Ikhwan al-Safa'

Epístola 52a «Sobre la magia» de los Ikhwan al-Safa', ed. de Callatay y Halflants [TRADICIONAL]

Epístola 5 «Sobre la música» de los Ikhwan al-Safa', ed. y tr. de Owen Wright [TRADICIONAL]

Islam · Miembro

Magia astral · Miembro

«You should know, may God stand by you, my brother, that in the fifty epistles that precede this epistle» — arranque del capítulo 1 de la Epístola: la obra se dirige al hermano lector y se sitúa detrás de las cincuenta epístolas anteriores; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe que el escaneo corrompe

«We have classified them and have gathered together in them many sciences, a lot of objectives, and thoughtful wisdom» — la Epístola declara qué hizo con esas ciencias: clasificarlas y reunirlas

«The zodiac has twelve zodiacal signs, the spheres are nine," and the known stars are 1,029, seven of which are planets, as we have mentioned in the third epistle [Epistle 3: On Astronomy’] of the first section from our book — [an epistle] which gives access to the science of the stars and the sum of what is required from this in view of its introduction» — la Epístola da su inventario celeste —doce signos, nueve esferas y 1 029 estrellas conocidas, siete de ellas planetas— y remite a la Epístola 3 del propio corpus

«You should know, my brother, that the stars of the celestial sphere [10] are angels of God and of the realm of His skies» — la Epístola identifica a las estrellas con ángeles de Dios; el *[10]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«You should know, my brother, that no one will be able to know the modalities of the influences of these stars and their acts upon whatever exists in this world in terms of bodies, spirits, and souls, except those who are firmly established in science, those who have attained a high degree in knowledge» — la Epístola restringe el conocimiento de las influencias estelares a los firmemente establecidos en la ciencia

«This is not due to the prime design, but rather to accidental causes, as we have clearly expounded» — y su explicación de lo desfavorable: no viene del diseño primero sino de causas accidentales

«You should know, my brother, that, amongst people, there is no validity for anyone as to the knowledge of existents prior to their coming-to-be, since this is disturbed by life» — la Epístola niega que nadie conozca válidamente los existentes antes de que lleguen a ser

«Take care, my brother, not to take their path, nor to follow their examples, nor to enter into partnership with them, nor to imitate them» — exhortación con que la Epístola cierra el capítulo

«And of these [reports], there is one which is dedicated to the philosophers, and there is one which is dedicated to the prophets and to the Books of Laws, and there is one about what is reported in the Qur'an as regards mention about magicians and magic, as we have reported in what precedes» — la Epístola recapitula sus tres clases de testimonios: los de los filósofos, los de los profetas y libros de la Ley, y los del Corán

«We say that the last ones of those about whom we have heard, those giving credence to the sciences of talismans and their effects, whose information was passed down to us and whose traces have reached us, [they] are the Grecks» — arranque del capítulo sexto: la Epístola declara a los griegos los últimos que acreditaron las ciencias talismánicas; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«Now that we have completed our account of the spiritual disciplines that are the various fields ofspeculative knowledge and ofthe practical, physical disciplines that are the various arts and crafts, and now that 2 we have explained in two of our epistles the essentials of each, the number of types they contain, and the aims sought for in them» — capítulo 1: la Epístola se sitúa detrás de las epístolas sobre las artes especulativas y las prácticas, y declara lo que ya dio por tratado

«Rather, we are concerned with knowledge ofproportion[al relationship]s and the modalities of [harmonious] composition, through a command of which one attains skill in all the arts» — capítulo 1: la Epístola declara el alcance que se atribuye, el dominio de la proporción y de la composición como llave de pericia en todas las artes

«You should know, dear brother, may God aid you and us with a spirit ofHis, that in every manual craft the matter [hayula] dealt with consists of naturally occurring material, and that all its products are physical forms» — capítulo 1: la Epístola se dirige al hermano lector y sienta la premisa, que en todo oficio manual la materia es material natural y los productos son formas físicas

«These and kindred verses,12 we are told, helped incite» — capítulo 1: la Epístola atribuye a esos versos y a los de su especie haber incitado a pueblos enteros, y lo dice en forma de testimonio recibido

«We have explained this in the epistle on sense perception and percepts [al-lJass wa'lmalJsus, Le., Epistle 24], but it is necessary for us to mention aspects of it in this epistle too» — con la remisión interna al corpus: la Epístola 24 sobre la sensación y lo sensible, que la edición identifica entre corchetes El impreso parte *wa'l-malJsus* en el fin de renglón y `span()` lo unió en *wa'lmalJsus*; léase *wa'l-malJsus* (declarado en la auditoría del 2026-09-12).

«We shall need to expound part of this since one of the purposes of this epistle is to clarify the nature of music» — y la Epístola declara ahí uno de sus propósitos, aclarar la naturaleza de la música; el tramo se corta al pie de la plana porque debajo entran las notas de Wright

«We may now say that musfqf is music [ghina J ], the musfqar is the musician [mughannf],33 and the muszqan is the musical instrument» — capítulo 2: la Epístola fija sus tres términos, la música, el músico y el instrumento, con las grafías que devuelve el escaneo

«But this is not the way of our noble brethren, may God aid them and us with a spirit ofHis, wherever they may be; on the contrary, their views are rounded, their researches comprehensive, their knowledge encyclopaedic, and their insight all-embracing» — capítulo 9: la Epístola declara lo que distingue a los propios Ikhwan de esas escuelas, que sus miras son redondas y su conocimiento enciclopédico

«The most common account regarding the presumed identity ofthe Ikhwan is usually related on the authority ofthe famed litterateur Abu l:Iayyan al-Tawbidi (ca. 320-414/930-1023), who noted in his Book ofPleasure and Conviviality (Kitab al-Imta C wa'l-muJanasa) that these adepts were obscure <men of letters'» — El-Bizri remite la identificación corriente de los miembros a al-Tawhidi, que en su Book of Pleasure and Conviviality los llamó hombres de letras oscuros; el nombre y el título van con la grafía que imprime el escaneo

«Encountering 'veracity in every religion', and grasping knowledge as 'pure nourishment for the soul', the Ikhwan associated soteriological hope and the attainment ofhappiness with the scrupulous development ofrational pursuits and intellectual quests» — El-Bizri resume la posición religiosa que atribuye a los Ikhwan: verdad en toda religión y esperanza de salvación ligada al cultivo de la razón

«Moreover, they heeded the legacies of the Stoics and of Pythagoras, Hermes Trismegistus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Nicomachus of Gerasa, Euclid, Ptolemy, Galen, Proclus, Porphyry, and Iamblichus» — la lista de legados griegos que El-Bizri pone detrás de los Ikhwan; varios de esos nombres reaparecen citados dentro de la Epístola sobre la música

«In general, fifty-two epistles are enumerated as belonging to the Rasifil Ikhwan al-$afa J , and these are divided into the following four parts: Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Sciences of the Soul and Intellect, and Theology» — El-Bizri fija el recuento y la partición del corpus con que se orienta el volumen

«The fourth and last part ofthe Ras(fil deals with 'the nomic or legal and theological sciences' in eleven epistles. These address the differences between the varieties of religious opinions and sects, as well as delineating the 'Pathway to God', the virtues of the Ikhwan's fellowship, the characteristics of genuine believers, the nature of the divine nomos, the call to God, the actions ofspiritualists, ofjinn, angels, and recalcitrant demons, the species ofpolitics, the cosmic hierarchy, and, finally, the essence ofmagic and talismanic incantations» — El-Bizri enumera el contenido de la cuarta parte del corpus, la que cierra con la epístola sobre la magia que este proyecto editó aparte

