Epistles of the Brethren of Purity — On Magic I: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistle 52a

«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

«Yet just as it would not be appropriate for us to provide science to anyone unconcerned with it and not knowing its merit, likewise itis neither permissible nor» — la Epístola enuncia su regla doble sobre a quién se da la ciencia: ni al que no la aprecia, ni negársela a quien la busca; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«For in this respect there is no point in being stingy with regard to someone who deserves it» — y el corolario: con quien lo merece no cabe la tacañería

«Every time that the soul ascends to some degree in science and reaches some rank in understanding, it is raised up to what comes next and carried on towards what lies next, until the soul reaches the limit of its perfection — this [progression being made] [p. 284] according to four sections» — la Epístola describe el ascenso del alma por grados de ciencia hasta el límite de su perfección; entre corchetes va la paginación de la edición de Beirut que la edición inserta en el texto

«The first section [10] is that of the mathematical sciences» — primera de las cuatro secciones; el *[10]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito Köprülü 871 que la edición imprime cada cinco líneas, y el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«[20] They do not know that this [science] is part of philosophy» — la Epístola reprocha a los pseudosabios ignorar que esta ciencia es parte de la filosofía; el *[20]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito y el corchete de *[science]* una suplencia de los traductores

«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

«In addition to the zodiac, the stars, and the spheres, [p.285] there are also the two nodes [5], (fol. 521b) of which one is called the Head, and the other the Tail» — los dos nodos lunares que la Epístola añade al inventario; el tramo lleva dentro la paginación de Beirut, la marca de línea del manuscrito y el folio, tal como los imprime la edición

«The Head indicates what is propitious, and the Tail indicates what is calamitous» — y el valor que les asigna

«These two [nodes] are neither stars nor apparent bodies, but rather [they are] concealed matters» — la Epístola declara que los nodos no son cuerpos visibles; los corchetes de *[nodes]* y *[they are]* son suplencias de los traductores

«The concealment of their essence [=], and the apparentness of their actions, isan indication that in the world there are souls that are concealed to» — y de ahí saca su argumento central: que haya causas de esencia oculta y acción visible indica que en el mundo hay almas ocultas a la sensación; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«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

«has created them for the cultivation of His world, for the organization of His creatures, and for the governing of His arrangement» — y les asigna oficio, con Dios por sujeto: cultivar el mundo, organizar las criaturas y gobernar la disposición divina

«The first of the savants related to this science was Ptolemy, the author of the book Almagest and of other books in this science=* And there were other savants as well» — la Epístola nombra a Ptolomeo como primer sabio de esta ciencia y autor del Almagesto

«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

«But if the case happens to be the opposite of that which I have mentioned,” the affairs will be the opposite» — regla de reversibilidad que la Epístola enuncia en primera persona del singular

«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

«The first is alchemy [-L.S], which banishes poverty and does away with adversity» — primera de las cuatro ciencias que la Epístola enumera aquí, con su utilidad declarada; el tramo salta el término árabe corrompido

«The second is the science of astrology ‎]أحكام ‎,[التجومthrough which the science of what has been and what will be is perceived» — segunda: la astrología, por la que se percibe lo que ha sido y lo que será

«The third is the science of magic [_>—] and talismans ‎],[طلسماتby which subjects are joined to [the rank of] kings» — tercera: la magia y los talismanes, que juntan a los súbditos con el rango de los reyes; el corchete es suplencia de los traductores

«The fourth is medicine [10] ‎],[طبby which the health of bodies is preserved» — cuarta: la medicina, que conserva la salud de los cuerpos

«Verily, the science of magic and talismans follows on from the astrological sciences, which it is subsequent to and dependent on» — la Epístola declara la dependencia de la magia respecto de la astrología, que es la tesis del conjunto

«The benefits [that one can draw] from it are numerous and well known» — y da por sabidos sus beneficios en vez de argumentarlos

«And there are others [ic., talismans] about which reports have continuously been heard from people with whom connivance does not work, [for they are] in different periods and have separate approaches» — la Epístola apela a testimonios de épocas distintas y de gente que no pudo confabularse; el escaneo imprime *ic.* por i.e.

«That said, it is a necessity for us to take in hand those individuals who disavow this science and who treat asa liar anyone giving credence to its validity on the basis of testimonies, parts of which were mentioned by the ancients in their books and recorded from their reports» — la Epístola declara su tarea polémica: hacerse cargo de quienes niegan esta ciencia y llaman mentiroso a quien la acredita con testimonios de los antiguos

«The subject of this will not be concealed from those who study it, and whoever talks about it will not be treated as a liar — [this is to make sure] that the idiots cannot find a way to treat us as liars» — y la razón de dar testimonios notorios: que los necios no encuentren por dónde llamarles mentirosos

«was 2 man who tended sheep» — arranque del relato de Gyges en la Epístola, con el pastor al servicio del gobernante y la grieta abierta por lluvias y terremotos; el escaneo imprime *2* por a

«But while he was sitting with the other shepherds, it happened that he hit the ring with his hand and that he turned itaround his finger, so that the stone was [now facing] the inner side, on thé side that lay next to [5] his palm» — el gesto involuntario que descubre la virtud del anillo; el *[5]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito y los corchetes de *[now facing]* son suplencia de los traductores

«But when he did that, he disappeared from [the sight of] those who were sitting with him, so much so that they did not notice that he was sitting» — y su efecto: desaparece de la vista de los demás pastores

«When he understood that, he tried out his ring [to see] whether this power was in it» — el pastor pasa de la sorpresa a la prueba deliberada

«And he found that the very same matter happened, namely, that when he turned the ring to the inner side, he concealed himself and was veiled from view, and when he turned it to the outside, he became visible and people noticed him» — regla del talismán tal como la Epístola la formula: hacia dentro oculta, hacia fuera devuelve a la vista

«And when he got [close] to him, he killed him and became king at once» — desenlace del relato en la Epístola: el pastor mata al rey y ocupa el trono

«On the contrary, the reason which urges those newcomers to regard as a lie and to disavow something like this is their laziness, their meagre longing for learning and understanding, and their lack of shame» — la Epístola adjudica la incredulidad a la pereza, al poco apetito de aprender y a la falta de vergüenza, no a un argumento

«Those individuals carry the burden of what they do due to their ignorance of these sciences, and [due to] the fact that they treat as. a liar whoever gives credence to their validity, because they find this easier for them and [15] lighter [in terms of] burden» — y explica por qué prefieren negarlo: les resulta más fácil y menos gravoso; el *[15]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«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

«Then Abu Ma'shar Ja‘far ibn Muhammad, the astrologer, related in his Book of Discussion [p. 289) with Shadan ibn Bakr» — la Epístola abre el capítulo tercero nombrando autor y obra de su fuente, con la paginación de Beirut inserta por la edición

«Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Anas al-Khwarizmi® reported to me: Yabya ibn Mansar® the astrologer reported to me» — cadena de transmisores que la Epístola imprime dentro del relato

«But al-Ma'man did not inform us that the man claimed to be a prophet[» — el astrólogo declara que trabajó sin saber qué se examinaba; el corchete abierto es del aparato de la edición

«Unknown to us, gadis and legal experts had been sent for to examine him, but had not yet arrived» — y consigna a quién más había convocado el califa

«So we went to one of those courtyards, determined the ascendant, and provided a sketch of it. The Sun and the Moon found themselves within the same minute in the ascendant» — el astrólogo narrador describe la operación: levantada la carta, Sol y Luna caen en el mismo minuto en el ascendente

«all those present, except for me, said: “What he alleges is valid» — y el veredicto de los demás, del que él se aparta

«He said to me: “How [do you know] (fol. 523a) this from [the reading]?» — el califa le pide razón de su lectura; el folio va dentro del tramo tal como lo imprime la edición

«He said: “This man alleges he is a prophet!”» — el califa revela por fin de quién se trataba

«He marvelled at this and said: “You, your achievement is due to God» — y su reacción ante la pericia del astrólogo

«pen:= I take it and I [can] write with it, but if anyone else takes it, his finger will be paralysed» — el pretendiente describe el segundo objeto, la pluma que paraliza el dedo de quien la tome; el escaneo imprime *pen:=* donde el texto dice pen

«I said: “My lord, Venus and Mercury have already brought about these things with their effects» — el astrólogo cierra el dictamen: Venus y Mercurio ya obraron esos efectos, de modo que se trata de talismanes

«Al-Ma’man ordered him to do what he had said, and he did it» — el califa manda ejecutar lo dicho

«As for what is mentioned in various places in the Qur'an, with respect to magic, and whose mention is repeated, [there is] amongst others what is mentioned in the Surat al-Bagara» — la Epístola abre su capítulo cuarto declarando el procedimiento: acumular los lugares del Corán donde se menciona la magia

«This is what God Most High, how powerful and lofty is He, said, It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marit» — cita coránica que la Epístola pone en el centro: los demonios, no Salomón, enseñaron la magia revelada a los dos ángeles de Babilonia

«not teach anyone unless they say, We are a trial, so do not disbelieve by practising magic.’ [And yet] they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah» — continuación de esa cita: los ángeles advierten que son una prueba, y el daño de la magia solo ocurre con permiso divino

«If, from the power and the science of magic, one could already ensure the separation of man and wife, what would be left after that? Or would there be a doubt about this narrative [ +], after what is uttered [15] by the Qur'an, whose validity we know?» — una de las dos veces en que la Epístola pone palabra propia entre las citas, y lo hace como pregunta retórica; el *[15]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito y el tramo salta el término árabe corrompido

«And He said in the Surat al-An'am, And even if We had sent down to you, [O Muhammad], a written scripture on a page and they touched it with their hands, the disbelievers would say, “This is not but obvious magic» — otra de las citas encadenadas: los incrédulos llamarían magia evidente aun a una escritura tocada con las manos

«And He said in the Surat al-A‘raf, Said the eminent among the people of Pharaoh, ‘Indeed, this is a learned magician / Who wants to expel you from your land [through magic], so what do you instruct?"/ They said, “Postpone [the matter of] him and his brother and send among the cities gatherers / Who will bring you every learned magician» — la acusación de magia contra Moisés en boca de los notables del faraón, según la cadena de citas de la Epístola

«gatherers / Who will bring you every learned magician’” Do you not see that the Qur'an regards their magic as important» — segunda intervención propia de la Epístola en el capítulo, otra vez en forma de pregunta al lector

«And He said, [20] also in that sura, And the magicians fell down in prostration [to Allah]. / They said, ‘We have believed in the Lord of the worlds» — la Epístola cierra la serie del faraón con la sumisión de los magos

«And He said, in the Sarat Bant Isr@il, We are most knowing of how they listen to it when they listen to you and [of] when they are in private conversation, when the wrongdoers say, ‘You follow not but a man affected by magic» — y recoge la acusación de estar embrujado dirigida al Profeta; el título de la sura va con la grafía que imprime el escaneo

«And [He said] in that (sura], And We had certainly given Moses nine evident signs, (fol. 523b) so ask the Children of Israel [about] when he came to them and Pharaoh said to him, ‘Indeed I think, O Moses, that you are affected by magic» — la misma acusación contra Moisés en boca del faraón; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo

«And in that [sural], He said, ‘Rather, you throw.” And suddenly their ropes and staffs seemed to him from their magic that they were moving» — y el episodio de las cuerdas y varas que parecen moverse, con el que la Epístola cierra la serie coránica

«And in that [sura], ‘[...lIndeed, we have believed in our Lord that He may forgive us our sins and what you compelled us [to do] of magic» — última cita coránica del capítulo, con los magos del faraón pidiendo perdón por la magia a que se les obligó; el corchete de puntos suspensivos es del aparato de la edición

«God forbid that someone of the creatures be bewitched if we say that now — so that one [should] come back to what is [to be found] with the other legislators ‎]أصحاب ‎[الشرائمand in their books» — la Epístola pasa de las fuentes islámicas a las ajenas; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«For the Torah exists both in the hands of the Jews and of the Christians, in Hebrew, in Syriac, and in Arabic, and there is no divergence between them about it.” On the contrary, they agree with one another on [10] the validity and the reality of what is to be found in it» — la Epístola justifica el paso apelando a la Torá disponible en hebreo, siriaco y árabe entre judíos y cristianos, y al acuerdo de ambos sobre su validez; el *[10]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«There {is to be found] what is written in the story of Esau,” namely, [the following]» — y anuncia lo que va a citar como escrito en la historia de Esaú; el escaneo imprime llaves donde la edición pone corchetes

«The son of Nimrod, son of Canaan was wearing the shirt of Adam, with which he went out from the Garden and on which were [to be seen] images of every creature of God Most High: wild beasts, birds, and sea-animals» — primer elemento del relato: la camisa con que Adán salió del Jardín, con las imágenes de todas las criaturas

«When Adam, God bless him and grant him salvation, wished to hunt one of the wild beasts [p. 292] or other [creatures], he used to put his hand on its image on the shirt, and that game remained bewildered, stopped, and blind until he had come to it and taken it» — y su virtud cazadora: puesta la mano sobre la imagen, la presa queda aturdida y ciega; la paginación de Beirut va dentro del tramo

«When he comes to you to ask you to wrestle, tell him, “Take off the shirt,” and wrestle with him once he has done that» — el consejo de Isaac a Esaú para ganar la lucha

«And Esau went out, wishing to hunt» — arranque de la escena en la Epístola

«And theson of Nimrod came to him, according to his habit, and asked him to wrestle» — el hijo de Nimrod lo desafía; el escaneo une *the son*

«But he [Esau] said, ‘I fear that the son of Nimrod might take it in the open country» — el temor de Esaú, que es lo que motiva el consejo paterno

«But [Isaac] said, ‘My little son, as long as the shirt will be on you, he shall not win over you» — y la garantía que Isaac le da mientras lleve la camisa; los corchetes son suplencia de los traductores

«This is also a famous narrative, that is known to all those who acknowledge the validity of the Torah,” amongst the Jews and the Christians, and who in no way reject it» — la Epístola declara el relato notorio y aceptado por judíos y cristianos, que es el argumento por el que lo trae

«Laban said, ‘Inform me how much your remuneration is, so that I may give it to you» — arranque del segundo relato: Labán pregunta a Jacob por su salario

«[10] And Laban said, “Yes, let it be as you have mentioned» — y acepta el trato; el *[10]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«And he set aside on that day the hornless billy-goats and these pied with white, and all rams of his sheep that were hornless or speckled or red-coloured, and all that were white amongst them, and all that were spotted with black and white, and he put them in the hands of his child» — el reparto de las reses por color y marca, tal como lo describe la Epístola

«And Jacob took tender rods of almond and plane trees, and he peeled skins from them and made whiteness as [a result of] pecling and made whiteness and skins, and he planted the rods he had peeled in [15] the stream where one gets water in the place where the flock come to the water in order to drink, facing the flock» — el procedimiento de Jacob con las varas peladas de almendro y plátano plantadas en el abrevadero; el *[15]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flock toward the striped and every black one in the flocks of Laban» — y la separación de los corderos, con las caras vueltas a los listados

«The man got rich and his livestock got more numerous» — resultado de la operación en la Epístola

«And this is also in the Torah, which no one disproves» — y la fórmula con que la Epístola cierra el relato, que es la misma con que cerró el anterior

«And the flocks being fecble, it was not his custom to place» — detalle del procedimiento de Jacob que la Epístola conserva: con los rebaños débiles no lo aplicaba

«And the flock of each one of them was secluded in a place» — y el aislamiento de cada rebaño con que cierra el relato

«But fright pervaded him, because of the multitude of armies raised against him» — arranque del tercer relato bíblico de la Epístola, con el miedo de Saúl ante los ejércitos

«And he did not find any pacifier [to respond] to his speech, as was his habit as prophet: neither magician, nor fortune-teller, nor sage» — y la falta que lo empuja a lo que sigue: ni mago, ni adivino, ni sabio le responden

«And Saul asked of Jehovah, and Jehovah did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets» — el silencio divino por los tres canales legítimos, según la Epístola

«And Saul said to his servants, Seek out for me a woman possessing a familiar spirit, and I will go to her and inquire of her» — la orden de buscar una mujer con espíritu familiar, que es el paso a la vía prohibida

«And Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and went, he and two of the men with him; and they came to the woman by night» — el disfraz y la visita nocturna

«Samuel said, ‘God Most High transferred the kingship to your companion. He was angry at you and at the Sons of Israel, because of what you had done regarding the livestock of Amalek» — lo que la Epístola pone en boca de Samuel evocado: el reino transferido y la cólera divina por el ganado de Amalec

«Then Saul went out and, because of this, sank to the ground unconscious» — efecto de la revelación sobre Saúl

«She provided hospitality to them for the night, and they departed in the morning» — y el cierre doméstico de la escena

«The fight was fierce and defeat befell the Hebrews» — desenlace de la batalla que sigue

«All this is equally supplied by the Annals» — la Epístola declara su fuente para el conjunto del relato

«And the sorceress recognized him and came closer to him, together with those who were with him» — el papel de la pitonisa tras el desmayo de Saúl; el tramo se corta en un límite de troceo

«Three of the sons of Saul were killed, and he leant on his spear and took it out from his back» — la muerte de los hijos de Saúl y su propio final, según la Epístola

«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

«Do you believe that all this is a lie and without foundation, and idiocy and stupidity on the part of whoever reports it to those who feign amazement [but who] disavow it in their souls, [15], regarding as a lie what they hear about because of their ignorance, [whereas] they are overbearing towards them, with haughtiness and arrogance, because of their lack of intelligence, the small-mindedness of their sciences, and their inadequacy in acquisition of the real sciences?» — la Epístola cierra el capítulo interpelando al incrédulo, y adjudica el descreimiento a la ignorancia y a la soberbia, no a un argumento; el *[15]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«Those people find disavowing and lying easier for them. God is the Helper: let us ask Him for the goodness of success and choice» — y remata con una fórmula piadosa; la paginación de Beirut va dentro del tramo

«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

«They allege that the world is finite in its dimension, since it is spherical in shape» — primer principio de la doctrina que la Epístola atribuye a los sabeos, en verbo de alegación y no de afirmación propia

«is dependent on the Creator, how powerful and lofty is He," as the dependence of the effect with respect to its cause» — y la relación del mundo con el Creador, formulada como la del efecto con su causa

«And they allege that the phenomena of the terrestrial world take place by means of the [following] things» — la Epístola introduce las causas de los fenómenos terrestres

«Matter, subject to mixture (fol. 525a) and composition, that is, the four elements» — primera causa: la materia sujeta a mezcla y composición, es decir los cuatro elementos; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo

«And when they allotted the terrestrial issues [10] to the planets and organized them under their direction and the influence in them, they proceeded also along this way with respect to areas, climes, districts, cities, and villages» — la Epístola extiende el reparto planetario a la geografía: áreas, climas, distritos, ciudades y aldeas; el *[10]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito y la paginación de Beirut va dentro

«The first kind is good by essence, and its individuals are called angels» — primera clase de almas divinas según la doctrina que la Epístola refiere

«to them [angels], in order to appropriate the good» — y la razón de acercárseles; el corchete es suplencia de los traductores

«And the second kind is bad by essence, and its individuals are called devils. They [the believers] seek to get closer to them [devils], in order to get rid of their bad» — segunda clase, y la razón inversa

«And they assign to each one [15] of them a distinct invocation ‎],[دعاءa determined incense [ ‎[بخور, and a sequence of rituals ‎][عمل, by way of which they attain what they wish» — la Epístola describe el aparato ritual que corresponde a cada uno: invocación propia, incienso determinado y una secuencia de operaciones; el *[15]* es la marca de línea del manuscrito y los términos árabes van dentro del tramo tal como los imprime el escaneo

«Other souls are linked to the lineage [+=] of the stars and do not depart from it. And these are nevertheless linked and behave in this terrestrial world according to two categories of behaviour» — tercera clase de almas, las ligadas al linaje de los astros; el tramo salta el término árabe corrompido

«By way of the natures of the bodies ‎][تجاد[to which they are linked], as is reported in the books of astrology» — primera de las dos maneras en que esas almas obran, remitida a los libros de astrología

«the sphere of ether, in order [for them] to suffer there until they ask for the reversal of this and the descent into a matter that is fitting for their dwelling, and in order [for them] to take command of the realization of their salvation» — la Epístola describe el castigo de las almas en la esfera del éter hasta que piden el descenso a una materia que las aloje

«And they [the believers in magic] allege to be able to know the path of these [souls] by pondering character traits» — y la técnica adivinatoria que atribuye a esos creyentes: leer el destino del alma en los rasgos de carácter; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«If they find [one soul] similar to the beasts [4.4] in its behaviour, having a nature [4b] without a thought about the support of a religion or [about] the examination of a doctrine, then, regarding it, they decree that its soul is the soul of a beast, for which nothing is fitting but only. the fact of populating a house and perpetuating the species of mankind» — el criterio que aplican: un alma de conducta bestial y sin cuidado por religión ni doctrina se dictamina alma de bestia; el tramo salta los términos árabes corrompidos

