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

«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