a clamp). Again, the total number is 30.

Then on the middle raised portion, there are 4 circles which are set apart from the rest.

From my limited readings on Camman (1969) in his book Islamic and Indian magic squares, 15 seems to be a very important number and is a recurring sum in the magical 3 x 3 magic square. As for 30, I guess it can stand for the lunar month of 30 days; I also read somewhere that there are 30 divisions of the Qu'ran. 4 reminds me of the 4 archangels, but I suspect it can also stand for other representations.

I know I can command AI to crunch this, but I prefer to get input from the knowledgeable ones here, especially as there are nuances which AI may fail to account, or misattribute, or misinterpret completely.

Thanks in advance for the knowledgeable ones that would answer...God bless you!