«As for the other (fol. 525b) species, these are souls for which it is possible that, when they are healthy, they ascend towards the spheres and live in them and take pleasure with them and in them» — y la otra vía: las almas sanas ascienden a las esferas; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo

«And they allege that it is also possible for them to know towards what outcome the human being is led to after his demise» — la Epístola atribuye a esos creyentes también el pronóstico del destino póstumo

«And this is because, for each view and [each] religion, the thought of the one believing is realized in the direction of one of the categories of character traits, [5] and one is moved towards one of the varicties of actions» — y la razón que dan: cada doctrina orienta el pensamiento del creyente hacia una categoría de rasgos y de acciones; el corchete numérico que va dentro es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«Like the doctrine which intensifies the savagery of its people and their primitive way of life, or the doctrine which multiplies dispute and controversy. or the doctrine in which the murder of persons and the seizing of goods are multiplied, or the doctrine in which sacrifices of animals and the consumption of meat, or other doctrines that are wholly absorbed by some of these actions, are exaggerated» — los ejemplos de doctrinas que la Epístola enumera, cada una con el vicio que exagera; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«For these actions, if they are predominant amongst human beings, [they] dothe them with character traits by which their habits are steered, [habits] that are permanent in them and by which they are known» — y el mecanismo: las acciones predominantes visten al hombre de rasgos permanentes

«And they allege also that each category of character traits, even if it is [found] in humans, is more powerful and more apparent in one species [10] amongst the species of animals, such as, bravery with the lion, pride with the wolf, slyness with the fox, greed with the swine, silliness with the donkey, humility with the camel, hastiness with the gecko, stickling with the creepy-crawilies, lasciviousness with the bear, appctency with the monkey, under-handedness with the snake, kleptomania with the magpie, rapturousness with the falcon, fearfulness with the hare» — la tabla de correspondencias entre rasgos humanos y especies animales, en la que cada rasgo culmina en un animal; el corchete numérico que va dentro es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«exhausture with the gazelle, lust with the billy-goat, haughtiness with the peacock [_~33U],' perfidy with the raven, oblivion with the mouse, monopolization with the ant, mutual excitability as with the dog, or aggression with the cock» — cierre de esa tabla, con la grafía del escaneo en el nombre del pavo real

«The situation] is similar to this for the inseparable attributes of the character traits: a number of species of animals share them in common, [15] differing in abundance or paucity, and each having a definite measure, according to the species» — la Epístola generaliza: varias especies comparten un rasgo y difieren en medida; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«And man, when he is just dead, having within him a certain limit of this character trait whose measure [he has] within him, is transported towards that [p. 298] species which preserves it» — y la regla que se sigue: al morir, el hombre es transportado a la especie que conserva su rasgo dominante; la paginación de Beirut va dentro del tramo

«And it seems that this approach is the opposite of the method of the physiognomist ,[صاحب ‎]القراسةsince, through that method, one is led to infer the character traits from external appearances» — la Epístola contrapone su método al del fisonomista, que va de la apariencia al carácter; el término árabe va dentro del tramo tal como lo imprime el escaneo

«and Your Lord is not ever unjust to His servants» — cita coránica con que la Epístola cierra el pasaje sobre el destino de las almas

«And all this [that] I" have just mentioned and what I have reported. about it [comes] from their foundation and the premises of their [the believers in magic] sciences, as a validation of their doctrine with respect to magic and talismans» — la Epístola declara en primera persona del singular de dónde saca lo expuesto y para qué: validar la doctrina de la magia y los talismanes

«And if have left aside more than what I have mentioned, and left out more than what I have reported, avoiding the development and looking for the abridgment» — y declara el criterio de su propio recorte: abreviar en vez de desarrollar

«the action of the magnet and other things (fol. 526a) amongst properties. And this I have left aside because of its evidence» — lo que deja fuera y por qué: la acción del imán y otras propiedades, por evidentes; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo

«Indeed, they also allege that, when these premises have been established for them and they have become on intimate terms with them, and [when] their examination of these has been long, [then] they have made derivations from them and have built upon them, stating» — la Epístola presenta lo que sigue como derivación que aquella gente hizo de sus propias premisas

«If what has been just mentioned is established, and [if] the stars and the souls take possession of the bodies in virtue of this of science and capability, and if there are those {stars and souls] which are propitious to us and which take possession of us, [5] then necessity compels us to get closer to them and to implore them, so as to repair what is corrupt in us, and in order to ease what impacts us, and to oppose what diverts [us] from what is right with respect to our thoughts and views, in order that two things be attained by us: [1] goodness of life in this world; and [2] the mastering of freedom in the afterlife» — el razonamiento con los dos fines declarados: bondad de la vida en este mundo y dominio de la libertad en el otro; los corchetes numéricos son marcas de línea del manuscrito

«So, whenever they wish to get closer to some star or soul, they perform the rituals which it occurs to them are appropriate to its nature» — la regla ritual que se sigue: a cada astro o alma, las operaciones que convengan a su naturaleza

«whenever they perform some category of natural actions and get closer to the stars, in observance of them [the stars], yet without turning their attention to anything related to [p. 299] astrology, then [10] the influence of this will be weak, as regards the satisfaction of the need, due to their selection of this star by volition» — la Epístola declara débil el efecto de obrar sobre los astros sin atender a la astrología, porque la elección sería solo de la voluntad; la paginación de Beirut y la marca de línea van dentro del tramo

«Likewise, whenever they perform [actions] and follow the method of astral elections» — y el caso simétrico: seguir el método de las elecciones astrales; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«owing to his ignorance and the absence of purpose, and [his] desiring it yet without direction — people who are naive and from the populace of shallow knowledge in those things, who ignore the foundations of this art and its sciences» — la Epístola adjudica el fracaso a la ignorancia y a la falta de propósito de quien lo intenta

«They desire from this what is impossible and vain for any people of [15] this art — I mean, the art of talismans and magic» — y declara imposible y vano lo que esa gente pretende del arte; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«And they [those skilled in magic] allege that, if they combine the two things [volition and nature] with one another and follow the two paths in the quest for their needs, the nature of the star and its volition will join together for them. And this is the surest [method] in terms of causality [_.], and the most beautiful in terms of the quest and the attainment of the objective» — la solución que la Epístola propone: unir voluntad y naturaleza, que es el método más seguro en cuanto a causalidad; el tramo salta el término árabe corrompido

«And they allege that this action, if it originates from a diseased secret thought and from a feeble intention, will follow the way of folly and passion, and the profit from it will disintegrate. And maybe it will provoke its opposite, and [there will be] damage in it and by it» — y la advertencia inversa: nacida de pensamiento enfermo e intención débil, la operación se deshace y puede volverse contra quien la hace

«They have considered the cities which are allotted to a certain star, in agreement with the experiences that had befallen them, as it is found and mentioned in the books of astrology» — la Epístola describe la geografía astrológica en que se funda la fundación de templos

«And when it was favourable for them to keep with those conditions and to scrutinize what befell them [the cities], they waited for this star to Come into in some of these diginitics," and they began the construction of» — y el momento elegido para construir: cuando el astro entra en alguna de sus dignidades; el escaneo imprime *diginitics* y *Come into in*, y el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«And they represented that temple with the image [5 ),2]'* by which it [the planet] was configurated when it was in one of its dignities, together with images (fol. 526b) from amongst the predominant stars, and the images [ ‎[صورthat are in the same degree [<=,s]. And they placed them in that temple» — cómo se representaba el templo: con la imagen del planeta en su dignidad y las de los astros predominantes; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo y los términos árabes corrompidos quedan como los imprime el escaneo

«And they have prescribed a norm of rituals and have fixed them in a constitution which they have left with the custodians» — la Epístola declara quién guarda la norma ritual: los custodios

«And they have annexed to it the mention of the issues which it is appropriate to ask for when it is in one ofits dignities, in that it is within and under its allotment» — y qué se le anexó: la lista de asuntos que corresponde pedir en cada dignidad

«And they have established that day of every year as the feast of that star in that temple» — la fiesta anual de cada astro en su templo

«And whenever some need occurred toa man [p. 300] of their people, he sought to be satisfied for that, [5] and asked which temple it was attributed to. And as soon as he knew, he made a vow to that temple corresponding to it. He went out with it [the need] to it [the temple] on the day of its feast. He performed the actions recommended for it and the one who had made the vow obtained [the satisfaction of] it» — el procedimiento del devoto: averiguar el templo, hacer el voto, acudir el día de la fiesta y ejecutar lo prescrito; la paginación de Beirut y la marca de línea van dentro del tramo

«Here is] an example of the distinction between needs.'*? If, for instance, the Sun, being in Aries (which is its exaltation), is positioned on the degree of the ascendant,‘ then the needs for which it is possible to perform magic will be only the issues that are concerned with the allotment of the fifth zodiacal sign: offspring, pleasure, joy; and this is because of the sign of Leo, which is the fifth from its ascendant» — primer ejemplo de la regla: el Sol en Aries sobre el grado del ascendente limita la magia a los asuntos del quinto signo, prole, placer y alegría

«If it [the Sun], being in the sign of Leo, is positioned on the degree of the ascendant, [then] the needs for which it is possible to perform magic will be only the issues [of those] whose souls are linked to [10] religions, divine men, judges and the like, and travels, because of the sign of Aries (which is its exaltation); and it is the ninth from the ascendant» — segundo ejemplo, con el Sol en Leo, que traslada la operación a religiones, hombres divinos, jueces y viajes; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«And if the Moon, being in Taurus (which is its exaltation), is positioned on the ascendant, [then] only the needs which are in the allotment of the third [sign] will be fitting: brothers, sisters, relatives, and close travels, because of the sign of Cancer, which is the third from the ascendant» — tercer ejemplo, con la Luna en Tauro y los asuntos del tercer signo: hermanos, parientes y viajes cortos

«If it [the Moon], being in Cancer, is positioned to the ascendant, the fitting issues and the needs satisfied by them will be only [those] which are in the allotment of the eleventh [sign; here, Taurus]: hope and felicity» — cuarto ejemplo, con la Luna en Cáncer y los asuntos del undécimo signo

«And they assigned to the planets certain temples, taking into account [15] what the number of their dignities required» — el reparto de templos por número de dignidades; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito y el tramo se corta antes de los términos árabes corrompidos

«And they also made temples to all the fixed stars, and they managed them in the same way as with the planets» — la Epístola extiende el sistema a las estrellas fijas

«have an opening in its walls, nor 4 gap in its door, so much that, when its door is closed, there remains absolutely no light in there» — la Epístola describe el templo de Jirjas como cerrado a la luz; el escaneo imprime *4* donde el texto dice a

«And they made its door on the southern side and its forefront on the northern side» — y su orientación: puerta al sur y frente al norte

«the twelve zodiacal signs with their names. And they manufactured an image for the seven planets, each one of them worked out with the appropriate material, such as the Sun with gold» — la lista de correspondencias planeta-metal que la Epístola atribuye a los sabeos; el tramo se corta antes de los términos árabes que el escaneo corrompe

«And on each one of them, there is a cénser ‎][مجمرةwith distinct incense» — los incensarios de las estatuas; el escaneo imprime *cénser*

«The one for the Sun is of aloeswood [>,2]; the one for the Moon is of frankincense [_.5]; the one for Saturn is of storax» — primeros inciensos del reparto: áloe para el Sol, incienso para la Luna, estoraque para Saturno; los términos árabes van entre corchetes como los imprime el escaneo

«On the left side of [the statues of] the stars, there are a jug ‎]للريق of drink, three long rods [ 3123] of tamarisk [<&,4]' wood that have been cut off from their tree before the cry of the cock, a knife ‎][حكين of iron whose handle is of iron, and a ring of iron whose stone is fine» — los utensilios rituales del templo: jarra, tres varas de tamarisco cortadas antes del canto del gallo, cuchillo de hierro y anillo de hierro; el tramo lleva dentro los términos árabes corrompidos y los corchetes de suplencia de los traductores

«And in it [the temple] the young men and the young maidens enter into their religion [42> JJ-"? And in it are sacrificed cocks» — la Epístola abre la subsección del rito de iniciación; el tramo salta los términos árabes corrompidos

«And in it there is the recitation of the two secrets [+], whose case will be mentioned further down» — y anuncia los dos secretos que expondrá después

«And the chief of the priests comes and enters the hall in the part of the men. He sits down by that mat [i.e., with the discs] and faces the foodstuff," before the setting of the Sun» — la entrada del jefe de los sacerdotes al recinto de los hombres, antes de la puesta del Sol

«He locks the door. The lamps are lit up and the darkness subsides» — la secuencia de cierre e iluminación

«He is inclined, stretching out the left leg, and raising [himself] on the right [leg]» — la postura ritual del sacerdote; los corchetes son suplencia de los traductores y el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«finger of his left hand on the ground, and raises up those corresponding on his right hand» — continuación de la misma postura en la plana siguiente, con la mano izquierda en el suelo y la derecha alzada

«From that moment to the moment before the cry of the cock, he starts giving a speech, whose content is this» — el marco temporal del discurso: hasta antes del canto del gallo

«Iblis amongst the Iblis, great amongst the devils and august amongst all jinn, I ask you and beg you and surrender myself, into your hands, knowing that only your contentment will free me and my amiable behaviour to you will save me» — arranque de la invocación que la Epístola pone en boca del sacerdote, dirigida a Iblis

«For you have followed in me the flux of senses,'" dwelling in the dwelling of the soul, freely disposing of whatever is under the rays of the Sun» — la parte de la invocación que atribuye a Iblis el dominio de los sentidos y del alma

«By you our humours are aroused, our limbs are turned, our external appearance is deformed, our thoughts are troubled, and our feet are shaken» — los efectos que la invocación le atribuye sobre el cuerpo y el pensamiento

«We have decided to introduce [20] one of our young men, in the morning of this night of ours, to our call [s23]'” and to let him hear the secret» — la declaración del propósito del rito: introducir al joven en la llamada y hacerle oír el secreto; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea y el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«Be present with us and bear witness for us and about us; avert away from us your evil and your calamities; chase away from our scene those amongst your companions that are endowed with trickery and perfidy» — la petición de testimonio y de protección contra los compañeros tramposos del propio Iblis

«This [goes on] until the cock flaps its wings, and [then] he stops talking and starts [doing] what is beneficial for man, be it sleep or something else» — el canto del gallo cierra el discurso del sacerdote

«Then, when the morning has shone, he comes forth while, of those men who are present, only the people of his call are gathered together, and, of the young people, those wishing for their introduction to the call and the audition of the secret are brought [together]» — y a la mañana se reúnen los de la llamada y los jóvenes que van a ser introducidos

«They stop at the door of the hall of the secret. One of them has been undressed. Two priests grab him by his arm. They make him enter, fastened» — la entrada del iniciado: desnudo y sujeto por dos sacerdotes; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«He proceeds towards that hall, towards the chief ‎][رئيسof the priests, and with him there is a man who is his guarantor. The door is locked. The lamps are burning and the censers smoke» — el iniciado llega ante el jefe de los sacerdotes con su garante; el término árabe va dentro del tramo tal como lo imprime el escaneo

«The chief of the priests says to him, “Would you like to enter into our religion ‎][حينand to hear the secret of our angels?” He says, ‘Yes.’» — la pregunta ritual y su respuesta; el término árabe va dentro del tramo tal como lo imprime el escaneo

«The priest says to him, “Beware! If you take leave of our religion and unveil to somebody my secret, God will lower this head of yours, which is under my grip from amongst my companions, and He will let your diadem ‎][إكليلfall behind you» — la amenaza por revelar el secreto, formulada como caída de la cabeza y de la diadema

«And he [the priest] says to him, ‘But if you keep up my religion and keep my secret, your head will be high amongst your companions and your diadem will be firm» — y la promesa inversa por guardarlo

«Then he says to his [the initiate’s] guarantor [|S], "Will you guarantee that he will keep up my religion and keep my secret?’ He says, ‘Yes’» — la fianza que se pide al garante; el tramo salta el término árabe corrompido

«The priest reclines him, on that carpet [414] [10] which is facing the foodstuff, on his left-hand side, and recites [p. 304] above his head the names of the angels, male and female» — la recitación sobre la cabeza del iniciado de los nombres de los ángeles, machos y hembras; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea y la paginación de Beirut va dentro del tramo

«Then after that, he says, ‘Beatitude upon you, for [now] you become a member of those having listened to these secrets. And if you are not pure, God will purify you» — la bienaventuranza que sigue a la recitación

«Then he grasps this knife, which I have described, in order to sacrifice him with it. But the guarantor, about whom we have talked, comes forward, and the guarantor says, ‘Do not do [that]! I guarantee him. But take this cock as 2 ransom for him and an offering in his place» — el amago de sacrificio del joven y la sustitución por el gallo que ofrece el garante; el escaneo imprime *2* donde el texto dice a

«And he [the priest] tells him, ‘Hand over to him your ring as.a pledge for him, that he will observe the rule and the rites, that he will keep up the call, and that he will conceal the secrets.” And he [the guarantor] hands over to him his ring and the cock» — la prenda del anillo entregada como garantía del silencio

«And the priest says, ‘Consequently I accept a body in substitution for a body and a soul in substitution for a soul, as well as a gesture in the presence of the Sun which vivifies the souls» — la fórmula de la sustitución: cuerpo por cuerpo y alma por alma, ante el Sol que vivifica las almas

«Then he leaves the cock on the neck of the youth and sacrifices him, saying, ‘O Jirjas, King of the Iblis, accept this victim, and leave this youth to his parents and to the angels» — el sacrificio del gallo con su plegaria

«Then he heats that ring of iron on the lamp and brands it onto the surface of the thumb of the right hand, and holds fast to it ninety-nine» — la marca del anillo al rojo sobre el pulgar, repetida noventa y nueve veces; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«And he brands onto his breast and onto his forehead with one of those rods of tamarisk, branding covertly ['] in order for it not to appear» — y las marcas ocultas en pecho y frente con las varas de tamarisco

«Then he dresses him with new dothes and boots made with the leather of the victims of the angels. He fastens his waist with a turban [isle], and gives him a pinch of salt," which he [the priest] traces in the form of a triangle» — el vestido nuevo de cuero de las víctimas, el turbante y la pizca de sal en triángulo con que cierra el rito; el escaneo imprime *dothes*

«As for the crowd ‎][جمهورof people, they are outside the hall of the secret, in the temple and in the environs, performing their ablutions, satisfying their vows, and burning [20] their offerings: various categories of animals for the angels, and cocks for Jirjas» — lo que hace fuera la multitud mientras dentro se inicia a los jóvenes: abluciones, votos y ofrendas; los términos árabes van dentro del tramo tal como los imprime el escaneo y el corchete numérico es la marca de línea

«as Plato mentioned this in his book called the Phaedo — namely, that Socrates the sage [_S<], his mentor [iu], said, at the time of his death, ‘Burn [z=] a cock for me in the temple. It is a vow of mine» — la Epístola enlaza el sacrificio del gallo con el último encargo de Sócrates en el Fedón; el tramo salta los términos árabes corrompidos

«And this injunction was his last commitment in the world here below» — y subraya que fue su último compromiso

«They eat the meats of the rest of their victims where they wish and how they wish, except for the meats of the cocks, which are pledged to the secret. These, only the elder amongst the priests eat, in the hall of the secret» — la carne de los gallos queda reservada a los sacerdotes ancianos dentro de la sala del secreto

«Then, when [p. 305] the chief of the priests is available for busying himself with the young men, he starts letting them hear the secret» — y el momento en que se comunica el secreto a los jóvenes; la paginación de Beirut va dentro del tramo

«Verily, they have two categories of speeches, each of them longer than (fol. 528a) the suras of the Qur'an; the first they call the secret of the men, and the other they call the secret of the women» — la Epístola describe los dos discursos secretos, el de los hombres y el de las mujeres; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo

«And the secret of the men, no one hears it but the men; and the secret of the women, no one hears it but the women» — y la regla de audición separada por sexo

«And the two secrets, taken together, are equal as regards the number of terms and letters» — la equivalencia de los dos secretos en número de términos y letras

«And the terms of both, taken together, if scattered and then ordered in an order where, for both, every word of one is between two terms of the other, there arises from them both several combinations» — el procedimiento combinatorio que la Epístola describe: entrelazar palabra a palabra los dos secretos

«And the total of these combinations is four combinations, each one of which includes the canons ] ‎[قرانينand the demonstrations [ ‎إيراهينof one science amongst the four [following]» — y el resultado: cuatro combinaciones, cada una con los cánones y demostraciones de una ciencia; el tramo lleva dentro los términos árabes corrompidos

«Medicine [<5], by which bodies are cured, and by which illnesses and ailments are expelled, and by which it is made possible to take advantage of the dwelling in a house» — primera de las cuatro ciencias del secreto

«The science of astrology ,[علم التجوم ‎]وأحكامهاby which one is notified about what will happen before it happens» — tercera de las cuatro, la astrología

