the Angel of Death is one of the angels mentioned in the Qur’an with an even richer lore in Islamic commentaries. Some traditions hold the angel sits under a mighty tree with names on the leaves. With countless unblinking eyes it watches as the leaves fall..

A thread- when a leaf falls, the time has come to reap a soul.

To the righteous the angel appears as a friend greeting them with peace but to the wicked the angel is a terrifying reminder of the judgement to come

in honor of the last few days of Ramadan & Laylatul Qadr sharing some of my favorite invocations and duas against oppression found in Islamic theurgy:

according to al Buni reciting “Ya “Hasib” & “Ya Khafid” frequently day and night is efficacious against oppressors for protection against oppressors recite “Ya Hasib” 70 times for seven days starting on Thursday.

from the Khawas to keep safe from oppressors recite Surah Qamar verse 10:

“Lord I am overpowered, so help me”

one of the surprising things you find in reading medieval manuscripts on astrology in the Islamic world is how much time they spend trying to figure out a person’s personality, psyche, and spiritual path.

There is this one technique called the Lot of Knowledge and Understanding Arabic Lots are calculated points produced from combing different placements in the horoscope.

Think of them like pressure points.

They’re used to reveal insight into a person’s life

Earlier in the week, Mars left its fall in Cancer and entered Leo. Medieval astrologers noted this as an important omen meaning:

-the rise of warlords and warmongers
-contest of wills and conflict between rulers
-harm and disruption to coin-makers
-rise of dangerous beasts -grave danger to rulers
-harm and unrest among the youth
-fires and burning and droughts
-deceptions and corruptions between courtiers
-conflict in the court of rulers
-harm to nobles
-strife in the land of the Turks, Jerusalem, and Sistan

Today there is a a solar eclipse in Libra. Medieval astrologers saw eclipses as moments of upheaval. An eclipse in Libra indicates:

-harm to old rulers and those forgotten by society both
-destruction of old buildings and structures
-revelation of plots & schemes -scandals among judges
-legal crisis
-usurpations in Islamic lands
-calamities in East Africa
-struggles for justice against corruption and oppression
-maneuvers by advisers and courtiers and their revelation

Belief in the evil eye is found in many global cultures but particularly in the Middle East, Africa, India, and the Mediterranean. It is based on the idea that the malicious or envious gaze of some can disrupt your health and luck

A quick thread The evil eye is described by some medieval authors as a type of ray

directed either intentionally or unintentionally it can impact health and fortune

jealousy, envy, or a heart which desires strongly can unintentionally direct such rays

In Dune the Freman follow Zensunni a future religion derived from Islam and Buddhism with Reverend Mothers like Lady Jessica. Since Zensunni derives from Islam were women religious leaders in Islam historically?

Yes!

A 🧵 The early development of Islam relies heavily in part on the instruction, attestations, and transmissions of Aisha so much so that some historians argue the development of the body of traditions called the sunnah is indebted to her.

in medieval astrology Venus is the planet of love and romance.

astrologers from the Islamic world also had other interesting ways of examining love in a birth chart

A Valentine’s Day thread on love and romance in medieval astrology- to determine a person’s love life medieval astrologers would look at where Venus was in a birth chart.

For example al Khayyat says Venus in Capricorn is an enduring love, delight in venerable things, and ruins

They also examine the Lot of Union

if you want to learn more about the history of what is happening in Israel and Palestine these are the books I highly recommend.

A 🧵 For the history and misrepresentation

Edward Said, The Question of Palestine

In ancient Persian astrology each planet governs & influences one part of your life in successive order so that throughout your life, you will go through different planetary ages. Known as firdaria, they were used to predict events by dividing your life into chapters.

A thread The firdaria were likely drawn from a fusion of Hellenistic timelords with the planetary ages found in Indic astrology, the yuga and dasha.

Many medieval medical practitioners and writers from the Islamic world relied heavily on astrological theories in their work. They even attributed each zodiac and planet to a part of the body like the image below.

A thread- The idea of associating the zodiac to different parts of the body can be traced back to Babylonian astrology from where it passes into the Hellenistic and Indic world then is finally adopted by Islamicate writers and thinkers in the 8th and 9th century.

According to @neiltyson there was an Islamic golden age of science from 800-1100 then along came al Ghazali & religiosity takes over & science declines. While I’m sure he’s well-intentioned, his claim is completely false

A thread on the history of science in the Islamic world First, no golden age is ever as golden as people claim it is just as no dark is age is really as dark as they claim it is. These designations are misleading and often completely fabricated.

That the golden age of science was brought to an end by Ghazali simply doesn’t stand up.

That the jinn haunt ancient ruins fills them with a sort of life, one that may be hard to understand but incredibly important for medieval people’s understanding of history For them there once was a time when the jinn populated the world and built great civilizations.

It was a reminder that humanity was not alone in the world, nor were they the sole owners of the land.

The jinn are invisible beings said to live alongside humanity. They are associated with ancient ruins for it is believed they once built great civilizations of their own in a time long since forgotten by humans.

A thread on jinn and ancient ruins and historical sites- The idea of jinn as builders is found in the Qur’an where King Solomon employs them in his great works (Quran 34:13)

We find similar narratives in Biblical and parabiblical sources which claim King Solomon had under his command a host of demons

Islamic history is full of brilliant women scholars who took knowledge to new heights but who have rarely gotten their due.

For International Women’s Day a thread- Rufaida al-Aslamia is considered the first woman surgeon in Islamic history. Living in the 7th century, she operated as a field surgeon, treating the wounded.

Over time she would take on students and teach them in the healing arts.

According to some account before humanity, the jinn walked the earth. The various factions of the jinn waged a mighty war until God intervened.

a thread on the jinn war at the beginning of time Various Muslim sources like al-Tabari discuss a great calamitous war among the jinn.

The jinn were divided into two camps: the goodly and righteous jinn versus the wicked ones

i have no idea what this thing is but i wanna smack it

if it jiggles imma smack it that’s just how my brain works

ok i’m ok with AI now

the only correct use for deepfake stuff

respectfully this imposes a modern distinction not reflective of either the time period or the figures themselves.

al-Biruni not only explicitly writes a text on the practice of astrology Kitab al-tafhim li-awa’il sina‘at al-tanjim) we even have mention of his horoscopes

https://twitter.com/nsamimi9/status/1628559968025694208

imposing a binary as in astrologer vs astronomer not only misunderstands the history but does violence to the text themselves.

Insisting for example that his kitab al tanjim is purely “astronomy” needs to account why it included delineation for each zodiac, prognostication, etc

one of the most famous horoscopes from the Islamic world, a stunning 15th C Timurid piece combines artistry, astrology, and geometry

The astrologer assigns one complete sign to each of the 12 houses of life with full interpretation explicitly citing the method of Abu Ma’shar the horoscope includes calculating the placement of the planets, the Lots, and a year-by-year break down of the sultan’s life.

You can see in the image above the figure of Venus as a lute player, in its Exaltation Pisces in the 3rd house

a US soldier, Mast, kidnapped an Afghan girl from her only living family—the DOJ and State Dept both agree she should be returned, but here is @CBS_Herridge and her colleagues giving a puff piece for her kidnappers.

Read the actual details: nytimes.com/2022/11/10/mag…

https://twitter.com/CBSMornings/status/1618265701709479936

strangely @CBS_Herridge seems to have left out that the Masts lied on their documents in order to get her to the US and then ripped her out of her family’s arms