«Besides the fifty-two tracts that constitute the Rasifil Ikhwan al-Safa}, this compendium was accompanied by a treatise entitled al-RisaIa al-jamfa (The Comprehensive Epistle), which acted as the summa summarum for the whole corpus and was itselfsupplemented by a further abridged appendage known as the Risalat jamfat al-jamra (The Condensed Comprehensive Epistle)» — y añade los dos apéndices del corpus, la Risala al-jami'a como suma de todo y su compendio abreviado

«In spite oftheir erudition and resourcefulness, it is doubtful whether the Brethren ofPurity can be impartially ranked amongst the authorities of their age in the realms of science and philosophy» — El-Bizri pone en duda que los Ikhwan puedan contarse entre las autoridades científicas y filosóficas de su tiempo

«to the late Professor Yves Marquet, for his foundational studies on the Brethren of Purity's oeuvre, and for the honour and privilege he accorded to us in supporting this series as an eminent member of its Advisory Board» — El-Bizri cierra el foreword con un homenaje póstumo a Yves Marquet por sus estudios sobre la obra de los Ikhwan; el tramo empieza en la plana 27 porque el periodo arranca al pie de la anterior y span() se corta en el cambio de plana

«That the Ikhwan should have chosen to present the division ofthe year into four seasons as a set so self-evident as to serve as exemplary is attributable to intellectual tradition rather than observation of the climate in Iraq» — nota de Wright sobre el origen del cuaternario estacional en la epístola: lo atribuye a la tradición intelectual y no a la observación del clima de Irak

«Given these concerns, it is not surprising to find that these authorities ignore unpitched instruments; in contrast, it is interesting to see the Ikhwan give percussion its due, even if only a few instruments are specified» — Wright contrasta a los Ikhwan con las autoridades musicales anteriores: aquellas ignoran los instrumentos sin altura definida y la epístola sí da su lugar a la percusión

«But the Ikhwan al-Safa' cannot be adduced as authorities for 'the use of the bow' with respect to this instrument,60 and although not decisive as evidence, it may be observed that, unlike the rabab, the shawshak is not included among the instruments capable ofproducing continuous sounds» — Wright niega que los Ikhwan puedan aducirse como testimonio sobre el uso del arco, leyendo lo que su propia lista deja fuera

«The Ikhwan nowhere discuss such a phenomenon, but it is explored extensively by al-Farabi, who terms it mukhalafa ('contrast, differentiation')» — y marca una ausencia en la epístola: el fenómeno que al-Farabi llama *mukhalafa* no se discute allí

«Since the regularity ofthis excess can hardly result from chance, it may be concluded that we are dealing neither with error on the part of the Ikhwan nor irresponsibility on the part of the copyists, but with a systematic difference for which there should be a discernible cause, and the obvious area to consider is the adequacy of the method of representation for the purpose in question» — Wright lee la regularidad del exceso como rasgo sistemático y no como error de copistas

«The Ikhwan present these examples without comment) almost as if wishing to slip in, alongside definitions ofthe generic forms, surreptitious examples of how others can be derived from them» — Wright lee el gesto de la epístola: pone los ejemplos sin comentario, como deslizando entre las definiciones genéricas la manera de derivar otras

«To the standard three verbs the Ikhwan here add tariba, which in this context points to the ecstasy of the Sufi which figures in the following narrative» — y en la misma serie de notas marca el verbo que los Ikhwan añaden a los tres habituales, que remite al éxtasis del sufí del relato que sigue

«As has already been noted by several contributors to the present series of volumes of the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, there exists a wide gap between the supposed time of redaction of the Rasa'il — generally believed to have taken place shortly after the middle of the tenth century CE, although scholars like Marquet and Hamdani have opted for a significantly earlier date — and the oldest known manuscript, namely, MS Auf Efendi 1681, dated 1182 CE» — y lo cuantifica: entre la redacción supuesta del corpus, hacia mediados del siglo X, y el manuscrito más antiguo conocido median más de dos siglos; consigna además que Marquet y Hamdani prefieren una fecha bastante anterior