«The science of talismans ,[علم ‎]الطلماتby which the citizens follow the nature of the kings, and kings the nature of the angels» — cuarta, la ciencia de los talismanes, que sube a los súbditos hacia los reyes y a los reyes hacia los ángeles

«What forbids the unveiling of these sciences and the providing of them to the mass of the common people ,[الجمهور من ‎]العامّة[is] that by which the elite ‎][الخاصةis filled with fear, since, with what they show in terms of weakness of concern and shortage in science, and [in terms of] the power of evilness, of the iniquity of traits of character, and of ugliness of habits, the common people abandon themselves to whatever their desires may be, and satisfy them wherever they may be found, and in this matter they do not consider taking recourse to a religion» — la Epístola declara el motivo del secreto: el temor de la élite a lo que el vulgo haría con esas ciencias; el tramo lleva dentro los términos árabes corrompidos

«Hence, because of this, the praise-worthy system is corrupt, and one exceeds the acknowledged boundary, as [would be the case] if, for instance, the vulgar [man] would participate in the knowledge of alchemy, for instance, wasting [10] what he wastes for what is not licit, not for what» — y el daño que teme: el sistema se corrompe y se rebasa el límite, como si el vulgo participara del saber alquímico

«Or, similarly, as [would be the case] if they would know what is not admissible from medicine, in terms of the poisons and properties that are in the powers of medications» — el segundo ejemplo del mismo temor, en la medicina y sus venenos

«I shall enter the land of Harran no more, but shall come to Kadha [13'S] — and this is the meaning of “Kadha’:'* it isa place to the east of Harran — and 1 shall pay attention to your city and your doctrine» — lo que la Epístola pone en boca del ídolo que abandona Harran; el tramo salta los términos árabes corrompidos

«And, up to this day, they go out on the twentieth day of Nisan of every year, so as to expect the advent ‎][ورودof this idol ‎][صمAnd they call that feast ‎][عيدthe feast of Kadha» — el rito anual que se sigue de esa partida: salir el día veinte de Nisan a esperar el regreso del ídolo; el tramo lleva dentro los términos árabes corrompidos

«idol is like the waiting of the Jews [20] for the Messiah [~~]? And they preserve the left wing of the cock that has been sacrificed in the hall of the men and they attach it to the bellies of the pregnant women and to the necks of the young men, in the manner of an amulet» — la Epístola compara esa espera con la judía del Mesías y describe el amuleto del ala izquierda del gallo, atado al vientre de las embarazadas y al cuello de los jóvenes; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«Amongst their collective ceremonies, there is also their excess in eating and drinking and the augmentation of their spendings on the first day of Nisin, which is their New Year's day» — y el exceso de comida, bebida y gasto en el primer día de Nisan, su año nuevo

«Here are the stories and indications that we have got to know and heard with respect to the rectification of the views on the sciences of the stars, and on what extends it: the sciences of magic and the sciences of talismans» — nota conclusiva del capítulo sexto: la Epístola declara que todo lo dicho apunta a rectificar las opiniones sobre las ciencias de los astros y sus derivadas

«As for the argumentation about each case, section after section and signification after signification, (fol. 528b) the exposition of the demonstration of the validity about this is freely available in the books of the ancients ‎][قدماءand the philosophers ‎][فلاسفة[which are] filled up with them. And that is more than what we [can] enumerate in one chapter alone or one epistle alone» — y remite la argumentación completa a los libros de los antiguos y los filósofos, declarando que excede lo que cabe en una epístola; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo

«As for the power of spells [_3,], of incantations ‎],[عزاتof intuition ‎],[رهمand of incitement | >5] and their likes, together with their influences, this is [plain] from the testimony of the effects» — arranque del capítulo séptimo: la Epístola funda el poder de conjuros, encantamientos, intuición e incitación en el testimonio de los efectos; el tramo lleva dentro los términos árabes corrompidos y la paginación de Beirut

«And what also testifies to it [is] what has been heard of it about the influences of some medications, drugs, and stones on some others, such as» — y anuncia la lista de influencias entre medicamentos, drogas y piedras

«the utility of the tail of the wolf ‎]الذتب3] for colic» — uno de los ejemplos de propiedades ocultas: la cola de lobo contra el cólico; el tramo lleva dentro el término árabe corrompido

«the utility of the threads with which one strangles the adder, when they are put, from outside, on the neck of who suffers from angina» — otro ejemplo: los hilos con que se estrangula la víbora, puestos sobre el cuello del que sufre angina

«the damage of the sea-hare [5 >!) 3,1” to the lung, since it ulcerates» — la liebre de mar entre los ejemplos de daño; el tramo lleva dentro el término árabe corrompido

«and litharge ‎][مرذاشني20 [which], if it is put into vinegar, will alter its sourness in a way [that makes] sweetness» — el litargirio en vinagre entre los ejemplos de alteración; el corchete es suplencia de los traductores

«and the magnetic stone which attracts iron: i will blacken the body; it is rubbed with garlic, it annihilates this effect; but if it is washed with vinegar, that power reverts and its effect returns» — el imán, cuyo poder se anula frotándolo con ajo y vuelve lavándolo con vinagre: el ejemplo con que la Epístola muestra que la virtud oculta se puede suspender y restituir

«And likewise, there are many more whose explanation and numbering would be long, and much of this has been mentioned in the Books of Properties» — la Epístola declara el resto remitido a los Libros de Propiedades; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«And all those amongst the people who have applied themselves to experimenting, have experimented with the whole of that, or [at least] most of it, [and they have] observed these matters» — y apela a la experiencia de quienes lo han probado

«We have seen that the influences of the rational souls [النفوس‎]الناطتة upon the animal soul ‎]الحيوائية24] are part of the influences that tame and break this one» — la Epístola declara la relación entre alma racional y alma animal: la primera doma y quiebra a la segunda; el tramo lleva dentro los términos árabes corrompidos

«Likewise [there is] what the tamer does with the horse, in overcoming it so as to mount it, and so on; and what the elephant-tamer does with the elephant in taming it and overcoming it; and also [the way in] which the rational soul talks to the bestial soul in order to steer itand govern it» — los ejemplos con que lo ilustra: el domador con el caballo, el cornaca con el elefante, y el alma racional hablando al alma bestial

«Likewise [there is] what whistling does for the horse (fol. 529a) and the cow at their [time of] drinking water. And also what the chanting of the caravan leader does for camels, and the other [ways] by which they operate when they wish to urge them to walk: they make signs to them, which they familiarized them with up to the point that they [can] subdue them to [get] what they want from them» — el silbido para el caballo y la vaca al beber, y el canto del arriero para los camellos; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo

«them is that they stop and cease to walk: they cease and stop for them» — y la señal inversa, la que detiene al animal; el tramo arranca tras un límite de troceo

«And their souls accept these various signs according to the diversity of their natures. And the incitementsTM” for the horse, the mules, and the donkeys are different from the incitements for camels, cows, and sheep» — la regla que la Epístola extrae: cada alma acepta señales según su naturaleza, y las de un género no sirven para otro

«And every genus of those and every species of those is tamed by a sign different from the last. And that sign [5] influences them and this is specific to them» — y la especificidad de cada señal; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«Those different signs influence the souls of animals, and the species of animals accept [the influences] from them with an acceptance plain and clear, according to the diversity of their natures» — cierre del argumento: la aceptación de la señal es patente y clara

«As for these spells, charms, incantations, and the like, these are only subtle spiritual influences [15] from the rational soul that influences the bestial soul common to animals» — la Epístola define conjuros y encantamientos como influencias espirituales sutiles del alma racional sobre la bestial; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«Maybe [the effect] is to kill them, and one says about that [that it is] an ‘afÒiction by the evil eye” لإصابة ‎]العين.:* Maybe it makes them fade away. Maybe it overpowers them» — y el extremo de esa influencia, que es donde entra el mal de ojo; el tramo lleva dentro el término árabe corrompido

«And we have often seen someone overpowering a man in less than moment, when [he was] sitting in front of him. This is only a subtle effect that appears suddenly from one soul and which operates in another soul. [This is] like the sparks that appear suddenly from a fire and fall down on objects and burn them» — el símil con que la Epístola explica el efecto: chispas que saltan del fuego y queman lo que tocan

«Except that what appears suddenly from the soul is spiritual and subtle, since it comes out from the subtle soul and operates on [something] subtle like itself» — y la diferencia que introduce: lo que sale del alma es sutil y obra sobre algo sutil como ella

«If you contemplate and imagine the image of what is considered [p. 310] in thinking (and thinking is one of the senses of the rational soul, and it leads what it encompasses to the soul), and if the contemplation befalls thinking and thinking befalls the soul, [then] a rare phenomenon flows into the soul, which determines the considered soul and which overpowers it» — el mecanismo del mal de ojo según la Epístola: la contemplación pasa al pensamiento, del pensamiento al alma, y de ahí determina y domina al alma contemplada; la paginación de Beirut va dentro del tramo

«There are many people who reject this and do not believe in it and do not trust it. But this is a clear thing, which is observed and heard about continually» — la Epístola registra el rechazo y lo contrapone a la observación continua

«Itis reported that a tribe of Indian people, (fol. 529b) by way of their intuitions, see in others than themselves very strange things, that most people deny. And because of this, they [the deniers] reject magic —as we have reported about them in this epistle — and they reject spells and intuition» — el testimonio de un pueblo de la India y el porqué del rechazo ajeno: lo sutil parece invisible; el folio del manuscrito va dentro del tramo

«Now, those who are on the side of the liars are the most numerous and the most common. As for the foundation which comes from the sages, this is sound and [comes] from sound foundations, but there are very few of them» — la Epístola mide las dos partes: los mentirosos son los más y los sabios muy pocos

«And it has been reported about the Prophet of God, God bless him and grant him salvation, that he said, ‘Magic is a reality and the evil eye» — la Epístola aduce la tradición profética que declara reales la magia y el mal de ojo

«And it has been reported about him, God bless him and grant him salvation, that he was bewitched by it [magic] and that magic was extracted from the well. But the hadith» — y el hadiz sobre el embrujamiento del propio Profeta

«that he decreed that a man who was harmed heavily [by the evil eye] be given [water] to drink» — el remedio prescrito para el dañado por el mal de ojo; la paginación de Beirut va dentro del tramo y el corchete es suplencia de los traductores

«man be cleansed, so that he would cease to be harmed by what escaped from it [the evil eye] and that this would put an end to what escaped from him. Because he, God bless him and grant him salvation, knew this in its specificity and its modality, and he knew of the path to this, and he gave proof of it» — y el fundamento que la Epístola atribuye a esa prescripción: el Profeta conocía la modalidad de la cosa y dio prueba de ella

«And likewise also for what we observe in terms of yawning. We report [the following]: a man yawns during a lively session, and sometimes it is [then] all of the people in a particular session who yawn; and this is due to infection. And this is also an influence that influences the soul to [some] extent and which infects the soul that contemplates it, and this influences it. And these peculiarities that we have mentioned are an indication of the influence [15] of spells, charms, and incantations upon the bestial souls that are [to be found] in kinds of animals» — la Epístola pone el bostezo contagioso como prueba de que un alma influye en otra; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«People view that the sorcerer has recourse to spells from the saliva, the breath, and the like, since saliva and breath are both of the bestial ‎][البهيميةsubstance, merely by virtue of a movement of the rational soul, and that they influence it» — los conjuros de saliva y aliento, explicados por su sustancia bestial movida por el alma racional; el tramo lleva dentro el término árabe corrompido

«Only the purified sages take interest in the realities and the subtleties that are in that, [the sages] who endorse inspiration from God, how powerful and lofty is He, in that they know the cause of each thing and in what way it exerts influence, and upon which substance of an animal it has effect» — y la restricción del saber a los sabios purificados, que la Epístola liga a la inspiración divina

«But the eyewitnessing [si] and the direct testimony ‎][المشاهدة regarding stony bodies and lifeless drugs, would it not be possible that they would be like this in respect to animals, with [all] that there is in them in terms of supremacy over the lifeless, in virtue of the bestial soul, mixed, prepared to receive the influence of the rational soul in itself, and in the same way as may be observed from their effects? But there is no way for us to attain from this more than what we have attained» — la Epístola formula como pregunta el paso de las piedras y drogas inertes a los animales, y declara el límite de lo que puede alcanzar; el tramo lleva dentro los términos árabes corrompidos

«And the understanding of its modality, of its reasons, and of its causes is possible only through the endorsement from the sages who are specialized in the science of it. Amongst them, there are those who grant something without anything else, and there are those who grant much of this [understanding], as is reported about the [p. 312] Messiah ‎],[المسيمGod bless him and grant him salvation, (fol. 530a) that he did not pass by a stone nor a tree nor whatever [other] thing without addressing it and talking to it and informing it of what was appropriate for it» — la Epístola remite ese entendimiento a los sabios especializados y trae el ejemplo del Mesías hablando a piedras y árboles; el folio y la paginación de Beirut van dentro del tramo

«And that speech did not come from the lifeless, asa reply, but rather it was a sign, a way to make believe, and a point of view. And he, God bless him and grant him salvation, knew what there was in those things by inspiration from God, the Creator of them» — y acota el sentido de ese ejemplo: lo inerte no respondía, el habla era señal, y el saber venía por inspiración divina

«how powerful and lofty is He. For He makes inherit wisdom whomever He wishes from amongst His elected servants, God bless them all and grant His mercy» — fórmula con que la Epístola cierra el capítulo séptimo: la sabiduría se hereda por elección divina

«And now we have concluded, from the speech in this epistle, my brother, what we view as being sufÏcient and enough for you, with respect to audition and information» — arranque del postscriptum: la Epístola declara suficiente lo dicho; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«and particularly if you have pondered what has preceded as regards our words in [the] fifty epistles that we have produced before this one. Those ones [previous epistles] are introductions to it and an aid to it for the acquisition of your science» — y remite al lector a las cincuenta epístolas anteriores, que declara introducciones a esta

«And for this reason, we should now like to break off the speech here, since we have attained our objective in completing this last epistle, which is the last within the Epistles whose science we have vouchsafed for you and carried out to completion» — la Epístola declara cumplido su objetivo y se sitúa como la última del conjunto

«May God stand by you, and by ourselves, my brother, in what he is satisfied with from us, and may He give us success, and [may He give it to] you, to the degree that we have reached what we had aimed at and attained the utmost point of what we had wished, with respect to the perfection at which we aim» — la plegaria final por el destinatario y por los autores

«To Him the praise — from us and from all our noble brethren — forever and ever, without end and without interruption, for these are [10] His people and those who are deserving of Him, and He is our measure» — la alabanza colectiva con que se cierra, en nombre de todos los hermanos; el corchete numérico es la marca de línea del manuscrito

«What an excellent aid [is He] in what regards the Book» — última línea de la Epístola; el tramo se corta antes del término árabe corrompido

«With praise to God and the goodness of the success [which He has provided us with], on the 22nd of the month of Jumada I, of the year $20. And praise to the righteous, and praise and prayers to God, Muhammad, his family [4j,], and all the companions» — colofón del copista tal como lo imprime la edición, con la fecha del manuscrito

«Some situate the historic activities of this brotherhood at the eve of the Fatimid conquest of Egypt (ca. 358/969), while others identify the organization with an earlier period that is set chronologically around the founding of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa (ca. 297/909)» — El-Bizri consigna las dos dataciones que circulan para la actividad de la fraternidad —víspera de la conquista fatimí de Egipto o fundación de la dinastía en el norte de África— sin decidir entre ellas

«The most common account regarding the presumed identity of the Tkhwan is usually related on the authority of the famed littérateur Abit Hayyan al-Tawhidi (ca. 320-414/930-1023), who noted in his Book of Pleasure and Conviviality (Kitab al-Imta‘ wa’l-muanasa) that these adepts were obscure ‘men of letters’» — El-Bizri remite la identificación corriente de los miembros a al-Tawhidi, que los llamó hombres de letras oscuros; el nombre y la obra van con la grafía que imprime el escaneo

«Even though this story was reafÏrmed by several classical historiographers in Islamic civilization, it is not fully accepted by scholars in terms of its authenticity» — y acota de inmediato el alcance de ese testimonio: los historiógrafos clásicos lo repitieron, pero la academia no lo acepta del todo

«Furthermore, some Ismaili missionaries (du'‘at) historically attributed the compiling of the Epistles to the early Ismaili Imams Ahmad b. ‘Abd Allah (al-Taqi [al-Mastar]) or his father, ‘Abd Allah (Wafi Ahmad), while also suggesting that the Rasa‘il compendium was secretly disseminated in mosques during the reign of the “Abbasid caliph al-Ma’man (r. 198-218/813-833)» — El-Bizri registra la atribución rival, la de la da'wa ismailí, que da la compilación a los imanes Ahmad b. 'Abd Allah o a su padre y la hace circular en secreto por las mezquitas bajo al-Ma'mun

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

«In general, fifty-two epistles are enumerated as belonging to the Rasa‘il Ikhwan al-Safa’, and these are divided into the following four parts» — El-Bizri fija el recuento y la partición del corpus con que se orienta el volumen

«The fourth and last part of the Rasa’il deals with ‘the nomic or legal and theological sciences’ in eleven epistles» — y sitúa la cuarta parte, donde cae esta epístola, entre las ciencias nómicas o legales y teológicas

«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 of spiritualists, of jinn, angels, and recalcitrant demons, the species of politics, the cosmic hierarchy, and, finally, the essence of magic and talismanic incantations» — El-Bizri enumera el contenido de esa cuarta parte y la cierra con el asunto de este volumen: la esencia de la magia y de los conjuros talismánicos

«In spite of their erudition and resourcefulness, it is doubtful whether the Brethren of Purity 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

«into mathematics, logic, and the natural sciences were recorded in the Epistles in a synoptic and diluted fashion, sporadically infused with gnostic, symbolic, and occult directives» — y describe cómo consignaron esas ciencias: de forma sinóptica y diluida, con directivas gnósticas, simbólicas y ocultas intercaladas

«Consequently, this opus ought to be judged by differential criteria as regards the relative merits of each of its epistles» — de donde saca su criterio de lectura: juzgar la obra epístola por epístola y no en bloque

«The academic rediscovery of the Rasa’il in modern times emerged through the monumental editorial and translation efforts of the German scholar Friedrich Dieterici between the years 1861 and 1872» — El-Bizri data el redescubrimiento académico del corpus en la labor de Dieterici entre 1861 y 1872

«Although the scholarly contribution of these Arabic editions of the Ras@’il is laudable, as they valuably sustained research on the topic, they are uncritical in character, and they do not reveal their manuscript sources» — y declara el defecto de las ediciones árabes impresas que le siguieron: útiles pero acríticas, y sin revelar sus manuscritos

«Given this state of affairs, the Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) in London has undertaken the publication (in association with Oxford University Press) of a multi-authored, multi-volume Arabic critical edition and annotated English translation of the fifty-two epistles» — razón por la que, según El-Bizri, el Institute of Ismaili Studies emprendió con Oxford University Press la edición crítica y la traducción anotada de las cincuenta y dos epístolas

«for the critical edition, reproductions of nineteen manuscripts were acquired by the IIS, and their particulars can be summarized as follows» — El-Bizri declara la base material del proyecto de serie: diecinueve reproducciones de manuscritos reunidas por el instituto, cuyo censo por bibliotecas viene a continuación

«Reconstruction of the Rasa’il by way of a critical edition will be undertaken using manuscript reproductions that are significantly distanced in time from the original, and these have proved to be traceable to a variety of transmission traditions that cannot be articulated with confidence in terms of» — y declara el límite del método: las reproducciones están muy alejadas en el tiempo del original y remiten a tradiciones de transmisión que no se dejan articular con confianza —el tramo se corta antes de la palabra siguiente, que el escaneo corrompe

«The dexterity of the copyists, their deliberate tampering, or commendable exercise of restraint and relative impartiality, along with their scribal idioms, would have conditioned the drafting of the manuscripts» — El-Bizri atribuye a los copistas —su destreza, su manipulación deliberada o su contención, y sus giros de escriba— el condicionamiento de la redacción de cada manuscrito

«Such endeavours would also have been influenced by the intellectual impress of the prevalent geopolitical circumstances in which this text was transcribed, in addition to its channels of transmission» — y añade como segundo condicionante las circunstancias geopolíticas del lugar donde se transcribió el texto

«the selection of the oldest manuscripts and fragments, based on the period of the copying, the levels of completeness and clarity, and the recommendations of past and present scholars who have consulted these collections, a suitably grounded critical edition will be produced, and this more-reliable textual reconstruction will offer us improved access to the contents of the Rasa’il beyond whatis presently available through the printed editions» — El-Bizri enuncia los criterios de selección —antigüedad de la copia, integridad, claridad y recomendación de quienes consultaron las colecciones— y lo que espera de ellos: un texto más fiable que el de las ediciones impresas

«It is ultimately hoped that the collective authorial effort, in establishing the Arabic critical edition of the Rasd’il and the first complete annotated English translation, will eventually render service to the academic community and lay a scholarly foundation for further studies dedicated to the Brethren’s corpus and its impact on the history of ideas in Islam and beyond» — y declara el propósito último de la serie, en verbo de esperanza y no de logro

«his present volume, prepared by Professor Godefroid de Callatay and Mr Bruno Halflants, consists of the Arabic critical edition and annotated English translation of the first division of the lengthy Epistle 52: ‘On Magic’, from the fourth part of the Rasa’il, on ‘the nomic or legal and theological sciences» — El-Bizri define qué contiene este volumen concreto: la edición crítica árabe y la traducción anotada de la primera división de la Epístola 52; la mayúscula inicial se pierde en el escaneo

«The ‘short’ and ‘long’ versions belonged to two manuscript traditions, even though the Beirut edition placed them side-by-side in emphasis of their potential» — El-Bizri consigna que las dos versiones vienen de dos tradiciones manuscritas distintas y que la edición de Beirut las imprimió juntas

«continuity. However, the irreducibility of their respective origins to a single unified source, and their noticeable dissimilarities, resulted in the editorial decision to publish them separately» — y da la razón de la decisión editorial contraria: los orígenes no se reducen a una fuente única y las diferencias son notorias, así que van en volúmenes separados

«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

«Although uncritical and, in this respect, not significantly better than its two predecessors, the Bombay edition of 1887-1889 and the Cairo edition of 1928, the Beirut edition provides a very legible text, with certain words vocalized and some explanatory footnotes in places» — de Callatay abre su introducción explicando por qué la edición de Beirut ha dominado la investigación: no es mejor que Bombay ni que El Cairo, pero se lee bien y trae algunas notas

«Now, since each manuscript, no matter which group it belongs to, allows itself to be regarded as the “authorized version’ of the epistle “On Magic’, we should speak in reality of two traditions that are not» — de Callatay razona que, como cada manuscrito se presenta a sí mismo como la versión autorizada de la epístola, hay que hablar de dos tradiciones; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«only independent from one another, but even mutually exclusive. And we are also to infer that the three editions of Bombay, Cairo,» — continuación de la frase anterior en la plana siguiente: las dos tradiciones no son solo independientes sino mutuamente excluyentes

«It is no doubt this impression of disorder and incoherence, joined perhaps toa style that looks slovenly in places, which has prompted a scholar like Alessandro Bausani to deem the epistle on magic — understood, of course, as comprising both versions — as ‘di non gran valore’ and even to consider it as spurious» — de Callatay adjudica a Bausani el juicio de que la epístola sobre la magia es de poco valor y aun espuria, y lo explica por la impresión de desorden que da leer las dos versiones como una sola

«The fact is that we are here facing two major difÏculties. One is inherent to the manuscript transmission itself» — de Callatay divide en dos el problema filológico y sitúa el primero en la transmisión manuscrita misma

«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

«The second difÏculty arises from the present state of research which, in spite of various efforts» — el segundo problema, según de Callatay, es el estado de la investigación misma; el tramo se corta aquí porque el escaneo empalma a continuación el texto de una nota al pie

«Unfortunately, no one has undertaken the task of compiling a comprehensive list of manuscript copies of the Rasdil, either of the complete or incomplete set of four parts or simply of copies of certain epistles, scattered in private and public libraries around the world» — de Callatay cita a Poonawala para declarar lo que falta: nadie ha hecho el censo de las copias manuscritas dispersas por bibliotecas públicas y privadas

«The combination of these difÏculties results in the scholar's unpleasant impression that his exploration is limited to the emergent part of a giant iceberg, and that there remains considerable room for speculation about what lies beneath the surface of the water» — y describe el efecto de las dos dificultades juntas con la imagen del iceberg: lo explorado es la parte emergente y el resto queda para la especulación

«The size of the short version fits better with the average length of the rest of the epistles than that of the long version» — primer argumento de de Callatay a favor de la versión corta: su tamaño se ajusta mejor a la media del corpus

«With just thirty pages in all, the short version would a priori seem to be more in line with the Brethren’s custom than the longer one, which is five times its size and which is surpassed only by Epistle 22» — y lo mide: treinta páginas frente a una versión larga cinco veces mayor, solo superada por la Epístola 22

«Whereas the short version provides us with the ratio of about one Qur’anic quotation per two pages in the Beirut edition —a proportion in fairly good agreement with the average ratio of the Rasa‘il —, the longer one shows a frequency of only twenty-eight citations for 152 pages (i.e, less than one per five pages), which makes it by far the feeblest ratio of the entire corpus» — segundo argumento, la densidad de citas coránicas: una cada dos páginas en la versión corta, en línea con el corpus, contra menos de una cada cinco en la larga, la proporción más baja de todo el Rasa'il

«The short version opens up with some quite explicit indications as to the place it occupies in the corpus» — de Callatay pasa al argumento interno: la propia versión corta declara qué lugar ocupa en el corpus

«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

«In the present state of knowledge about the manuscript transmission, it would seem prudent not to look for a final decision about this issue since, in addition to the contradictory elements found in the corpus itself, there appear to be too many potential variables to consider in order to arrive at an unequivocal conclusion» — de Callatay se abstiene de decidirlo, y da la razón de la abstención: hay elementos contradictorios en el corpus mismo y demasiadas variables en juego

«Whether considered the fifty-first or the fifty-second of the corpus, what matters here is to observe that the text of the short version plainly confirms its own position as the last one — provided we exclude the Jami‘a from the count — of a carefully designed programme» — lo que sí sostiene: sea la quincuagésima primera o la quincuagésima segunda, la versión corta confirma su propia posición de cierre dentro de un programa deliberado

«While concerned in the beginning of the treatise with the science of the stars, the authors make reference to “the third epistle of the first section of our book’ (fi'l-risdla al-thalitha min al-gism al-awwal min kitabi-na), which indeed corresponds to Epistle 3: ‘On Astronomy’» — primera referencia cruzada que aduce: la epístola remite a la tercera de la primera sección, que corresponde a la Epístola 3 sobre astronomía

«That a certain discrepancy exists between those texts with respect to the sub-headings and titles may be interpreted as a proof of some re-arrangement of the corpus» — y de las discrepancias de títulos entre esas referencias cruzadas de Callatay propone una lectura, en condicional: que el corpus se reordenó

«If, as the majority of experts would agree, the final redaction of the Epistles took place in the second half of the tenth century, and probably between 960 and 980, then I would assume that the short version of the Epistle 52 is the one best qualified for having been involved in this process» — de Callatay condiciona su conclusión a la datación mayoritaria de la redacción final —entre 960 y 980— y bajo ese supuesto da la versión corta como la mejor candidata a haber entrado en ella

«Although the spectrum of positions actually held is very much more complex than this, we may grossly summarize by saying that there were three main categories of people with regard to magic and its practice in mediaeval Islam» — de Callatay resume las actitudes hacia la magia en el islam medieval en tres categorías, y advierte antes que el espectro real es más complejo

«There were those who, like the Mu'tazilites, would go as far as to deny that such a thing as magic or any of the related issues could even exist» — primera categoría: la negación mu'tazilí de que la magia exista siquiera

«There were those, like the imam al-Ghazali (d. 1111) or the scholar and historian Ibn Khaldan (d. 1404), who, although admitting for the possibility that magic exists and that it could even have some efÏcacy, condemned its practice as something incompatible with the moral precepts of Islam and therefore a danger to it» — segunda: al-Ghazali e Ibn Khaldun, que admiten la posibilidad y aun la eficacia de la magia y condenan su práctica como incompatible con la moral islámica

«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

«Many European concepts, such as ghosts, necromancy. and witchcraft, have little ‘or no counterpart in Islam, while the employment of dichotomies often used to characterize European practices (high v_ low. white v. black, learned v. popular, prayers v- spells) is toa large extent inappropriate in the Islamic context» — de Callatay cita a Savage-Smith para advertir que las categorías europeas del ocultismo —fantasmas, nigromancia, brujería, y los pares alta/baja o blanca/negra— no tienen contraparte en el contexto islámico

«As Lory concludes: ‘C'est elle [‘the great magic’) qui, fondée sur une conception précise des mondes angéliques, explique le pouvoir des prophétes, des rois, des saints; c'est elle qui permet éventuellement au philosophe d’avoir accés & la siyasa» — y toma de Lory la definición de la gran magia: fundada en una concepción de los mundos angélicos, explica el poder de profetas, reyes y santos y da al filósofo acceso a la siyasa; el tramo se corta antes de una palabra que el escaneo parte y la herramienta uniría mal

«If anything, this might be an indication that, in the eyes of the Ikhwan, magic was primarily and essentially made of talismans — something which the rest of the epistle, in any case in this short version of it, would seem to confirm, as we shall see» — de Callatay propone, en condicional, que para los Ikhwan la magia era ante todo asunto de talismanes, y anuncia que la epístola lo confirmará

«Surely, a part of the answer lies in the fact that the first enumeration is meant to express the authors’ own view, whereas the other corresponds to a reported conception that is here assigned to the initiated people of Harran» — y explica la discrepancia entre las dos enumeraciones de ciencias por la voz de cada una: la primera es la de los propios autores, la segunda una concepción que atribuyen a los iniciados de Harran

«One discrepancy looks rather trifling: medicine comes after the group alchemy~astrology-magic/talismans in the first occurrence, whereas it precedes the same group in the second» — de Callatay coteja las dos enumeraciones de ciencias que da la epístola y mide la diferencia: la medicina va detrás del grupo alquimia-astrología-magia en la primera y delante en la segunda

«Now, if we take a look at the actual content of this short version of the epistle, and match up this content to the first enumeration, one is immediately struck by the fact that only some out of the five sciences mentioned are actually considered in the epistle itself» — y contrasta la lista con lo que la epístola trata de hecho: solo algunas de las cinco ciencias enumeradas aparecen

«Medicine (tibb) and alchemy (kimiya’), namely, the two sciences that have been set up for man’s well-being in this world, with no other purpose than to cure him and to make him wealthier in his everyday life, are conspicuously absent from our text» — de Callatay declara ausentes del texto la medicina y la alquimia, las dos ciencias que la propia lista destina al bienestar en este mundo

«Neither does the science of asceticism (tajrid), which could possibly be assimilated to the practice of mysticism as mentioned in the group of the religious sciences, feature as such in the epistle, although in a few places — as for instance in the passage on the $abi’ans — our text does include a reference to the ‘denuded souls’ (al-nufiis al-mujarrada)» — y ausente también la ascesis, con la salvedad de las almas desnudas que sí aparecen en el pasaje sobre los sabeos

«In conformity with the title of the treatise, magic (sihr), especially talismanic magic, plays a central role in every one of the reports from ancient and modern authorities provided by the Ikhwan, and its use is nowhere regarded as more important than when it is a question of invoking the rawhaniyyat, that is, the superior spirits or angels that are attached to the stars, whom the people of Harrain would not hesitate to identify as gods» — de Callatay sitúa la magia talismánica en el centro de todos los testimonios que la epístola recoge, y la liga a la invocación de las rawhaniyyat, los espíritus adheridos a los astros que la gente de Harran llama dioses

«As for astrology (ahkam al-nujum), a science which the entire corpus of the Rasd’il is so lavishly imbued with, it is also frequently at stake in this last epistle and is even variously presented there as a sort of prerequisite for the science of magic» — y describe la función que la epístola da a la astrología: requisito previo de la magia

«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

«In a certain sense, if we were to follow the Ikhwan’s form of reasoning to the letter, and if we were to push it to its ultimate consequences, we could say that any astrological influence is magic, since magic is fundamentally the influence of a soul upon another soul — or “the union ofa spirit with a spirit’ (ittthad rah bi-nih), as Ibn Khaldun would say in his Muqaddima» — y lleva ese razonamiento a su consecuencia, marcándola como hipotética: toda influencia astrológica sería magia si la magia es la influencia de un alma sobre otra, o la unión de un espíritu con otro según la fórmula de Ibn Khaldun

«Its most illustrious representative was Pseudo-Majriti’s Ghayat al-hakim (“The Aim of the Sage’), an Arabic treatise known to have been written in Spain around the middle of the eleventh century» — de Callatay data el Ghayat al-hakim del Pseudo-Majriti en la España de mediados del siglo XI

«It must be stressed that these parallels, which are quite remarkable indeed and which one finds in various places of the epistle, are more easily traceable in the long version than in the short» — y acota el alcance de los paralelos entre la epístola y el Ghaya: se rastrean con más facilidad en la versión larga que en esta

«Some of these associations — Saturn/iron and Mars/copper in particular — look utterly strange in view of the traditional list as known from Greek Late Antiquity, but they do correspond with those provided in Chapter 10 of the second book of the Ghaya, confirming the» — de Callatay señala que las correspondencias planeta-metal de la epístola —Saturno con hierro, Marte con cobre— se apartan de la lista de la Antigüedad tardía griega y coinciden en cambio con el capítulo 10 del libro segundo del Ghaya; el tramo se corta antes del salto de línea siguiente

«In any case, magic and astrology of the type just mentioned above are clearly to be ranged amongst the philosophical sciences of the Brethren’s classification, and the authors of the epistle say just so in the present version» — y concluye que la magia y la astrología de este tipo caen entre las ciencias filosóficas de la clasificación de los Ikhwan, según lo dice la epístola misma

«One could not find a better and clearer justification of why the epistle ‘On Magic, Incantations, and the Evil Eye’ should be the ultimate of the corpus» — de Callatay lee ahí la justificación de que esta epístola cierre el corpus

«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

«In fact, although the epistle — in any case, the short of version of it — is nearly all about the validation of these occult sciences, one cannot find in it any sort of proper, “objective” argumentation by which someone a priori not favourably disposed with regard to these sciences might be convinced» — y consigna lo que a su juicio falta en la epístola: argumentación que pueda convencer a quien no venga ya predispuesto

«What the Brethren have to offer instead in this short version turns out to be made exclusively of a series of arguments from authority, in the manner of: ‘It must be true, because Aristotle says it is true’» — de Callatay describe el procedimiento que sí encuentra: una serie de argumentos de autoridad, cuya forma resume con una fórmula propia

«The validity of these argumenta ad verecundiam is weak and is susceptible to convince only those who are already favourable to the cause, as no doubt were the ‘brethren’» — y adjudica a ese procedimiento un alcance corto: convence solo a los ya favorables, que eran los destinatarios del corpus

«Now, if the recourse to authorities is sure to disappoint the logician, there is no doubt that it will also ravish the historian of ideas, who will find in this epistle a rare opportunity to trace back a considerable set of sayings and doctrines to more or less ancient and famous literary sources» — de Callatay invierte el juicio para el historiador de las ideas: lo que decepciona al lógico le da una ocasión rara de rastrear dichos y doctrinas hasta sus fuentes

«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

«Considering its relative brevity, the short version of Epistle 52 provides us with possibly the most compact collection of sources within the whole frame of the Rasd’il» — de Callatay califica la versión corta como la colección de fuentes más compacta de todo el corpus

«Across only a few pages, the reader is confronted with authorities as diverse as Plato, Abt. Ma‘shar, the ‘Torah and the Midrash, the Qur'an, an otherwise not clearly identified “Book of Properties’, and, last but certainly not least, a large set of doctrines and rituals that are assumed to derive from the wisdom of the Sabi’ans of Harran» — y enumera esas autoridades: Platón, Abu Ma'shar, la Torá y el Midrash, el Corán, un Libro de Propiedades sin identificar, y las doctrinas y rituales atribuidos a los sabeos de Harran

«The short version of Epistle 52 may be conveniently subdivided into the following eight chapters, which have been introduced in the present edition and translation of the text» — de Callatay declara que la división en ocho capítulos es de la edición, no del manuscrito

«Chapter 2— Magic with the Greeks: the Story of Gyges Chapter 3 — Magic with the “Abbasids: Meeting at al-Ma’mun’s with the Man who Claimed to be a Prophet Chapter 4 — Magic in the Quran Chapter 5 — Magic according to the Jews and the Christians Chapter 6 — Magic with the Sabi’ans, the Harranians, and the Hanifs Chapter 7 — Spells, Incantations, and the Evil Eye Chapter 8 — Postscript» — la lista de esos ocho capítulos tal como la imprime la introducción, con los saltos de línea del escaneo dentro de los numerales

«The first authority mentioned by the Ikhwan in their epistle ‘On Magic’ is Plato» — de Callatay identifica a Platón como la primera autoridad de la epístola

«As has already been underlined by various scholars, the Ikhwan quote this passage almost verbatim» — y consigna que los Ikhwan copian el pasaje casi literalmente; el tramo se corta antes de que el escaneo empalme una nota al pie

«From the comparison of the Greek and the Arabic it results that, apart from minor discrepancies in the style and the form, the only genuine and meaningful divergences between the two narratives are: (1) the substitution of ‘Lydia’ with “a city of Europe” (or‘a city called Europe’) at the beginning of text; (2) the suppression of any mention relative to the queen and her intervention at the end of the story» — de Callatay mide las divergencias entre el griego y el árabe y las reduce a dos: Lidia sustituida por una ciudad de Europa y la supresión de la reina al final

«In contrast to Aristotle, whose works — with the notable exception of the Politics — were faithfully transmitted to the Muslim-Arab world, it is well known that Plato was received in a much more scattered and garbled form» — de Callatay contrasta las dos recepciones: Aristóteles llegó fielmente al mundo árabe, Platón de forma dispersa y alterada

«Citations or pseudo-citations from the Platonic corpus are to be found aplenty in mediaeval Arabic literature, and the “divine Plato’ (Aflatun al-ilaht) was held in great esteem by most philosophers and scientists, yet the channels of transmission often remain unclear, as if the teaching of the master had passed through a series of deforming filters» — y describe el efecto: citas y pseudocitas abundan, con el *Platón divino* en gran estima, pero los canales de transmisión siguen sin aclararse

«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

«By and large, the Ras@’il asa whole leaves us with the impression that the Brethren, as with many Arabic thinkers of their time, had only a rather sketchy awareness of who Plato was and what he had written» — y matiza esa precisión: el corpus entero deja la impresión de un conocimiento apenas esquemático de quién fue Platón y qué escribió

«The number of Plato's works known to them also seems to have been limited, and for the reasons just explained above they could hardly have found complete Arabic versions of these works, since, as Daniel De Smet notes: *... il n’est point établi qu’un seul dialogue platonicien ait jamais été rendu intégralement en langue arabe» — de Callatay cita a De Smet para acotarlo aún más: no está establecido que un solo diálogo platónico se vertiera íntegro al árabe

«Whatever the case, what is worth noting here is the radical difference between the Brethren and Plato as to the way to interpret the story’s function» — de Callatay sitúa la diferencia decisiva no en la letra de la cita sino en la función que cada uno le da al relato

«Significantly, in spite of the peculiar property of the ring, Plato nowhere uses the word ‘magic’, nor even alludes to it, for magic is simply not what matters him in this tale» — y lo concreta: pese al anillo, Platón no usa la palabra magia ni alude a ella, porque no es lo que le importa en el cuento

«The reason why they take up this narrative must be set against the overall objective of the epistle, namely, to highlight the difference between the good and the bad use of magic and the other occult sciences» — de Callatay explica por qué lo toman los Ikhwan: para separar el buen uso del mal uso de la magia y de las demás ciencias ocultas

«What the Ikhwan are primarily concerned with here is making clear to their reader that Plato himself never endorsed the bad use of magic, and that he would have certainly condemned it if he had had the» — y añade lo que los Ikhwan quieren dejar claro a su lector: que Platón nunca avaló el mal uso de la magia; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«This is obviously a far cry from what the Gyges tale was meant to illustrate, in fact» — de Callatay cierra el capítulo de Gyges midiendo la distancia entre lo que el relato ilustraba en Platón y lo que los Ikhwan le hacen decir

«In this chapter, the Ikhwan report a story, or rather an anecdote, about a man in the entourage of the caliph al-Ma’mun who claimed to be a prophet» — de Callatay presenta el capítulo tercero: la anécdota de un hombre del entorno del califa al-Ma'mun que se decía profeta

«According to the narrative, which is put in the mouth of the astrologer Yahya ibn Mansur, he and a team of other experts in the science of the stars were asked by the famous caliph to test out the pretension of this man, although they were not informed exactly who he was and what pretensions he had» — y nombra la voz del relato dentro del relato: el astrólogo Yahya ibn Mansur, a quien el califa encarga con otros expertos poner a prueba al pretendiente sin decirles de qué se trata

«Having calculated the ascendant, they found a configuration which prompted all the astrologers present to confirm the validity of the man’s allegation» — resumen del dictamen colectivo: calculado el ascendente, la configuración lleva a todos los astrólogos a confirmar la pretensión

«Yahya ibn Mansur himself responded that it could not be entirely validated, since the part of the chart relating to Venus and Mercury indicated ‘a variety of hocus-pocus’ and ‘the livelihood of imposture» — y la objeción que separa a Yahya del resto: la parte de la carta que toca a Venus y Mercurio señala impostura

«The narrator asserts that the part related to Venus and Mercury has already produced its effects, and all the astrologers present conclude that this was a treatment with talismans» — de Callatay resume el desenlace del dictamen: los astrólogos concluyen que el asunto era cosa de talismanes

«the man claiming prophecy is reported as being granted 1,000 dinars by al-Ma’man and as being consulted with by the astrologers, who acknowledge him as ‘one of the most savant people in the science of the stars’» — y el final que la anécdota da al falso profeta: mil dinares y el reconocimiento de los astrólogos como uno de los más sabios en la ciencia de los astros

«This story is taken almost word-for-word from a work variously referred to as the Fi asrar “lm al-nujtim (‘On the Secrets of the Science of the Stars’) or the Mudhakarat fi ‘ilm al-nujim (‘Discussions on the Science of the Stars’) and ascribed either to Aba Ma‘shar/Albumasar» — de Callatay adjudica la fuente del relato a una obra de doble título atribuida a Abu Ma'shar; el tramo se corta antes del salto de plana, donde sigue el nombre del discípulo

«Another reason is that it is one of Abii Ma’shar’s works to have enjoyed fame in the West, being translated into Greek around the year 1000 GE under the appellation of Mysteria and, from there, into Latin as well in the thirteenth century» — y traza la fortuna occidental de esa obra: traducida al griego hacia el año 1000 como Mysteria y de ahí al latín en el siglo XIII

«The project to edit the Arabic, Greek, and Latin versions of the Mudhakarat was ‘one of the tasks left incomplete by David Pingree at the moment of his death» — de Callatay declara pendiente la edición de las tres versiones, tarea que quedó incompleta a la muerte de Pingree

«Of the extant manuscripts, only Ankara BibL J., Sa'ib 1/199 (fols. 1a-26b), dated to the sixth century AH, seems to be complete» — y consigna el estado de los testigos: de los manuscritos conservados, solo el de Ankara parece completo

«That the Brethren back up their teaching on the basis of Aba Ma'shar’s authority is not in the least surprising» — de Callatay no ve nada extraño en que los Ikhwan se apoyen en la autoridad de Abu Ma'shar

«In particular, it would seem that the theory of Saturn—Jupiter conjunctions and the closely related theory of millennial cycles, with their all-important implication for the Ikhwan’s, own eschatological prospect, are taken up directly from Abu Ma‘shar» — y propone, en condicional, que de él toman también la teoría de las conjunciones Saturno-Júpiter y la de los ciclos milenarios, con su peso en la escatología de los Ikhwan

«What makes the present reference distinctive is, in addition to the literalness of the quotation, the explicitness of the reference» — de Callatay señala lo que distingue esta cita: además de literal, es explícita en su referencia

«Hence, in the same way as they had done in the previous chapter with Plato and the Republic, the Ikhwan duly acknowledge reference here to both the author and the work by introducing this chapter with the phrase: “Abu Ma‘shar Ja‘far ibn Muhammad, the astrologer, related in his Book of Discussion with Shadan ibn Bakr» — y lo compara con el caso de Platón: los Ikhwan nombran autor y obra al abrir el capítulo

«A few divergences may be noted in the mention of proper names, such as those appearing at the beginning of the passage in the chain of the transmitters of this account» — de Callatay consigna divergencias en los nombres propios de la cadena de transmisores, sin arbitrar entre ellas

«More often, however, the original of the Mudhakarat provides us with a more complete and more coherent text» — y declara cuál de los testigos suele leer mejor: el original del Mudhakarat, más completo y coherente que la versión de los Ikhwan

«In one place, the Rasd'il version includes astrological particularities that are not to be found in the Cambridge manuscript of the Mudhdakarat» — de Callatay consigna que en un punto la versión del Rasa'il trae particularidades astrológicas que faltan en el manuscrito de Cambridge del Mudhakarat

«Thus, for instance, the ‘Syrian pen’ (qalam shami) of the original provides a clue for the otherwise unintelligible readings of lam, mtn, and Beirut» — y usa el original como llave de lectura: la pluma siria del Mudhakarat explica lo que en los tres testigos árabes resultaba ininteligible

«Thus, the Mudhakarat version specifies: “he Sun and the Moon aligned within a single minute, and the pars fortunae [sahm as-sa‘adah] and pars futurorum [sahm al-ghayb) aligned within the same minute as the ascendant, which was Capricorn» — de Callatay cita el detalle astrológico que el Mudhakarat imprime y la versión de los Ikhwan no: Sol y Luna en el mismo minuto, y las suertes de la fortuna y de lo futuro en el mismo minuto que el ascendente

«other words, the Rasa’il version omits important elements: (1) that the pars fortunae and pars futurorum coincided in the same minute as the ascendant, that is, Capricorn; (2) that Venus and Mercury werein aspect with the ascendant» — y enumera las dos omisiones de la versión árabe de los Ikhwan; el tramo arranca a media frase, donde lo corta el salto de plana

«It appears from the rest of the account that these elements — especially the mention of Venus and Mercury, in relation to the magic of the ring and the pen respectively — are crucial to understand the very purport of the anecdote» — de Callatay declara por qué esas omisiones importan: sin Venus y Mercurio, que corresponden al anillo y a la pluma, la anécdota pierde su sentido

«To whom are these omissions imputable? To the copyists, as one would perhaps think in the first place, or to the Ikhwan themselves? At any rate, the fact that these omissions are found in lam, niin, and Beirut alike would invite us not to discard the second possibility too rapidly» — y plantea la pregunta de a quién imputarlas sin cerrarla: que las tres fuentes árabes coincidan en omitirlas le impide descartar que vengan de los propios Ikhwan

«The text of the Ras@’il is also at variance with the original in that it ends, somehow abruptly, a few lines before the account's genuine termination» — de Callatay señala además que el texto de los Ikhwan corta el relato unas líneas antes de su final verdadero

«Aba Ma‘shar said: “If1 had been in these people's place, I should have expressed a different opinion. I should have said: The claim is false, because the sign is reversed. Jupiter is unfavourable, and the Moon is on the wane, and the stars are in aspect with the ascendant in a deceitful sign, the house of oppressors — I mean the several signs of Scorpio» — lo que queda fuera por ese corte, en boca de Abu Ma'shar: él habría dictaminado lo contrario, falsa la pretensión, por el signo invertido, Júpiter desfavorable y la Luna menguante

«Probably the Brethren did not deem it of interest to quote these last lines because they felt they had already attained their objective by this time, that is, to stress the legitimacy of magic insofar as it is connected to astrology» — de Callatay conjetura por qué lo cortaron, marcándolo como probable: ya habían obtenido lo que buscaban, ligar la legitimidad de la magia a la astrología

«The ring and the pen of the story are regarded as authentic talismans, and the proof of this is that Venus and Mercury ‘have already operated with their effects» — y resume la conclusión que la anécdota deja en pie: el anillo y la pluma son talismanes auténticos, y la prueba es que Venus y Mercurio ya obraron

«inextricably natural magic is linked to,'and'dependent on, the science of the stars. This being assumed, the incomparable authority of Aba ‘Ma‘shar in the art of astrology — whose legitimacy, let us just note in passing, is not questioned here — was in itself a reason sufÏcient for» — de Callatay cierra el capítulo tercero con lo que a su juicio queda demostrado: que la magia natural depende de la ciencia de los astros, y que la autoridad de Abu Ma'shar en astrología bastaba para que los Ikhwan lo citaran; anota de paso que la legitimidad de esa astrología no se pone en cuestión

«The word sihr (magic’) is formed on an Arabic root (s-h-r) that conveys the meaning of ‘bewitchment’, ‘enchantment’, and ‘charm’» — de Callatay da la raíz árabe del término que titula la epístola

«In nearly all of the Meccan suras where it occurs, the canvas of narratives looks more or less the same» — y observa que el guion narrativo de las suras mecanas donde aparece esa raíz es casi siempre el mismo

«Clearly, the purport of these accounts is to show that all the prophets preaching monotheistic views, whether they be Biblical figures (such as Noah, Abraham, Lot, or Moses) or Arabs (such as Hud, Salih, Shu‘ayb or, of course, Muhammad), are inevitably faced with the accusation of bewitching their own peoples» — de Callatay describe ese guion: todo profeta monoteísta, bíblico o árabe, acaba acusado de embrujar a su pueblo

«The Prophet of Islam is thus himself frequently portrayed by his detractors as a sa/tir (‘magician’) — a qualification usually found in combination with one of the following: kahin (‘diviner’ or ‘soothsayer’), sh@ir (‘poet’), or majnin (‘fool’, in the sense of “possessed by the jinn’)» — y lo aplica a Mahoma, a quien sus detractores llaman mago, junto con adivino, poeta o poseído por los jinn

«contain fewer references to magic than the Meccan suras, but they do include, with the well-known story of the angels Harat and Marut as. told in Sura 2, the indisputable locus classicus on magic in Islam» — de Callatay sitúa el lugar clásico de la magia en el islam en la historia de los ángeles Harut y Marut de la sura 2; el tramo arranca tras el término árabe que el escaneo corrompe

«Only on two occasions do they add a word of their own, one of which being no more than a rhetorical question in order to get the reader's approval» — de Callatay mide la intervención propia de los Ikhwan en su cadena de citas coránicas: dos veces, y una de ellas una pregunta retórica

«To be sure, they were eager to invoke its authority, here as elsewhere, but they did not even bother to wonder, as so many commentators have done, which kind of magic the Holy Book refers to and, this eventually being set, whether the use of that magic is in» — y consigna lo que los Ikhwan no hicieron: preguntarse, como sí hicieron tantos comentaristas, de qué clase de magia habla el libro; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«Although Esau and Nimrod — rather than Nimrod’s son — are both well-known biblical figures, appearing in various places of the Old ‘Testament, the story of the shirt of Adam is nowhere to be found in the Pentateuch. But it does appear, in very much the same way as with the Ikhwan, in the Midrash, as has already been pointed by Yves Marquet and also Ian Netton» — de Callatay coteja el relato de la camisa de Adán contra el Pentateuco y no lo halla ahí, sino en el Midrash, siguiendo a Marquet y a Netton

«From where did the Brethren take up this story? Given the difÏculty of dating most of the Midrash literature, it is unlikely that we could answer this question with any satisfactory decisiveness. On the basis of what they afÏrm at the beginning of this chapter (namely, that “the Torah exists both in the hands of the Jews and of the Christians, in Hebrew, in Syriac, and in Arabic’), a transmission via the Middle Eastern Christians seems the most probable» — y propone la vía de transmisión con reserva expresa: dada la dificultad de datar el Midrash, lo más probable —no lo seguro— es una transmisión por los cristianos de Oriente Medio

«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

«Jacob proposes the following: from amongst Laban’s flocks, he shall take all speckled sheep, all lambs that are a mixture of black and white, and all goats that are either white or spotted with black and white — a proposition which Laban accepts» — de Callatay resume el trato entre Jacob y Labán tal como lo trae la epístola

«Jacob's trick consists in multiplying his own herd by having recourse to a ploy, namely, the mating of animals in front of peeled rods of almond and plane trees, whose speckled appearance — the peeling having revealed white stripes —was believed to exert its influence on the reproduction of the flocks» — y explica en qué consiste la treta: aparear los rebaños ante varas peladas de almendro y plátano, cuyo aspecto moteado se creía que influía en la cría

«In this case, the Ikhwan’s source is unmistakably canonical» — de Callatay declara que aquí, a diferencia del caso anterior, la fuente de los Ikhwan sí es canónica

«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

«they introduce their own version by stating that the story comes from the “Book of Annals of the Kings from the Sons of Israel’, which is in fact an extra-canonical source for the Book of Kings» — de Callatay señala lo mismo en el relato de Saúl: los Ikhwan lo dan por un libro de anales de los reyes de Israel, fuente extracanónica

«the safest bet would be to conjecture here, again, a transmission via a Christian intermediary, in all likelihood the seme as that we have assumed for the previous story» — y marca su propia propuesta como conjetura: otra vez un intermediario cristiano, presumiblemente el mismo del relato anterior

«This chapter is clearly the piéce de résistance of the epistle, as it alone occupies almost a third of the text» — de Callatay declara cuál es el capítulo mayor de la epístola, el sexto, y lo mide: casi un tercio del texto

«The nature of the subject also makes it the one requiring by far the largest amount of explanation» — y por qué es el que más explicación pide

«The chapter may be conveniently subdivided into cight sub-sections, which we have chosen to introduce in the edition and the translation with the following headings, for the sake of clarity» — de Callatay advierte que las ocho subsecciones y sus títulos los pone la edición, no el manuscrito; el escaneo imprime *cight* por eight

«A Historical Perspective B. Philosophical Doctrines c. ‘The Eighty-Seven Temples D. The Temple of Jirjas E. The Initiation Ritual F. The Secrets G ‘The Kadha Feast H. Concluding Note» — la lista de esas ocho subsecciones tal como la imprime la introducción, con las letras de orden que el escaneo deja sueltas

«It will be essentially based on the comparison of our text with other mediaeval Arabic sources on the “Sabi’ans of Harran’, in light of certain studies amongst the innumerable ones, since Daniel Chwolsohn’s pioneering and monumental thesis, devoted to this enigmatic and notoriously controversial issue» — de Callatay declara su método para ese capítulo: cotejar el texto con las demás fuentes árabes medievales sobre los sabeos de Harran, a la luz de los estudios posteriores a Chwolsohn

«The corpus of mediaeval Arabic sources at the modern scholar’s disposal is today significantly the same as that already investigated by Chwolsohn» — y consigna que el corpus disponible hoy es sustancialmente el mismo que Chwolsohn ya investigó

«It consists of a number of “inescapable testimonies’, such as Mas‘udi’s Muruj al-dhahab and Tanbih, Ibn al-Nadim’s Fihrist, ‘Abd al-Jabbar’s Mughni, Shahrastani’s Milal wa'l-nihal, Biruni’s Athar al-bagiya’, Maimonides’ Dalalat al-ha‘irin (Hebrew, Moreh ha-nevukhim) and Dimashqi’s Nukhbat al-dahr, to which one may add a series of “kleinere Texte’ taken from heresiographers, historians, geographers, jurists, and lexicographers ofall kinds between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries CE» — de Callatay enumera ese corpus: los testimonios ineludibles de Mas'udi, Ibn al-Nadim, 'Abd al-Jabbar, Shahrastani, Biruni, Maimónides y Dimashqi, más los textos menores de herejiógrafos, historiadores, geógrafos, juristas y lexicógrafos

«The very nature of a subject that lends itself to all sorts of confusions and amalgamations and also leaves the door wide open for the possibility of oral channels of transmission; the extreme rarity of presumably first-hand statements (and, correlatively, suspicion about the validity of these); the all-too-visible heterogeneity as well as the ideologically biased spirit of most reports; and, in a more general way, the quasi impossibility of tracing plausible filiations between our testimonia —all this has contributed to obscuring the issue up to the present time» — de Callatay enumera lo que oscurece el asunto: un tema propenso a confusiones, la rareza de testimonios de primera mano, la heterogeneidad y el sesgo ideológico de los informes, y la imposibilidad de trazar filiaciones entre ellos

«Echoing the ‘inflation sabéenne’ of those ancient sources already denounced by Guy Monnot in his introduction to the French translation of Shahrastani’s Milal,® the proliferation of modern studies on the $abi’ans of Harran is also evidence for the still enormous disagreement amongst today’s scholars as to the way to interpret these sources» — y traslada al presente la fórmula que Monnot aplicó a las fuentes antiguas: la proliferación de estudios modernos sobre los sabeos es para él índice del desacuerdo que sigue habiendo sobre cómo leerlas

«Gette circonstance, et la commodité d'un terme aussi utile que vide, amenérent une inflation sabéenne chez les auteurs arabes, qui voient du sabéen un peu partout dans lespace géographique et le tableau des religions» — cita de Monnot en nota al pie de de Callatay: la comodidad de un término tan útil como vacío produjo entre los autores árabes una inflación sabeísta que ve sabeos por todas partes; el escaneo imprime *Gette* por Cette

«Mais la plupart des Harriniens se singularisaient par un culte astral trés développe, et par des temples voués a chacune des planttes» — de la misma nota: Monnot atribuye a la mayoría de los harranios un culto astral muy desarrollado, con templos consagrados a cada planeta

«Contrasting with this view, De Smet has recently gone as far as to speak of ‘le roman des Sabéens de Harran’ and to dismiss the whole issue as “un mythe de la recherche moderne qui repose sur des bases trés minces» — de Callatay consigna la posición contraria: De Smet llama a todo el asunto una novela y un mito de la investigación moderna con bases muy delgadas

«In this article, De Smet reacts more specifically to the view — upheld by various specialists since Tardicu — that, until the tenth century, the Sabi’ans of Harrin preserved and even developed the tradition of an Academy» — y precisa contra qué reacciona De Smet: la tesis, sostenida desde Tardieu, de que los sabeos de Harran conservaron una tradición de Academia; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«Néanmoins, il s‘agit d'un mythe profondement ancré, dont les origines remontent en Occident au moins jusqu’an XVIIle siécle, et qui de nos jours cst inlassablement répété et présenté comme une vérité solidement établic» — cita de De Smet en la introducción: el mito está hondamente arraigado desde el siglo XVIII y hoy se repite y se presenta como verdad sólidamente establecida

«In various places where Beirut is corrupt or deficient, Marquet’s great familiarity with the subject nevertheless allowed him to put forward conjectures which, in light of our manuscripts, prove to be excellent» — de Callatay reconoce el mérito de Marquet donde el testimonio de Beirut falla: sus conjeturas resultan excelentes a la luz de los manuscritos nuevos

«The Ikhwian’s statement on the ‘Sabi’ans, the Harranians, and the Hanifs’ provides much information that is not to be found elsewhere in mediaeval Arabic literature» — de Callatay declara el valor documental del capítulo: trae información que no está en ninguna otra parte de la literatura árabe medieval

«to be found in the fact that, as opposed to all other statements, which may be viewed as either ‘frankly adverse’ (like, supposedly, the part of Ibn al-Nadim’s report about the ritual of the ‘head’ and other similarly barbarian rituals)" or “relatively neutral’ (like, supposedly, Shahrastani’s report) vis-a-vis the doctrines and practices of the $abi'ans,“ the Brethren’s account appears to be remarkably sympathetic towards the people of Harran» — y sitúa esa singularidad en el tono: frente a los informes adversos, como el de Ibn al-Nadim sobre el ritual de la cabeza, o neutrales, como el de Shahrastani, el de los Ikhwan es notablemente simpatizante

«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 historical framework with which the Ikhwan start their account is relatively short, but of great significance» — y valora el marco histórico con que abren el capítulo: breve pero de gran alcance

«The last ones of those who are known to have given credence to, and practised, the ‘sciences of talismans’ (‘ultun al-tillasmat) were the Greeks (al-yunaniyyan), and different names are used» — cita de la epístola dentro de la introducción: los últimos que dieron crédito a las ciencias de los talismanes y las practicaron fueron los griegos

«To assert, moreover, that these people were all Greeks, and that ‘the Greeks” are the last ones of those experts in the talismanic art, also appears as a gross simplification» — de Callatay objeta esa afirmación: dar a esa gente por griega y a los griegos por los últimos expertos en el arte talismánico es una simplificación gruesa

«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

«In Epistle 33, which they devote to the intellectual principles of the Pythagoreans, the Brethren do not hesitate to claim that “Pythagoras was a sage and a monotheist from Harran» — de Callatay trae de otra epístola del corpus la afirmación de que Pitágoras fue un sabio y monoteísta de Harran

«In their eyes; there is a fair chance that “Sabi’an’ did not mean much more than ‘star-worshipper’, that a “Hanif was simply a ‘pagan monotheist’, and that a “Harranian’ was an inhabitant of the city of Harran, in Northern Mesopotamia, where star-worshippers and pagan monotheists were supposed to live and have their rituals» — de Callatay propone, en probabilidad y no en certeza, qué significaban los tres términos para los Ikhwan: sabeo por adorador de astros, hanif por monoteísta pagano y harraniano por habitante de Harran

«Shahrastant’s Milal provides us with a well-known passage in which the vision of a ‘Sabi’an’ is expressly opposed, under the form of a fictitious debate, to that of a “Hanif.”» — y consigna que Shahrastani opone las dos figuras en un debate ficticio, donde los Ikhwan las identifican

«The Ikhwan mention four schools that they believe to have emerged from the original doctrine, namely, the Pythagoreans, the Aristotelians, the Platonists, and the Epicurcans» — de Callatay enumera las cuatro escuelas que, según los Ikhwan, salieron de la doctrina original

«perhaps in the last afÏrmation of the Brethren that the distorting effect of syncretism may be observed with the clearest evidence» — y ve ahí el efecto deformante del sincretismo con mayor claridad que en ninguna otra parte

«The world is finite since it is spherical» — de Callatay resume el primer principio cosmológico que la epístola atribuye a los sabeos

