The Influence of Early Islamic Philosophers on Islamic Magic, Based on the Examples of Ġāyat al-ḥakīm and Šams al-maʽārif al-kubrā

• Applicant: Dr. Dorothee Anna Maria Lauer
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 455936232

We are presently experiencing a growing scientific interest in the occult sciences of Islam, to which magic also belongs. To this day, magical ideas and practices play a significant role in the beliefs and lifestyles of Islam. This is true for both the so-called folklore and for large components of Islamic religion and culture. Magic was originally permeated by syncretic ideas, to slowly become an independent and particularly Islamic discipline underlined by the work of Islamic philosophers.This development in the emergence of a special Islamic form of magic has gone virtually unnoticed. The question is: How did the Islamic philosophers from the “Golden Age” of Islam, who enjoyed an indisputable reputation throughout all Islamic scholarship, come to develop such an intensive interest in matters of “hidden knowledge”? How did they go about deciphering this knowledge? And how did the knowledge transfer function, from philosophical ideas to those of magic? Those are the questions at the center of this research project. The source materials stem from the philosophical works of al-Kindī (d. ca. 870), al-Fārābī (d. 950), Ibn Sīnā (d. 1037), and al-Ġazālī (d. 1111), who were the main protagonists in projecting cosmological, ontological, and mystical notions. These four philosophers have in common a profound interest to reveal paths to obtaining “hidden knowledge,” so that humans can influence what happens in the world. This pretension stands in diametrical contrast to standard Islamic teachings, which propound that the created world does not adhere to any destiny but that of divine destiny.In a second step, this project concentrates on two grimoires – the astral-magical work Ġāyat al-ḥakīm from the 10th/11th centuries and the mystically inspired volume Šams al-maʿārif compiled during the 15th/16th centuries. The question here is: How were the ideas of the philosophers received and further developed in subsequent times? And how did the authors of these magical works approach the deciphering of “hidden knowledge”?The goal of this project is to retrace the historical intertwining process of the (genuinely) Islamic philosophical ideas with magical works, which contributed significantly to the formation of an especially Islamic form of magic. Against the background of the emerging scientific interest in the past few years in the occult sciences, particularly magic, this project contributes to a deeper historical understanding of inner-Islamic development and discourse on the theme of magic, which extends to this day.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants