Thread by @aaolomi

In Middle Eastern and Islamic cosmology, the djinn govern the forbidden practices of magic.

A fiery race of invisible being, the djinn could supposedly grant the intrepid knowledge of hidden things.

A thread on the djinn and magic -1/13

Traditionally one way of approaching the djinn for magical power was by knowing the secret names of the 7 djinn kings.

Once you knew the secret names the proper rites would summon the king before you and in return for an agreement you'd be given a re'ya -2/13

The re'ya were personal djinn who acted like familiar spirits. They could take on the guise of household pets like cats or dogs or birds.

They entered into the service of humans and granted them specialized knowledge into hidden matters and acted as spies for their masters-3/13

Each of the djinn kings were divided into the seven days of the week and governed a certain sphere of human life or knowledge.

The re'ya would give their human summoner knowledge of those matters governed by the king-4/13

For example, the rey'a of the djinn king of Monday teaches mortals the secrets of mirrors, illusions, and dreams.

The rey'a of Tuesday taught the secrets of warfare and hunting

The rey'a of Wednesday taught the secrets of alchemy and could craft gems of great beauty -5/13

The rey'a of Thursday taught one languages and the re'ya of Friday taught the art of perfumes and seduction.

The rey'a of Saturday granted one power over the dead and the rey'a of Sunday taught one the ways to move the hearts of humans -6/13

The process for contacting the djinn kings and contracting one of their rey'a is obscure and deemed taboo, but the gestures towards the cosmology of the Islamic world.

The djinn were originally an amorphous & vague concept, but with the influx of 7/13

new developments in astrology/astronomy, advancements in calculations, & the expansion of language, the djinn were ordered into days of the week governing certain spheres of human activity

The spheres attributed to the djinn kings maps out onto astrological divisions -8/13

Take the djinn king of Saturday, Maymun, who likely had pre-Islamic connections to spirits of Late Antiquity, his sphere is predominantly Saturnian. He's even said to rule over Saturn's black stones -9/13

Additionally his name is broken down into alpha numeric sums from which his hidden name is discovered.

This science of letters becomes an important discipline for medieval Muslims -10/13

While for many knowledge of the djinn kings & the operation by which to form alliances was an extension of the sciences studied by Muslims, others warned of the dangers to the soul.

The rey'a for example could grant one what you desire, but while appearing servile -11/13

they had a reputation for cunning that would give most pause.

For scholars this particular aspect of magic from the Muslim world shows us the interesting ways in which magic, astrology, mathematics, and spirituality all intersected. 12/13

I will continue to explore the relationship between djinn and magic in coming weeks.

And as per usual, please comment after the last tweet rather than the first to keep the thread intact 😊