«It is to this latter category that the human soul belongs, until the time when, after the passing-away of the body to which it has been attached, it departs and passes to the “Sea of T#us" (bahr ta’us)» — y el destino que la doctrina asigna al alma humana tras la muerte del cuerpo: el paso al Mar de Ta'us; la transliteración va como la imprime el escaneo

«By considering the character traits and habits of each soul, it is possible to know which road it is going to take» — de Callatay resume la técnica adivinatoria que se sigue de esa doctrina: los rasgos de carácter dicen qué camino tomará cada alma

«Human and incarnated souls are those which, if they are healthy, may prove to have the capacity to ascend towards the spheres and live there for a while» — y la condición para el ascenso: solo las almas sanas pueden subir a las esferas y morar ahí un tiempo

«Yet if these souls are ill, they may also possibly fall down and become attached again to bodies» — mientras que las enfermas pueden caer y volver a ligarse a cuerpos

«The Brethren conclude this sub-section by stating — using the first person singular — that they have drawn these tenets from the very foundations and premises of those people, as a validation of their school with respect to magic and talismans» — de Callatay señala el cambio de persona gramatical con que la epístola cierra la subsección y lo que ahí declara: que ha sacado esos principios de los fundamentos mismos de aquella gente, para validar su propia escuela en materia de magia y talismanes

«It does not pretend in any way to substitute for the original, which the reader is thus advised to consult, and for which the precise indications of the passages discussed are duly mentioned» — de Callatay acota el estatuto de sus propios resúmenes: no sustituyen al original, que el lector queda advertido de consultar

«Indeed, the Ikhwan add a quotation from Sure 41 of the Qur'an: ‘Your Lord is not ever unjust to His servants’» — de Callatay consigna la cita coránica que los Ikhwan añaden para sostener que Dios no es injusto con sus siervos

«This method seems to be the opposite of that used by the physiognomist (;ahib al-firdsa), who infers the traits of character from external appearance» — y contrapone el método de la epístola al del fisonomista, que va de la apariencia externa al carácter

«As has been stated above, it is implicit throughout the comparison of texts that Shahrastant provides an altogether seemingly neutral and objective account, whereas the Ikhwan — whose sympathy for, and indebtedness to, the $abi’ans Marquet thoroughly assumes — would have turned their description of the $abi’an doctrine into something much more acceptable for Muslims in general and Shi‘i, nay Ismaili, Muslims, in particular» — de Callatay expone lo que el cotejo de textos deja implícito según Marquet: Shahrastani informa con neutralidad aparente y los Ikhwan vuelven la doctrina sabeana aceptable para musulmanes, y en particular para chiíes e ismailíes

«But whereas Shahrastani evokes a God that is at the same time one by essence and multiple, as being incarnated (full) in the heavenly beings, the Ikhwan refrain from assigning such a ‘pagan’ and un-Islamic tenet to the $abi’ans, having recourse instead — at least in their own philosophy — to the Neoplatonic concepts of ‘Universal Intellect’ and “Universal Soul” in order to save God’s unity» — y mide la diferencia doctrinal: donde Shahrastani habla de un Dios encarnado en los seres celestes, los Ikhwan recurren al Intelecto Universal y al Alma Universal para salvar la unidad divina

«Another clear point of convergence is the assertion, in both accounts, that there are spiritual beings attached to the plancts in order to govern them and others — either good (‘the angels’) or bad (‘the demons’) by essence — which remain unattached, although the modalities of their actions are not exactly the same in the Milal and in the epistle ‘On Magic’» — de Callatay registra el punto de convergencia entre los dos informes: hay seres espirituales adheridos a los planetas para gobernarlos y otros no adheridos, buenos o malos por esencia, aunque las modalidades difieran

«What differs, not between the two reports but between the Sabi’an doctrine and the Brethren’s own representation is, as has been already mentioned, that God is said to be incarnated in the former view, whereas it befits the World Soul to act as intermediary in the latter» — y localiza la divergencia donde importa: no entre los dos informes sino entre la doctrina sabeana y la representación propia de los Ikhwan, con el Alma del Mundo por intermediaria en lugar de la encarnación divina

«Metempsychosis is the way the souls are compensated, in this world, as a result of their behaviour in the previous cycle» — de Callatay resume la función que la doctrina sabeana da a la metempsicosis: compensar en este mundo la conducta del ciclo anterior

«Either this soul ends up finding a way to its salvation or else it is then forced to descend again to earth so as to reincarnate itself» — y las dos salidas del alma: la salvación o el descenso forzoso a reencarnarse

«In this case, Marquet is forced to admit a compatibility far less obvious between the Sabi'an tenets and the Brethren’s own beliefs: ‘Pas question, pour eux [the Ichwan], qu’une ame se réincarne, ni surtout qu’une ame humaine se réincarne dans un corps d’animal, méme si elle est descendue plus bas que bien des animaux.’» — de Callatay consigna el límite que el propio Marquet reconoce: para los Ikhwan no cabe que un alma se reencarne, y menos que un alma humana pase a un cuerpo animal

«the Sabi’ans of the Brethren are able to predict in which animal species a soul is going to be reincarnated» — y frente a eso, la doctrina que la epístola atribuye a los sabeos sí predice en qué especie animal se reencarnará un alma

«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

«Both Shahrastani and the Ikwhan mention that astrology was invented in order for people to get closer to the spiritual beings, with a double objective: first, to have a better life in this world, by obtaining satisfaction for a need; secondly, to obtain the possibility of going to the world hereafter, by purifying one’s soul» — de Callatay registra el propósito doble que ambos informes dan a la invención de la astrología: mejor vida aquí y posibilidad del más allá por purificación del alma

«They have thus posited that, since the stars and the souls exert their influences on the bodies, and since some of them exert a propitious influence, it became necessary to approach them and to implore them in order to restore what is corrupt, with ultimately two aims in mind: first, the goodness of life in this world, and second, the acquisition of freedom in the world hereafter» — y el razonamiento que la epístola pone detrás: como los astros y las almas influyen en los cuerpos y algunos influyen propiciamente, hay que acercarse a ellos e implorarles

«Performing natural actions in accordance with the nature of a star or a soul, yet without any concern for the astrological science will prove to be rather inefÏcient, since the star or the soul will have been elected by volition only» — primera mitad del argumento de complementariedad: obrar según la naturaleza de un astro sin astrología resulta ineficaz, porque la elección sería solo de la voluntad

«Likewise, using the method of astrological elections, yet without any consideration for the natural actions (as the people who are ignorant of the art of talismans and magic usually do), will prove to be equally inefÏcient, since the election of the star or the soul will have been done by nature only» — segunda mitad: usar elecciones astrológicas sin atender a las acciones naturales es igual de ineficaz, porque la elección sería solo de la naturaleza

«The only method to reach the objective is, therefore, to combine the two sciences of astrology and magic, joining nature and volition with one another» — y la conclusión: el único método es combinar astrología y magia, uniendo naturaleza y voluntad

«The Ikhwan’s emphasis in this sub-section is on the necessary complementarity between astrology and natural magic, since astrology is concerned with the nature of the stars, while magic is concerned with their volition» — de Callatay formula el reparto que sostiene esa complementariedad: la astrología atiende a la naturaleza de los astros y la magia a su voluntad

«By observing which cities fall under the authority of a given star at the moment when it is in its ‘exaltation’ (sharaf), in its “domicile” (bayt), and in its “decan’ (wajht), and by waiting for the moment when the star comes into some of these “dignities’ (huztz), one could start the building of a temple — a temple whose shape would be appropriate for that star in the city for which this dignity had been determined» — de Callatay resume el procedimiento que la epístola atribuye a los sabeos para fundar un templo: observar qué ciudad cae bajo la autoridad de un astro y esperar a que el astro entre en exaltación, domicilio o decano

«Those people are also said to have established a rule for the rituals and to have fixed them in a constitution which they left with the ‘custodians’ (sadana)» — y la institución que lo sostiene: una constitución ritual dejada en manos de los custodios

«It included a list of the matters that it was thought fitting to ask for when the star was in one of its dignities, together with a list of the feasts to be celebrated for the star in its particular temple throughout the year» — que incluía qué pedir en cada dignidad del astro y qué fiestas celebrarle en su templo a lo largo del año

«The Brethren speak of three kinds of temples: for the planets, for fixed stars, and for deities unattached to celestial bodies» — de Callatay enumera las tres clases de templos de que habla la epístola

«The Brethren do not go into the details of these geometrical constructions, but they share the theoretical principles subtending those views with the above sources, with the Ghayat al-hakim, and with other texts of astral magic» — y declara el límite del texto: no describe las construcciones geométricas, aunque comparte los principios teóricos con el Ghayat al-hakim y con otros textos de magia astral

«Since Marquet's article, it is commonly assumed that Jirjas (as found in the Beirut edition; the name could as well be read ‘Jurjas’ or “Jarjas’) is to be identified with the Greek Gorgon,” itself assimilated with Hecate, or, more precisely, the triple or triple-faced Hecate at a later stage» — de Callatay consigna la identificación corriente desde Marquet —Jirjas con la Gorgona griega, asimilada a Hécate— y consigna también las tres lecturas posibles del nombre

«First, to derive ‘Jirjas’ from Topy@ is 2 conjecture that has problems from the linguistic point of view» — y objeta esa derivación por razones lingüísticas; el escaneo imprime *2* donde el texto dice a

«How is this silence of our sources to be explained, especially when we consider the Ikhwan’s emphasis ‘on the uniqueness of the temple of Jirjas, the only one to have been erected ‘ata time wher all the planets were in their dignities’?» — de Callatay formula la objeción como pregunta: ninguna otra fuente menciona un templo que los Ikhwan declaran único, erigido cuando todos los planetas estaban en sus dignidades

«I would consider the lack of any evidence to support Marquet's identification with the Gorgon as a major argument against it» — y declara su propia posición: la falta de evidencia es a su juicio un argumento mayor contra la identificación con la Gorgona

«This means that, in the Brethren’s view, the temple of Jirjas is the same as the one where the Harrinians would go on the twentieth day of Nisan of every year» — de Callatay identifica el templo de Jirjas con aquel al que los harranios acudían el vigésimo día de Nisan

«All Sabians, both Babylonian and Harranian, weep and lament for Tammuz in a feast of theirs which is attributed to Tammiuz» — cita de Biruni en la introducción: sabeos babilonios y harranios lloran a Tammuz en una fiesta suya

«So I say that this is a memorial feast which they held for Tammuz in the ancient times and which has continued until the present although the story about him has been forgotten because of the remoteness of his time» — y la lectura que el propio Biruni da a esa fiesta: un memorial antiguo que sobrevivió a la pérdida de la historia que lo motivaba

«In our times, no one of them knows what his story was and why they actually weep for him» — de modo que, según Biruni, en su tiempo ninguno de ellos sabe ya por qué llora

«The Christians have a memorial feast which they hold fora man called Jurjis who, so they claim, was killed many times in horrible ways, but he returned to life each time, until he died at the end of the story which is too long to be explained» — Biruni pone al lado la fiesta cristiana por un tal Jurjis, muerto muchas veces y vuelto a la vida otras tantas

«On either of the various forms it may take in an Arabic transliteration — ‘Jirjas’, ‘Jurjis’, or even ‘Jirjis’, as we have seen in the case of the Platonic Gyges, above in the epistle— this name is much more easily derivable from the Greek name Ie@pytoc (etymologically, ‘farmer’), all the more so in a Christian context, than it is from the Gorgon» — de Callatay propone su alternativa etimológica: el nombre se deriva más fácilmente del griego Georgios, sobre todo en contexto cristiano, que de la Gorgona

«Pseudo-Ibn Wahshiyya explains that the Christian day of mourning for Jurjis/St. George takes place ‘at the end of Nisan or little before it’, an assertion that fits well with Ibn al-Nadim’s indication that the Kadha feast is celebrated on the twentieth day of Nisan» — y hace coincidir las fechas: el duelo cristiano por Jurjis a finales de Nisan y la fiesta de Kadha el día veinte del mismo mes según Ibn al-Nadim

«What he probably should have said, is that some Harrinians had converted — sincerely or not — to Christianity, bringing along with them much of their religious lore and wisdom» — de Callatay propone enmendar, en probabilidad y no en certeza, lo que su fuente afirma: no que los harranios fueran cristianos, sino que algunos se convirtieron llevándose consigo su acervo religioso

«Instead of weeping for ‘Tammuz they were now weeping for St. George» — y cierra la hipótesis con la sustitución que propone: donde lloraban a Tammuz pasaron a llorar a san Jorge

«The level of syncretism shown by those accounts on Harran, and by our text in particular, invites us to a certain prudence, and we are certainly well advised not to embark for explanations that pretend to be simple and decisive» — de Callatay advierte contra las explicaciones simples y decisivas ante ese nivel de sincretismo

«It is also possible that Jirjas may conceal as well the Persian Ahriman, which is, similarly, the lord of the demons» — y deja abierta otra posibilidad: que Jirjas encubra al Ahriman persa, señor de los demonios

«they feel it natural, as shall be seen in the next sub-section, to link the sacrifice of the cock by the Sabian priest with the last injunction about it as made by Socrates to his companion before his death» — de Callatay señala que los Ikhwan enlazan sin violencia el sacrificio del gallo por el sacerdote sabeo con el último encargo de Sócrates a su compañero

«He frequently refers toa ritual called the ‘mystery to the north’, usually associated with a jinn and with demons, and also states that the $abi’ans ‘have adopted one direction for prayer, which they have fixed towards the North Pole in its course’» — de Callatay trae de Ibn al-Nadim el misterio del norte y la alineación de la plegaria sabeana con el polo norte

«The priest solemnly asks him whether he wishes to enter the religion and have the secret revealed» — de Callatay resume el arranque del rito de iniciación tal como lo narra la epístola

«The guarantor is asked by the priest to hand over to the young man his own ring, as a pledge that the secrets will not be revealed» — y la prenda que garantiza el silencio: el anillo del garante entregado al joven

«The iron ring, which has already been heated on a lamp, is branded on the young man’s thumb ninety-nine times, and in some other places, using the tamarisk rods» — de Callatay resume la marca: el anillo de hierro calentado en la lámpara se aplica noventa y nueve veces sobre el pulgar del iniciado

«The priest finally gives him a pinch of salt, tracing the form of triangle with it» — y el gesto de cierre: una pizca de sal con la que el sacerdote traza un triángulo

«One may attempt to distinguish those elements which are resolutely un-Islamic from those that might have some relation with Islam, as Carmela BafÏoni did in her aforementioned study on the ‘secrets sects’ in the Ras@’il» — de Callatay remite a Baffoni el intento de separar en ese rito lo resueltamente ajeno al islam de lo que pueda tener relación con él

«Many of the common elements of these kinds of ritual — whatever their origin may be: objects like the jug or the branches, the sacrificial victims and especially the cock, the knife and the ring (whose material may symbolize Saturn), the seal, the symbolic gestures of the boy and the priest, the symbolic clothes, the substitution for the victim — are quite alien to Islam, and some of them (e-g., the prayer after purification, the offerings to the planets with immolation, the cocks, the burning of victims, the change of garments, the signet stones, the setting of the table, the cating of sacred food, the shrine, the salt) are also mentioned by Ibn al-Nadim» — cita de Baffoni en la introducción: el jarro, las ramas, las víctimas y en especial el gallo, el cuchillo, el anillo cuyo material podría simbolizar a Saturno, el sello, los gestos y las ropas, y la sustitución de la víctima, todo ello ajeno al islam y en parte consignado ya por Ibn al-Nadim

«Other elements, however, such as some of the ritual gestures, the holy invocations, the purification rites, the sama’, clipping the nails and shaving, the sacrifice of animals, the prohibition to cat certain of them, may have some connection with Islam» — y la otra mitad de la misma cita: gestos rituales, invocaciones, ritos de purificación, el sama', el corte de uñas y el rasurado, el sacrificio de animales y la prohibición de comer algunos podrían tener conexión con el islam

«Now it is true that our classical sources on the $abi’ans — Mas‘udi, Ibn al-Nadim, and Pseudo-Majriji in the first instance — offer many close parallels with the Brethren’s description» — de Callatay reconoce paralelos cercanos entre la descripción de los Ikhwan y las fuentes clásicas sobre los sabeos: Mas'udi, Ibn al-Nadim y el Pseudo-Majriti

«In this sub-section, the Brethren provide the reader with an explanation of what the secret consists of» — de Callatay presenta la subsección donde la epístola explica en qué consiste el secreto

«Four amongst these combinations are said to include the ‘canons’ (qawanur) and the “demonstrations” (barahin) of the followimg four sciences» — y el punto de llegada de esa explicación: cuatro combinaciones que contienen los cánones y las demostraciones de cuatro ciencias

«The reason why those sciences cannot be unveiled to ‘the mass of the common people’ (al-jumhur min al“amma) is the fear that would fill the elite (al-khassa) if the vulgar, with their evident lack of discernment, their evil natural dispositions, and their bad habits, were» — de Callatay resume el motivo del secreto que da la epístola: el temor de la élite a lo que el vulgo haría con esas ciencias; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«It is thus a necessity to safeguard these sciences from those who are not worthy of them and who resemble the case reported by Plato in the Republic» — y el enlace que la epístola establece entre ese temor y el caso que Platón cuenta en la República

«This is arguably the most original part of the Brethren’s account» — de Callatay califica esa parte como la más original del relato, en potencial y no en afirmación

«It is curious indeed that the four sciences here referred to correspond almost exactly with those they have listed in the introduction to this epistle» — y observa la correspondencia casi exacta entre esas cuatro ciencias y la lista con que la epístola abre

«The allusion to the previously mentioned story of Gyges should naturally be understood in the same way» — de Callatay lee la alusión a Gyges en la misma clave

«It is not possible to trace back the origin of the Brethren’s information, but it seems likely that they share with the author of the Fihrist a common source of information for the Kadha feast» — de Callatay declara imposible rastrear el origen de la información de los Ikhwan y propone, como probable, una fuente común con el Fihrist para la fiesta de Kadha

«The Brethren conclude their long account by explaining that it corresponds to what they have heard and come to know regarding the rehabilitation of astrology and the sciences that derive from it» — y consigna cómo cierra la epístola su relato: como lo que oyó y llegó a saber sobre la rehabilitación de la astrología y de las ciencias que de ella derivan

«to acquire knowledge of sciences such as alchemy or medicine. It is thus a necessity to safeguard these sciences from those who are not worthy of them and who resemble the case reported by Plato in the Republic (and mentioned at the beginning of the present epistle), namely, the case of the shepherd who killed the king and took his place without being qualified for it nor worthy of it» — de Callatay resume el temor que la epístola da por motivo del secreto y el caso platónico con que lo ilustra: el pastor que mató al rey y ocupó su lugar sin merecerlo

«With the mention of the two secrets, whose mixing with one another in the appropriate way gives birth to combinations that reveal the ‘inner meaning’ of the four hidden sciences, it also seems to me the most fantastic part of it» — de Callatay declara en primera persona su impresión sobre los dos secretos que, mezclados, dan combinaciones que revelan el sentido interior de las cuatro ciencias ocultas

«And if similarities or echoes should be mentioned, I would be inclined in this case not to point so much to eventual models ofa remote past as to decisively modern elaborations (or, admittedly, re-elaborations) in the manner of Jorge Luis Borges’ Biblioteca de Babel or Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books» — y adónde le lleva esa impresión: no a modelos antiguos sino a elaboraciones modernas como la Biblioteca de Babel de Borges o los Prospero's Books de Greenaway

«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

«Likewise, the justification of preserving this kind of knowledge from the common. people looks like the mere repetition of what they had written at the beginning of the epistle: it does not seem to have any link with the sort of Sabi’an material they may have used for the rest of their account» — y sostiene lo mismo de la justificación del secreto: repite lo escrito al principio de la epístola y no parece tener vínculo con el material sabeano del resto

«In order to afÏrm the reality of magic and to legitimize its practice, the Brethren start by enumerating a certain number of examples of effects or influences that anyone may observe in the surrounding world» — de Callatay describe el procedimiento del capítulo séptimo: para afirmar la realidad de la magia, la epístola empieza enumerando efectos observables en el mundo

«The attraction of the magnetic stone for iron, the utility of the ‘tail of the wolf (a plant) for colic, or the damage caused by the sea-hare (a poisonous mollusc) to the lung: these examples are taken from each one of the three natural kingdoms, as one can see» — y observa que los tres ejemplos —imán, cola de lobo, liebre de mar— vienen uno de cada reino natural

«But instead of providing a detailed list of these influences here, the authors content themselves with advising their readers to consult the “Books of Properties’» — de Callatay señala lo que la epístola no hace: en vez de detallar esas influencias remite al lector a los Libros de Propiedades

«The Ikhwan recall Plato’s theory of the soul, or better said, of the three souls: the appetitive, the irascible, and the rational» — de Callatay identifica la teoría de las tres almas que la epístola atribuye a Platón

