This unit in my MOOC, Magic in the Middle Ages, focused on magic in Islam and how it was viewed. Because I come from a similar but different religious background, much of the texts were new to me. When I first read the assignment, I didn’t think I would have anything to say – certainly not anything of value. However, as it always happens, I explored the given text and expanded my ideas, and I came up with a rather interesting conclusion. If you would like to understand the references given, you will need to access the link provided and read the brief text to formulate your own opinions and perhaps challenge mine.

 

In this link you will find a passage on magic from the Muqaddima (the Introduction) by the famous historian Ibn Khaldūn (732-784/1332-1382). This passage is available in a great variety of translations. For English, we recommend Rosenthal’s translation. The passage is part of chapter 6.27. Ibn Khaldūn, The Muqaddimah. An Introduction to History, trans. by F. Rosenthal, Princeton University Press, 1967 (1st ed. 1958), vol. 3, p. 156 and sqq.

Read the following passages:

paragraphs 1-2

paragraph 5-13, from ‘Let us present’ to ‘All this comes from (sorcerers and sorcery).

Read the selected passage and answer the question:

What is the difference between prophets and sorcerers in this particular field? And what is the difference between their practices?

According to this particular passage, the potentiality of souls is present, but unique, in every individual. Some are destined to be prophets, receiving information and practicing their divination through God. Others have the potentiality to be sorcerers, but this does not mean they will act on it, only that it is a quality of their soul, presumably over which they have no direct source of control. However, if they choose to exercise this innate power, then they rely on insights from objects or demons, rather than God. Their powers are three-fold: First, the most powerful is by pure mental power that they exercise their practices. The second is brought about by the use of talismans and communication with celestial objects or the properties of numbers (like geomancy, it seems). The third power is through influence of the imagination of others, which is perceived to be “unreal” unlike the first two types of powers. The prophets’ practices are not specific in these passages, but I read further and discovered that prophets’ powers can be the same as a sorcerer’s powers, like Moses’ “miracles”, which he performed as evidence of his prophecy, but was something “bragged about” and attributed to sorcerers.

The main difference, as far as I can tell, is that the prophets’ practices came from a divine source: the same end result for either type of soul, just a different means to get there. It is the exact opposite of “the ends justify the means”. I agree that there is a clear distinction between light and dark, white and black magic, us versus them, depending on your perspective, particularly if you come at it from a religious viewpoint. Even though prophets and sorcerers achieve the same ends, it is clear that sorcerers are thought of as “evil” by their counterparts, and I think this is due to fear of the unknown and placing a higher value on the religion of that time and place. Obviously, if the potentiality of souls in unique and innate in every individual, they are constrained to their destiny from birth and apparently, it cannot be changed. Thus, the prophets are sorcerers have the same powers and practices, and the ones claiming that sorcerers are evil are the ones that write the books, the believers in that religion, who see the sorcerers as “non-believers”. The people in power write the books and keep the histories and so are always biased by their opinions. Sorcerers are not necessarily evil, but where are the writings from their perspective, speaking on their behalf, defending their ideas and practices?