«Whether the Ikhwan’s corpus originally consisted of fifty-one or fifty-two treatises is another vexed problem that has retained the attention of many scholars, both ancient and modern, as is well known» — y consigna como problema abierto —no como error de nadie— si el corpus tuvo cincuenta y una o cincuenta y dos piezas

«It will not surprise anyone to find that the Ikhwan al-Safa’ belong to the third category referred to here» — y sitúa a los Ikhwan en la tercera, la de quienes la tienen por real y practicable

«In fact, as an implication of the emanation scheme which the Brethren took up from Plotinus and the other Neoplatonists, astrology and magic were not clearly distinguished from one another, as Lory rightly noted in his article» — de Callatay deriva la indistinción entre astrología y magia del esquema de emanación que los Ikhwan toman de Plotino y los neoplatónicos, y remite a Lory

«There is no need to dwell any longer on the fact that the Brethren of Purity considered magic and the related arts as real, useful, licit (at least as long as they were practised by suitable people), and exceptionally important» — de Callatay declara la posición de los Ikhwan sobre la magia —real, útil, lícita e importantísima— con la reserva que la epístola misma pone: siempre que la practique gente idónea

«The interest of this short version of the cpistle on magic lies in these testimonies and in the way the Ikhwan have modelled them to fit with their own doctrine, much more than in any other aspect» — y sitúa ahí el interés de la versión corta: en los testimonios y en cómo los Ikhwan los moldean para su propia doctrina

«That the Ikhwin provide us with a relatively extended verbal quotation from Plato is therefore quite remarkable, as is also the fact that they identify their source with precision: “We say that, according to Glaucon, Plato, the philosopher, in the second treatise from his book the Republic, did mention [the following]» — de Callatay subraya que los Ikhwan no solo citan largo sino que declaran su fuente con precisión, nombrando a Glaucón y el libro segundo de la República

«In any event, the Brethren's ascription of this extra-canonical material to the Torah would seem to indicate their relative unfamiliarity with the Old Testament» — de Callatay lee en la adscripción de ese material extracanónico a la Torá un indicio de poca familiaridad de los Ikhwan con el Antiguo Testamento

«the Ikhwan are seriously mistaken in ascribing this account to ‘the second book’ (al-sifr al-thanz) of the ‘Torah, which is in fact the Book of Exodus» — y consigna el error de referencia: la historia que atribuyen al segundo libro de la Torá está en el Éxodo

«One thing is for sure: the level of syncretism shown by our text is awesome, even by the Ikhw4n’s standards» — de Callatay califica el nivel de sincretismo del texto de asombroso incluso para los estándares de los propios Ikhwan

«The transmission of the talismanic sciences — and, as the text later reveals, of astrology and the occult sciences in general — as viewed by the Ikhwan is another proof of their proclivity for generalizations and amalgamations of all kinds» — y lo generaliza: la transmisión de las ciencias talismánicas tal como la ven los Ikhwan es a su juicio índice de su inclinación a generalizar y amalgamar

«As expected, Marquet concludes this comparison of data by stressing how much the Ikwhan themselves are indebted to the $abi’an doctrine - in spite of some clear divergences of view which they sought to amend» — de Callatay resume la conclusión de Marquet: los Ikhwan deben mucho a la doctrina sabeana pese a las divergencias que quisieron enmendar

«My impression is that the Brethren do not borrow anything here, but rather work out something which fits with their own theories» — de Callatay declara su lectura como impresión, no como resultado: aquí los Ikhwan no toman nada prestado sino que fabrican algo a la medida de sus propias teorías

«The phrase ‘reforming the traits of character’ (isla: al-akhlag), very often used in connection with the ‘refinement of the soul’ (taliditib al-nafs), is one of the ‘expressions most beloved by the Ikhwan» — nota de los editores sobre una expresión recurrente del corpus, que da título a otra de sus epístolas

«Nader El-Bizri (General Editor, Epistles of the Brethren of Purity) London, July 2011» — firma del foreword; El-Bizri se declara aquí editor general de la serie, cargo que la portada no imprime, y fecha el texto en Londres

«The bulk of this accreted material was derived from the Rasail, or philosophical epistles, of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwdn al-Safa), a secret religious and political fraternity devoted to the Ismaili cause.» — de dónde viene, según Eamon, el material añadido que produjo la forma larga: de las Rasail o epístolas filosóficas de los Hermanos de la Pureza, fraternidad religiosa y política secreta consagrada a la causa ismailí.