«Their purport is to demonstrate how the rational soul exerts its influence on the two bestial souls by taming them and subjugating them in the measure of its own capacities» — y el uso que le dan: mostrar cómo el alma racional doma y sujeta a las dos bestiales en la medida de sus fuerzas

«Interestingly enough, they compare the influences upon souls with those upon bodies as performed by drugs and remedies. Talismans and spells are examples of the same nature. By knowing their (secret) properties, one can exert influence upon a body or a soul» — de Callatay señala la analogía que sostiene el argumento: las influencias sobre las almas se comparan con las que las drogas y los remedios ejercen sobre los cuerpos, y talismanes y conjuros operan por conocimiento de propiedades secretas

«In terms of textual sources, the last sub-section — on the evil eye and related issues — is probably the most interesting of this part of the epistle» — de Callatay califica la subsección sobre el mal de ojo como la más interesante en cuanto a fuentes

«In the absence of explicit Qur’anic citations, the Ikhwan have recourse to several prophetic traditions in order to demonstrate the reality of the evil eye and the reality of the magic designed to protect one from it» — y describe con qué la sostienen a falta de citas coránicas explícitas: varias tradiciones proféticas

«Amidst these Islamic references, they also report the Christian apocryphal tradition of Jesus addressing plants and stones as if they had indeed been endowed with souls» — de Callatay consigna el elemento no islámico que cierra el capítulo: la tradición apócrifa cristiana de Jesús dirigiéndose a plantas y piedras

«In Epistle 3 (On Astronomy), another of those epistles most frequently referred to in the present risdlia, the Brethren define angels» — nota de los editores en la plana de traducción: remiten a la Epístola 3 del corpus para la definición de los ángeles; el tramo se corta en un límite de troceo

«that had once been incarnated but then had purified themselves, aquired perception, and separated from their corporeal envelopes, their essence becoming autonomous» — continuación de esa cita de la Epístola 3: almas encarnadas que se purificaron, adquirieron percepción y se separaron de su envoltura corporal

«In the subsequent lines of that passage, the Brethren also define jinn and devils as ‘evil and corrupted souls, which had once been incarnated but had then separated from their corporeal envelopes without being endowed with perception and without being polished» — y la contraparte, en la misma nota: jinn y demonios como almas malas y corrompidas que se separaron del cuerpo sin percepción

«Having remained blind, deaf, and mute, they have been spread over the darkness[...] and have fallen into the abyss of the intermediate world{....] This is their condition up to the day they will be resurrected» — cierre de esa cita: ciegos, sordos y mudos hasta el día de la resurrección, con los corchetes de puntos suspensivos con que los editores marcan sus cortes

«Forbidding science to those who are unconcerned with it and, conversely, providing it to those to who deserve it is a topos in the Rasdil» — los editores declaran que la regla sobre a quién se da la ciencia es un tópico recurrente del corpus, no una tesis propia de esta epístola

«Poonawala notes that MS Atif Efendi 1651 ‘adds the above counsel Very briefly at the end of the table of contents on the very authority of Aba Sulayman (al-Maqdisi), one of the alleged compilers of the Rasa‘il, according to Aba Hayyan al-Tawhidi'» — y remiten a Poonawala para un testigo que añade ese consejo bajo la autoridad de Abu Sulayman al-Maqdisi, uno de los presuntos compiladores según al-Tawhidi

«The Brethren‘s point in this paragraph is to show that the validity of magicand the other secret sciences is generally spoiled in the eyes of the average man (i.c.,the ‘heedless people’ above)» — nota de los editores sobre a quién carga la epístola el descrédito de las ciencias secretas: no a la ciencia sino a quienes no sacan de ella más que una mirada superficial

«In Epistle 3 (On Astronomy’; sce Rasa'il, vol. 1, p. 114.10-16), the science of the stars (‘ilm al-nujiim) is said to be divided into three parts, which could grosso modo be identified with the following disciplines: (1) astronomy; (2) computus and time-measuring tables; (3) astrology» — nota de los editores con la tripartición de la ciencia de los astros que da la Epístola 3: astronomía, cómputo y tablas, y astrología

«The figure of 1,029 is to be understood as the sum of 1,022 (the number of the fixed stars as traditionally received since Ptolemy) and 7 (the number of “wandering stars’, that is, the planets)» — nota de los editores que descompone la cifra de la Epístola: 1 022 estrellas fijas de la tradición ptolemaica más los siete planetas

«The two nodes, technically referred to as ‘ra’s al-jawzahr’ (literally, the ‘Head ofthe Dragon’) and “dhanab al jawzahr’ (the “Tail of the Dragon’), are the two. lunar nodes, which correspond to the points of the sphere in which the Moon crosses the ecliptic from the south to the north and from the north to the south respectively» — nota de los editores que identifica los dos nodos con los puntos donde la Luna cruza la eclíptica

«Faithful to their syncretic approach to reality, the Brethren do not hesitate to» — nota de los editores sobre el sincretismo de los Ikhwan; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«That the prediction of future events is regarded as.a privilege for those who are inspired by God is an idea that the authors also develop in Epistle 28 (On the Limits of Human Knowledge’)» — nota de los editores que remite la idea del pronóstico como privilegio de los inspirados a la Epístola 28 del corpus

«As opposed to Ptolemy, who held that the Sun's apogee was fixed» — nota de los editores que contrapone a Ptolomeo, para quien el apogeo solar era fijo

«Muslim scientists generally believed that the apogees of all the planets, except for the Moon, moved by the same motion as the starry sphere» — y la posición contraria que atribuyen a los científicos musulmanes: los apogeos de todos los planetas menos la Luna se mueven con la esfera estrellada

«The issue of whether the final compilation of the epistles (or at least some of them) iz due to several authors or to only one (whose ident would in any case remain a matter of conjecture) is one of the multiple vexed issues surrounding this corpus» — los editores consignan como cuestión abierta si la compilación final es de varios autores o de uno solo, y declaran que la identidad quedaría en conjetura

«This is the first of various occurrences in this epistle where the first person singular is used instead of the plural» — nota de los editores sobre un rasgo de la obra: en varios lugares la epístola pasa del plural al singular

«Iamblichus, after Nicomachus, mentions a special “most perfect proportion” consisting of four terms and called 3 “musical”, which, according to tradition, was discovered by the Babylonians and was first introduced into Greece by Pythagoras» — nota de los editores con la genealogía que Jámblico, tras Nicómaco, da a la proporción musical: descubierta por los babilonios e introducida en Grecia por Pitágoras

«The classical example for this “musical proportion’ is: 6:8 = 9:12» — y el ejemplo clásico de esa proporción

«The assertion that unfavourable phenomena exist in this world, but that they are due to accidental causes and are not part of the prime design» — nota de los editores sobre la afirmación de que lo desfavorable es accidental

«The story about this talisman is told by various Muslim anthors, including Mias‘udi, since the time of Ibn Khurradadhbih» — nota de los editores que rastrea el relato del talismán en varios autores musulmanes, incluido Mas'udi

«It is usually said to derive from Balinas, referring here in fact to Pseudo. Apollonius of Tyana» — y su adjudicación corriente a Balinas, que es el Pseudo-Apolonio de Tiana

«The legend has it that when the statue of the bird whistled, it would attract an enormous quantity of starlings, cach carrying three olives, and that this magical harvest would enable the people of Rome to gct enough oil for the whole year» — los editores resumen la leyenda: la estatua del pájaro silbaba y atraía estorninos que traían aceitunas bastantes para el aceite de todo el año en Roma

«Mugaddima, tba Khaldan mocks Mas‘udi for accepting this as genuine history; see Ibn Khaldun, Mugadidima, tr. Rosenthal, p. 37: "Al Mas'udt reports another absurd stary, that of the Statue of the Starling in Rome» — y consignan que Ibn Khaldun se burla de Mas'udi por dar esa historia por verdadera; los nombres van con la grafía que imprime el escaneo

«The manuscripts provide something in the style of allman: (for lam) or ‘al-khalg min’ (for mun), both unintelligible» — nota de los editores sobre el nombre de Glaucón: los manuscritos dan lecturas ininteligibles y la enmienda propuesta es de ellos

«The emendation provided here — aghlaqun — fits with the Greek original, since the account of Gyges is put into the mouth of Glaucon (Greek. [Aatxewv), Plato’s own brother and one ‘of Socrates’ major conversants in the Republic» — y la justifican por el original griego, donde el relato de Gyges está puesto en boca de Glaucón, hermano de Platón

«The Arabic is ‘madinat arubba’, which could here be translated with either “a city of Europe’ or“a city [named] Europe’» — nota de los editores que declara ambigua la expresión árabe y da las dos traducciones posibles, sin arbitrar entre ellas

«A deformation of the original name ‎كروتno doubt influenced by the usual, ‘Arabic transliteration of the Greek name Te@pywos, ‘George’» — nota de los editores sobre Jirjis como deformación del nombre original, influida por la transliteración árabe corriente de Georgios; el término que el escaneo corrompe va dentro del tramo

«he turned the collet of the ring towards himself, towards the inner part of his band, and when this took place they say that he became invisible to those who sat by him and they spoke of him as absent; at that he was amazed, and again fumbling with the ring turned the collet outwards and so became visible» — los editores imprimen en nota la versión griega del mismo pasaje, para que se coteje con la árabe

«Al-Ma’min had called upon the judges, but they had not shown up yet» — nota de los editores con la lectura paralela del Mudhakarat sobre los jueces convocados

«The ‘Discussion’ (Mudhakara), or more generally ‘Discussions’ (Mudhakarat), refers indeed to a work ascribed to Aba Ma‘shar, which the Ikhwan quote from here verbatim. On this, see the Introduction, pp. 24-29» — nota de los editores que identifica la obra citada y declara que los Ikhwan la copian literalmente

«This section begins with a hadith like chain of transmitters, whose matn starts with the phrase: ‘We arrived, a group af astrologers and myself’. “Myself, the narrator of the whole story to follow, is thus logically to be identified with the last member of the isndd. namely, Yaya ibn Abi Mansur» — nota de los editores sobre la forma del pasaje: una cadena de transmisores al modo del hadiz, cuyo último eslabón es el narrador

«The ‘ascendant’ (fal: Greek, epoox6n0g Latin, ascendens) is, on the castern horizon of a given place, the point of the zodiac (and, by extension, the zodiacal sign) emerging ata given moment. Its importance is duc to the fact that itis the point of reference for the whole astral chart» — nota de los editores que define el ascendente y su función de referencia para toda la carta

«From this point are counted the twelve ‘houses’ (buyat) of 30” cach and cach associated with a peculiar ‘allotmentTM (here referred to as qisma) regarding human life, according to the following order: the Ist from 0° (the ‘ascendant’) to 30°: "house of life’ (hayat); 2nd from 30° to 60®: ‘house of wealth’ (#4/); 3rd from 60° to 90°: ‘house of the brothers" (ikiwa); Ath from 90° to 120°: “house of the fathers’ (aba’}; 5th from 120° to 150°: ‘house of the children’ (awlad); 6th from 150" to 180°: ‘house of illnesses’ (amrad)» — y el reparto de las doce casas de treinta grados con su asignación, hasta la sexta

«7th from 180° to 210°: “house of wives’ (a=waj); $th from 210” to 240°: "house of death’ (mawt); 9th from 240" to 270": ‘house of travels’ (asfar); 10th from 27 to 300*: “house of power’ (sulfa); 11th from 300” to 330”: ‘house of hope’ (raja); 12th from 330° to 360”: “house of enemies’ (a“da’)» — continuación del mismo reparto hasta la duodécima casa, con los grados que el escaneo deja truncos

«The ‘aspect’ (nazar; Latin, aspectus) is a fundamental notion in astrology. Planets were believed to have a certain number of privileged relationships with one another according to the geometric angles of the figure that they form within the circle of the zodiac» — nota de los editores que define el aspecto por el ángulo geométrico entre planetas en el círculo zodiacal

«Planets distant by 180" (the angle of a straight line, corresponding to a distance apart of six signs) are said to be in ‘opposition’ (a stronger malefic aspect). Planets distant from one another by 120° (the angle of an equilateral triangle, corresponding to a distance apart of four signs) are said to be in the stronger benefic “trine aspect’. Plancts distant by 90° (the angle of a square, corresponding to a distance apart of three signs) are said to be “square’ (a weaker malefic aspect). Planets distant by 60° (the angle of a hexagon, corresponding to a distance apart of two signs) are said to be in the weaker benefice “sextile aspect’» — y la escala completa: oposición maléfica fuerte, trígono benéfico fuerte, cuadratura maléfica débil y sextil benéfico débil

«In the present example, the aspect is trine and therefore regarded as benefic, with Jupiter in Virgo and the ascendant (with both the Moon and the Sun) in Capricorn, that is, a distance apart of four signs» — los editores aplican esa escala al caso: trígono benéfico, con Júpiter en Virgo y el ascendente en Capricornio

«Zodiacal signs may also be described as having a “trine’ or ‘quaternary’ relation with one another, but in this case it is a constant relationship which does not vary according to charts. For instance, Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius make up one of the four triplicities (mtuthallathat), namely, the fiery triplicity» — y distinguen ese aspecto variable de la relación constante entre signos, que forma las cuatro triplicidades

«Ptolemy recognized only-one Part of Fortune. but others have introduced an ‘excessive number of methods» — nota de los editores sobre las suertes: Ptolomeo reconocía una sola Parte de la Fortuna y otros multiplicaron los métodos

«It is impossible to enumerate the lots which have been invented for the solution of horary questions, and for answering enquiries as to the prosperous outcome or auspicious time for action: they increase in number everyday’» — y la consecuencia que citan: las suertes inventadas para las preguntas horarias no se dejan enumerar porque aumentan cada día

«This phrase is to be understood against the associations of traditional astrology, for which Venus was linked with beauty, love, and the realm of fine ornaments (hence, the stane ring) whereas Mercury was naturally related to the art of writing, scerctarial tools, and so on (hence, the pen)» — nota de los editores que explica la lectura astrológica de los dos objetos: Venus con la belleza y los adornos, de donde el anillo, y Mercurio con la escritura, de donde la pluma

«Neither lam (saffy) nor Beirut (shaniy, with an unconvincing explanation in the note) make sense, and su (min: or man?) is even more incoherent» — nota de los editores que declara sin sentido las lecturas de los tres testigos en un punto, sin elegir ninguna

«Al-Ma'man persisted with him for many days till he confessed and renounced the claim of prophecy-He described the trick which he had used in regard to the ring and the pen» — los editores imprimen en nota el final del Mudhakarat que la epístola no recoge: el pretendiente acaba confesando el truco

«Qur'an 2:102 As noted above, all Quranic quotations in this volume are from Sahih: International, available at http» — nota de los editores que declara de qué traducción inglesa toman todas las citas coránicas del volumen; el tramo se corta antes de la dirección web

«Another interpretation is that Nimrod was seeking to slay him [Esau] on. account of the garment which had belonged to Adam [and which Esau now possessed), for whenever he put it on and went out into the field, all the beasts and birds in the world would come and flock around him» — los editores imprimen en nota una lectura distinta del mismo motivo, tomada de la literatura midrásica: Nimrod buscaba matar a Esaú por la prenda de Adán

«The author of this otherwise well-informed study docs not seem to know of the story of Esau and (Ibn) Nimrod as told by the Ikhwan in Epistle 52» — nota de los editores que consigna un hueco en un estudio ajeno: no parece conocer la versión de esta epístola

«For the misattribution to the Torah of this story deriving in fact from ancient midrashim» — nota de los editores que declara la adscripción a la Torá como errónea y sitúa el relato en los midrashim antiguos

«The expression ‘on travel’ is awkward as well, since it does not appear as such in the Bible either» — nota de los editores sobre una expresión del texto que no se halla así en la Biblia

«This phrase, which is not in the original. looks like an interpolation» — y su lectura de otra frase, marcada como apariencia y no como certeza: parece una interpolación

«Cf. 1 Samuel 28:20 (tr. Green): “And Saul hurried, and fell the full length of his stature, to the earth, and greatly feared because of the words of Samuel; and there was no power in him, for he had not eaten bread all that day, and all that night» — nota de los editores que coteja el desmayo de Saúl con 1 Samuel en la traducción de Green, para que se vea qué añade y qué omite la Epístola

«Cf I Samuel 28:21-25 (tr. Green): (21) And the woman came to Saul, and saw that he was greatly distressed and said to him, Bchold, your scrvant bas listened to your voice, and I put my life in my hand, and I obeyed your words which you spoke to me. (22) And naw. I beg of you, you also listen to the voice of your servant, and I will set before you a bit of bread, and cat, and there shall be strength in you when you go on the way. (23) But he refused, and said, Twill not cat. But his servants urged him. and the woman also, and he listened to their voices and rose from the earth, and sat on the bed. (24) And the woman hada fat calf in the house; and she hurried and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it; (25) and brought near before Saul, and before his servants; and they ate, and rose up, and went on during that night» — y el pasaje bíblico completo de la hospitalidad de la pitonisa, que la Epístola resume en una línea

«The Brethren seem to recapitulate here the sources they have been previously» — nota de los editores sobre la recapitulación de fuentes, marcada como apariencia; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«Note that there مص ‎كدtrace of Aba Ma’shar’s Mudhakarat here» — nota de los editores que consigna la huella del Mudhakarat en este punto; el texto árabe va dentro del tramo tal como lo imprime el escaneo

«Our testimonies are at great variance here» — nota de los editores que declara la divergencia entre los testigos sin arbitrar entre ellos

«This is the foundational doctrine for astrological geography. The literature from. Classical Antiquity provides us with a series of associations between regions of the earth — particularly, the seven climes — and the planets and the zodiacal signs. On this, ‎عمدBouché-Leclercq, L’Astrologie grecque. pp. 327-347 and my ‘astrologische Geographic’. pp. 85-104 and ‘Oikoumené hypouranios’, pp. 25-69» — nota de los editores que nombra la doctrina en juego, la geografía astrológica, y remite a la bibliografía clásica y propia

«The reason why geography is dealt wi jistle 4 — thus ‘breaking the conventional arder of the quadrivium of mathematical sciences (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music) — is that geography was regarded as the earthly counterpart to the science of the stars, in the manner of an appendix to the indubitably nobler science of astronomy» — y explican por qué la geografía rompe el orden del cuadrivio en el corpus: se la tenía por contraparte terrestre de la ciencia de los astros; el escaneo corta la línea

«The comparison of Beirut with the readings of our two manuscripts raises a problem here- Whereas Beirut has the implausible jana (corrected by Marquet to juththa) and then, in various subsequent occurrences, the word juththa (also to be found in the similar passage from Epistle 49, but again according to Beirut only), ruin (confirmed at least in two cases by Jat) has the less common word jinth (a variant of jins, meaning “race’ or lineage’) which I would suggest to take as the lectio difÏcilior» — nota de los editores sobre una variante disputada, donde proponen la lectura menos común como lectio difficilior en lugar de la de Beirut

«Both Marquet (‘Sabéens I’, p.38) and BafÏoni (Secret Sects’. p. 18) assume that this word means ‘to offera sacrifice’, but I would sce that as over-interpretation» — nota de los editores que se aparta de Marquet y de Baffoni sobre el sentido de un término y llama sobreinterpretación a la suya

«Nun (al Afiqurasiyya) confirms here Marquet's remarkable intuition (SabéensT, ‎م37). Lam and Beirut have: al-Aq'urustyya, which BafÏoni (Secret Sects’, pp15-16) suggests linking with the Greek Gpxovtixéc, but the argument seems to me far-fetched» — nota donde los editores dan por confirmada por un manuscrito una conjetura de Marquet sobre los epicúreos y rechazan la propuesta alternativa de Baffoni

«True. the mention of Epicureans looks odd here since. as BafÏoni remarks, the Brethren’s awareness — and, broadly speaking, Islamic awareness — about Epicurus and Epicureanism was almost nonexistent. But the name was known, and I would take its inclusion here as yet further evidence for the Brethren’s lack of familiarity with the history of philosophical traditions of Antiquity» — y lo que de Callatay saca de esa mención: el nombre circulaba aunque el epicureísmo fuera casi desconocido, lo que a su juicio indica la poca familiaridad de los Ikhwan con la historia de la filosofía antigua

«Note the implication of the phrase: the world is said to be finite “because” (Cl-anna_ hu’, given by both manuscripts) it is spherical and not “except for the fact that (‘illa anna-hu’) it is spherical, as given by Beirut» — nota de los editores sobre una diferencia de conjunción entre testigos que cambia el argumento: el mundo es finito *porque* es esférico, y no *salvo que* lo sea

«connected with the peacock (fads or fawis, from the Greek ل ‎همعand some of its symbolism. F. Viré, "Tawus’, E12, p. 396, records that ‘according to some beliefs, it [the peacock] # said to have been the cause of the entry of the Devil into Paradise and of the expulsion of Adam, with the injunction that he was never to return there for the whole duration of the terrestrial world’» — nota de los editores que rastrea el simbolismo del pavo real y la creencia que lo hace causa de la entrada del Diablo en el Paraíso

«A Muslim legend reported via the Qisas al-anbiyd’ literature has it indeed that Iblis, who wished to enter Paradise, then guarded by the angel Ridwin, managed to slip past him by convincing the haughty peacock to carry him under its feathers into the Garden» — y la leyenda que recogen: Iblis entra al Jardín escondido bajo las plumas del pavo real orgulloso

«The Iichwin identify here the ‘Sca of Tats’ with the “sphere of ether’ (which is mid-way between the spheres of the four elements and the planetary spheres), and mention the souls that are there to endure suffering until they find the way of “descent into 2 matter’. In other words, the expression is meant to designate the ‘interval’ between heaven. and hell in which the souls are believed to remain between two successive cycles of metempsychosis» — los editores glosan el Mar de Ta'us como la esfera del éter, intervalo entre cielo e infierno donde las almas esperan entre dos ciclos de metempsicosis

«To link the peacock with haughtiness may seem to be fairly obvious, but in the context of the present epistle this association is perhaps best interpreted when put in line with the above mention of the ‘Sea of Tavs’ (‘Sea of the Peacock’) and the legend it refers to regarding erring souls: see note 126 above» — y proponen leer la asociación del pavo real con la soberbia junto con la del Mar de Ta'us, marcando su lectura como acaso la mejor y no como la cierta

«In Epistle 26 (On the Man as Microcosmos'; see Rasi#l, vol. 2. pp-473~475), the Brethren provide another list of animals in connection with qualitics or traits of character, but while the two lists agree with each other on certain associations (as in the case of the lion, the wolf, the camel, and the peacock), they are at variance for many others, and each one deals with animal species that are not taken into account in the other statement» — nota de los editores que coteja esta tabla de animales con otra del mismo corpus y consigna las divergencias sin armonizarlas

«In other words, depending on his dominant character trait at the time of his death, man is reincarnated into the species in which the same trait is also dominant There is possibly no better illustration of this doctrine than Plato’s myth of Er at the very end of the Republic» — los editores glosan la doctrina de la reencarnación por rasgo dominante y la emparejan con el mito de Er

«al-kabir compiled by Jabir ibn Hayyan himself (see Kraus, Jabir. vol. 1, pp. 148-152 fora detailed description), and it is indeed possible that the Brethren are here referring to that work, as has been suggested by BafÏoni (Frammenti, p. 365). ‘The mention of the magnet — the only indication in the present passage as to the contents of that book — is, of course, not sufÏcient to allow us to decide» — nota de los editores sobre el Libro de Propiedades que la Epístola cita sin identificar: recogen la propuesta de Baffoni de verlo como obra de Jabir ibn Hayyan y declaran que la sola mención del imán no basta para decidirlo

«Fach planet exerts its specific authority on two signs (in the case of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) — or else on one sign only (in the case of the two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon). Not to be confused with zodiacal houses (on which, see note 45 above), these signs arc said to be the ‘domiciles/ rulerships' (bayt [al kawidksb], pl. butt, Greek, ‎كوكناهLatin, domus), either diurnal or nocturnal, of the corresponding planets, according to the following system: Moon in Cancer (its noctunal domicile; ‎ممdiurnal domicile for the Moon); Mercury in Virgo (diurnal) and Gemini (nocturnal); Venus in Libra (diurnal) and in Taurus (nocturnal); Sun in Leo Gts diurnal domicile; no nocturnal domicile for the Sun); Mars in Scorpio (diurnal) and in Aries (nocturnal); Jupiter in Sagittarius (diurnal) and in Pisces (nocturnal); Saturn in Capricorn (diurnal) and in Aquarius (nocturnal). See Bouché Leclereq, L’Astrolagie greeque. pp. 182-192. ‘The Brethren define the system of domiciles in Epistle 3 COn Astronomy’); see Rasa'll, vol. 1, ‎دج120. See also my Révolutions, p. 88, for references to Greck and Arabic authors» — nota de los editores con el sistema completo de domicilios diurnos y nocturnos de cada planeta, y su remisión a la Epístola 3 del corpus

«In the same way as the twelve zodiacal signs. the seven planets, in their quality of deities, are also susceptible to be ‘represented’ under the form of specific ‘images’ corresponding to each one of them. Islamic astrology inherited from Classical Antiquity the principal characteristics enabling one to construe the ‘representation’ or the ‘image’ (sara) of cach of the planetary gods. Thus, Saturn is usually portrayed as.an‘old man, Mars-asa warrior, Venus asa young woman, and so on. These associations, with the multiplication of attributes for each planctary god, resulted in Islam in an extremely rich iconography» — nota de los editores sobre la iconografía planetaria heredada de la Antigüedad: Saturno como anciano, Marte como guerrero, Venus como mujer joven

«The orientation of sacred buildings to the north is a common feature of many civilizations. In the specific context of Harrin, it is much dealt with by Ibn al-Nadim, who in various places of his report mentions a “mystery to the north’ to the jinn, the devils, and the deities. In one place, the “mystery to the north’ is even presented asa ritual performed ‘to the chief of the jinn — later also referred {oas “the God of the North” — who is the greatest divinity’; see Fihrist, tr. Dodge, p. 760. On this mystery and its possible Mesopotamian antecedants» — nota de los editores sobre la orientación al norte y su presencia en el informe de Ibn al-Nadim sobre Harran

«It is not quite clear what the authors mean by this expression. It seems likeh that the use of kasaw would imply that the names of the signs were engraved ‎اه ‘embroidered somewhere. but it is also possible to understand that the zodiacal Signs were given their appearance according to their names. ‘The text is not explicit enough to decide» — los editores declaran no poder decidir el sentido de una expresión de la Epístola y dejan las dos lecturas abiertas

«These associations are strange. The traditional associations between planets and metals, rooted in Prockus” Commentary on tie Timacus, developed in Late ‘Antiquity and transmitted over the centuries without much change up to the Renaissance, are as follows: the Moon with silver; Mercury, quicksilver (in substitution for clectrum as found in carlier lists); Venus, copper; Mars, iron: the Sun, gold: Jupiter, tin; Saturn, lead» — nota de los editores que contrapone la lista tradicional de metales planetarios, arraigada en el comentario de Proclo al Timeo, a la de la Epístola

«But the present list offers quite an interesting parallel with Pseudo. Majrit!’s Ghayat al- hakim: (Book 1, Chapter 10 and Book Il, Chapter 7), whose manuscript tradition connects Saturn with iron and Mars with coppers» — y el paralelo que sí halla: el Ghayat al-hakim del Pseudo-Majriti conecta igual Saturno con hierro y Marte con cobre

«Regrettably enough, the translation of the text itself by Ritter and Plessner is marred by unfortunate emendations no doubt intended to “correct” the reading of manuscripts in those places in order to make them fit with the traditional scrics of correspondences» — los editores objetan a la traducción de Ritter y Plessner haber enmendado los manuscritos para hacerlos coincidir con la serie tradicional

«To find that the Ghaya parallels the Brethren’s report in those two instances is, needless to say, a confirmation of the influence exerted by the Ikhwan upon this famous treatise» — y leen esa coincidencia como confirmación del influjo de los Ikhwan sobre el Ghaya

«Fach planet is represented by a three-dimensional sculpture (timthal), an assertion which confirms the previous statement about the material used in each case- ‘These statues will be referred to as idals (asnirm) in the same paragraph» — nota de los editores sobre la naturaleza de las imágenes: esculturas de bulto que el propio párrafo llama ídolos

«This is highly reminiscent of Iamblichan theurgy/Egyptian magic; see E. R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (University of California Press, 1951), pp: 291-295, esp. p. 292: ‘Each god has his “sympathetic” representative in the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral world, which is, or contains, a oufolov of its divine cause and is thus en rapport with the latter. These ovjiola were concealed inside the statue, so that they were known only to the ‎بعاصم(Proel. in Tim. 1273.11). The oppayidec (engraved gems) and £yypauqerra- (written formulae) correspond» — y la filiación que proponen, marcada como parecido y no como dependencia: la teurgia de Jámblico y la magia egipcia, con el pasaje de Dodds sobre el representante simpático de cada dios en los tres reinos

«If we were to judge from the passage on the prayers to the planets (= Book III, Chapter 7) in Pseudo-Majriti’s Ghaya, we would assume that these incenses were all quite common in the Sabian religious ceremonies, although not each is specifically connected with a planetas in the present report» — nota de los editores sobre los inciensos: comunes en las ceremonias sabeanas según el Ghaya, aunque no ligados uno a uno a cada planeta como aquí

«The Ghaya itself provides various lists of correspondences, but they are extremely contradictory with one another» — y su medida del desacuerdo entre las listas del propio Ghaya, que dejan sin armonizar

«Manuscripts do not allow one to determine the reading of this name with certainty. Several possibilities exist: Jarjas’/Jurjas’/Jixjas’, but also "Harhis’ (a name appearing بد ‎مدgenealogy in 2 Kings 22:14) as well as other vocalizations of that name» — nota de los editores que declara indeterminable la lectura del nombre y enumera las posibles

«Marquet (Sabéens I’, p. 45) opted for Jurjas’. which he wished to identify with the Greek Gorgon. I have finally retained ‘Jirjas, in order to presezve the close similarity with ‘Jirjis’, the usual translation of the Greck name» — y su propia decisión, declarada como tal frente a la de Marquet: retienen Jirjas por su cercanía con Jirjis

«By ‘religion’ (di), we are thus meant to understand the Sabian religion, which the priest explicitly invites the young man to embrace “by hearing the secrets of our angels’ further down in the same section. The phrase coming next in the present section would seem to indicate that the hearing of the secrets marks the entrance into the religion» — nota de los editores sobre qué religión se entiende aquí y qué marca la entrada en ella, marcado como lo que la frase parece indicar

«The sacrificing of animals is a common feature of most Arabic descriptions of the $abi'an rituals. Ibn al-Nadim states that ‘most of the sacrificial victims are cocks’ (Fligel, p. 319; Dodge, p. 748), and indeed, cocks are sacrificed on the ‘occasion of nearly every feast according to his own account. As already hinted at in the Introduction above, pp. 59-60. the symbolism of the cock is so rich and its popularity so widespread that it seems a vain task to try to determine the origin of its use as part of the Harranian mysteries» — nota de los editores sobre el sacrificio del gallo: común en las descripciones árabes del rito sabeo, y de origen que declaran vano intentar determinar

«The interest of the Brethren’s account in this respect lies in the explicit reference they make further down, as part of the same ‘Sabian’ description, to Socrates” famous last words as reported» — y dónde sitúan el interés propio de este informe: en la referencia explícita a las últimas palabras de Sócrates

«Lam notable to explain the symbolism of this posture, but some of its elements make one naturally think of the whirling dervishes of the Mevievi brotherhood, with their right-hand palm turned towards the heavens and their left hand pointing at the ground, in a gesture of welcoming God’s grace from above and, via the heart, bestowing it to the rest of the world here below» — los editores declaran no poder explicar el simbolismo de la postura y ofrecen solo una asociación, la de los derviches mevleví

«Wehr, sx. ‘jara’ renders the expression “Min-hu al-shai'u majra al-dam' with “it had become second nature to him’, but [have opted for translating the Arabic mote literally» — nota de los traductores que declara apartarse del diccionario y traducir más literalmente

«The word da‘wa (‘call’ ) is mentioned in Qur'an 30:34 (in reference to the call or invitation made to the dead to stand up and leave their tombs on the Day ‘of Judgement) and in Qur'an 14:46 (in reference to the call made by God and the prophets to follow the true religion). It is, of course, a word of paramount resonance in the context of Ismaili Shi'ism, where it is usually meant to convey in addition the notion of the well-organized propaganda by the missionaries of» — nota de los editores sobre la resonancia ismailí del término da'wa que aparece en la invocación; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«The passage is not very clear, the text may be corrupt here» — nota de los editores que declara oscuro el pasaje y posible la corrupción del texto

«Ninety-nine’ (tise wir-tis in), according to Beirut and lam, whereas min has ‘nine and nine’ (tis’a wa-tis‘a). The speculation on the ninety-nine names of God in Islam is but the most obvious example of the symbolism assigned to that number» — nota de los editores sobre la variante entre testigos en la cifra de las marcas y sobre el simbolismo del noventa y nueve

«pay a tribute to Asclepius, the god of medicine, for his help in recovering from the ‘sickness’ of life. As already mentioned, this reference to Socrates’ last phrase in the context of a Sabi‘an ceremony is telling of the level of syncretism reached by the Ikhwan, and must be set on a par with their afÏrmation that Pythagoras ‘was a monotheist sage from Harran» — los editores leen la referencia a Sócrates dentro de una ceremonia sabeana como muestra del sincretismo de los Ikhwan, y la ponen a la par de su afirmación sobre Pitágoras

«But it quite agrees with their own assertion, at the beginning of the chapter, about the four doctrines having emerged from this Sabi'anism» — y a la vez consignan que esa referencia concuerda con lo que la propia epístola afirmó antes sobre las cuatro doctrinas salidas del sabeísmo

«As for the idea that life is a sickness which death cures, it may be interestingly compared with the Brethren's own opinion as expressed in Epistle 28 (On the Limits of Human Knowledge’), which ends on the very assertion that “the death of the body is the birth of the» — los editores emparejan la idea de la vida como enfermedad con la sentencia de otra epístola del corpus: la muerte del cuerpo es el nacimiento del alma; el tramo se corta en el salto de plana

«This phrase, which is the only one of this paragraph not to be echoed im the Fikrist, seems to be an addition from the Ikhwan themselves. It confirms the exceptional importance of this feast in the year» — nota de los editores que identifica una frase sin eco en el Fihrist y la da, marcado como apariencia, por añadido de los propios Ikhwan

«Marquet, ‘Sabéens I’, p. 51, suggests to emend qulus with qurnus (for Cronos), but this is highly conjectural» — nota de los editores que recoge una enmienda de Marquet y la califica de muy conjetural

«The manuscripts and Beirut have here al-ram (or wa‘l-rum), which does not make sense. On the basis of the comparison with the Fihrist, I would propose» — nota donde de Callatay declara sin sentido la lectura de los tres testigos y propone la suya por comparación con el Fihrist; el tramo se corta antes del salto

«On the “magnetic stone” (hajar al-mighnatis; Greck, ‎تححصر> A@og Latin, magnes lapis), sce Goltz. Studien, p. 174» — nota de los editores que identifica la piedra magnética con su nombre griego y latino

«In the Western Middle Ages, the lapis armenius was a stone used for medical purposes. Ithas often been confused with lapis lazuli, due to its dark blue colour, but already Buffon devotes a chapter to it alone in his Histoire naturelle des minéraux (pp. 158-162). See Goltz, Studien. p. 147» — nota de los editores sobre la piedra de Armenia, confundida a menudo con el lapislázuli por su color

«The Ikhwan refer in various places of the Rasd'il to the Platonic theory of the soul, with its marked distinction between: (1) the appetitive soul (al-nafs al-shahwaniyya), which is the seat of desire and is located in the liver; (2) the irascible soul (al-nafs al. ghadhabiyya), which is the seat of courage and is located in the heart: (3) the rational soul (al nafs al-natiqa), which is the seat of rational thinking and is located in the head» — nota de los editores con la teoría platónica de las tres almas tal como el corpus la usa, cada una con su asiento corporal

«In the present sub-section and in the one which follows it, the Ikhwan speak of ‘animal’ (ayawariyya) and even ‘bestial’ (bahimiyya) asa way to qualify both the appetitive and the irascible souls, since animals — which are the object of this passage — are endowed with both, whereas plants ‘only possess the appetitive soul» — y su explicación de por qué aquí las dos almas inferiores se llaman animal y bestial indistintamente

«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

«By ‘animals’ (ayawan), the Brethren seem to refer here to all living beings as being endowed with bestial souls, namely, the irascible and the appetitive. This therefore also includes man, as the continuation of the text would suggest» — nota de los editores que propone, en verbo de apariencia, que el término abarca aquí también al hombre

«Itis from such examples as those provided in this passage that one can best infer which meaning the authors give to the word =ajr, appearing in the very first lines of the epistle. We have opted for ‘incitements'» — nota de los traductores que declara de dónde sacan el sentido con que traducen un término del título de la epístola

«In fact, only the second half of this statement recallsa well-known hadith, found in Bukhari (ninth century) under the following form: ‘Narrated Aba Hurayra: The Prophet said, “The effect of the evil eyeisa fact”. And he prohibited tattooing» — nota de los editores que acota la cita de la Epístola: solo la segunda mitad corresponde a un hadiz conocido de Bujari

«The Prophetic traditions on the evil eye are many, and often contradictory. See also this other hadith: “Narrated *Atisha: The Prophet ordered me or somebody else to use spells against the evil eye» — y consignan que las tradiciones proféticas sobre el mal de ojo son muchas y con frecuencia contradictorias, sin armonizarlas

«Lory, ‘Magie’. p. 154. mentions this passage about Jesus as coming from Christian apocryphal traditions, but without specifying which ones» — nota de los editores que sitúa el pasaje de Jesús en la tradición apócrifa cristiana según Lory, y consigna que Lory no precisa cuál

«In Pseudo-Thomas* Gospel of Childhood, an apocryphal work on Jesus’ young years» — y proponen un candidato concreto, el evangelio apócrifo de la infancia atribuido a Tomás; el tramo se corta antes del salto de línea

«Adaptation from Qur'an 7:128» — nota de los editores que identifica la fuente coránica de la fórmula anterior

«This last mention of the Qur'an in this epistle may pethaps be explained by reference to the fact that the Holy Book is “often carried in miniature as the best and strong protection’; Canaan, ‘Decipherment, p. 129, who lists the parts of the Book that are thought to be the most protective» — nota de los editores que propone, marcada como acaso, leer la última mención del Corán por su uso amulético

Talismán (imagen astrológica) — Es el asunto central: la Epístola declara que la ciencia de la magia y los talismanes sigue a la astrología y depende de ella, y que por ellos los súbditos suben al rango de los reyes y los reyes al de los ángeles.

Magia Natural — de Callatay declara que la magia natural queda ligada a la ciencia de los astros y dependiente de ella, y que en el esquema de emanación tomado de Plotino astrología y magia no se distinguen.

Secreto (lo que se jura no fijar por escrito) — Las cuatro ciencias del secreto no se descubren al común por temor de la élite a lo que el vulgo haría con ellas; el iniciado empeña un anillo como prenda de que no las revelará.

Iniciación (recepción por grados / metamorfosis del ser) — Rito completo: entrada vendado y de espaldas, pregunta ritual, amenaza y promesa, garante, recitación de los nombres de los ángeles, sustitución del joven por un gallo, marca al rojo noventa y nueve veces, vestidura nueva y sal en triángulo.

Cuatro elementos (fuego, aire, agua, tierra) — La materia sujeta a mezcla y composición —los cuatro elementos— es la primera de las causas de los fenómenos terrestres en la doctrina que la Epístola atribuye a los sabeos.

Anima mundi (alma del mundo) — Donde el informe de Shahrastani habla de un Dios encarnado en los seres celestes, los Ikhwan ponen el Alma Universal por intermediaria para salvar la unidad divina, según de Callatay.

Microcosmos (el hombre-mundo) — El-Bizri consigna que la segunda parte del corpus trata al ser humano como microcosmos y la tercera al mundo como macroántropo; los editores remiten a la Epístola 26 por su tabla de rasgos y animales.

Necromancia (nigromancia) — El tercer relato bíblico de la Epístola es el de Saúl y la mujer con espíritu familiar: el rey se disfraza, la visita de noche y oye a Samuel declarar transferido el reino.

Theurgia (obra divina) — Los editores emparejan las estatuas planetarias y sus ídolos con la teurgia de Jámblico y la magia egipcia, con el pasaje de Dodds sobre el representante simpático de cada dios en los tres reinos.

Evocación (llamar y constreñir espíritus) — El sacerdote invoca a Iblis por su nombre, le pide presencia y testimonio y le sacrifica un gallo en lugar del iniciado; a cada ser espiritual corresponde invocación, incienso y secuencia propios.

Daimon (entidad intermedia, ni ángel ni demonio) — La Epístola llama espirituales a las almas de esencia oculta y acción visible; los editores traen del corpus la definición de ángeles como almas purificadas y de jinn y demonios como almas corrompidas sin percepción.

Prisca theologia (la teología antiquísima) — La Epístola hace salir del sabeísmo cuatro escuelas filosóficas —pitagóricos, aristotélicos, platónicos y epicúreos— y en otra epístola del corpus llama a Pitágoras sabio y monoteísta de Harran.

Crítica de fuentes (criterios de inclusión y descarte) — El aparato declara su base manuscrita, coteja las lecturas de los dos testigos con la edición de Beirut, marca lo ininteligible, propone enmiendas como propias y consigna la divergencia entre testimonios sin arbitrarla.