«It seems fitting to mention here the form of worship pradiced by an ideal sect of pbilosophers, referred to in the Encyclopedia of the lllhwiin a/ Safa (the "Brethren with pure hearts")» — en nota, Corbin trae el culto de una secta ideal de filósofos referida en la Enciclopedia de los Ikhwan al-Safa

«In their view, physiognomical and psychological types were intrinsically based on the (simple) qualities of warmth, cold, etc. Dry people, for instance, were generally patient in their dealings, constant in opinion, unreceptive; predominant in them is patience, hatred, avarice, tenacity, caution» — En nota, la obra consigna la posición de los Ikhwān: los tipos fisiognómicos y psicológicos se fundan en las cualidades simples, y en el seco predominan la paciencia, el odio, la avaricia, la tenacidad y la cautela

«Distinguishing between practical arts (al-ṣanāʾiʿ al-ʿamaliyyah) and theoretical arts (al-ṣanāʾiʿ al-ʿilmiyyah), that is, the creation of an object and its preexistent form in the human intellect, the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ showed that the created object (al-maṣnūʿ) is a homogeneous entity composed of substance and form» — y recoge de las *Rasāʾil* de los Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ la distinción entre artes prácticas y artes teóricas, esto es, entre la creación de un objeto y su forma preexistente en el intelecto humano, con el objeto creado por entidad homogénea compuesta de sustancia y forma; la llamada de nota va pegada al final y el verbatim se corta antes.

«while among the less orthodox, the various schools of the Isma'ilis and the Brethren of Purity seem to have left some mark» — Austin registra la huella posible de los ismailíes y de los Hermanos de la Pureza.

«work of the Brethren of Purity, the Ikwan al Safa and significant portions of the Picatrix» — y la continuación en la plana siguiente: la obra de los Hermanos de la Pureza y porciones considerables del Picatrix. La fuente escribe *Ikwan al Safa*, sin la h

«In its scope, eclecticism, and focus on natural history at the expense of discussions of ritual or religious law, the Bundahišn resembles Islamic encyclopedias, in particular the contemporary Epistles of the Brethren of Purity.» — los traductores emparentan el libro con las enciclopedias islámicas —y en particular con las Epístolas de los Hermanos de la Pureza, contemporáneas— por su alcance, su eclecticismo y su atención a la historia natural en lugar del ritual o la ley religiosa. [Agostini y Thrope]

«The doctrine of the microcosm also has a broad diffusion in Islamic thought, including in the Epistles of the Ikhwān al-Safa.» — los traductores señalan la amplia difusión de la doctrina del microcosmos en el pensamiento islámico, y nombran las Epístolas de los Ikhwān al-Safa. [Agostini y Thrope]

«this formula—which appears to have been adopted (directly or indirectly) from the RascTil of the Ikhwan al-Safa’— apparently includes all human creative activities in this world, including the all-encompassing role of the divinely inspired ruler, symbolized here by the Mahdi» — Morris remonta esa fórmula a las Rasail de los Ikhwan al-Safa y la lee como abarcando todas las actividades creativas humanas

«On the cosmic plane, the Ikhwan place such importance on sound because, among the five senses, it corresponds to the fifth celestial element or nature» — Gril explica la importancia que los Ikhwan dan al sonido: entre los cinco sentidos corresponde al quinto elemento o naturaleza celeste

«In some respects, the contribution oflbn Sind (370/980 - 428/1037) to the science ofletters expands on the Ikhwdn al-safd s teaching» — Gril sitúa la aportación de Avicena a la ciencia de las letras como desarrollo de la enseñanza de los Ikhwan al-Safa