upShams al-Ma'arif al-Kubra, a manuscript copy, beginning of 17th century Sharaf al-Din or Shihab al-Din or Muḥyi al-Din Abu al-Abbas Aḥmad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf al-Qurashi al-Sufi, better known as Ahmad al-Buni ( ar, أحمد البوني), born in Buna, in present-day

Annaba Annaba ( ar, عنّابة, "Place of the Jujubes"; ber, Aânavaen), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse Ri ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

, died 1225, was a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and philosopher and a well known Sufi and writer on the

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

value of letters and topics relating to mathematics, ''sihr'' ( sorcery) and spirituality, but very little is known about him. Al-Buni lived in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

and learned from many eminent Sufi masters of his time. A contemporary of

Ibn Arabi Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , ' Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influen ...

, he is best known for writing one of the most important books of his era; the ''

Shams al-Ma'arif ''Shams al-Ma'arif'' or ''Shams al-Ma'arif wa Lata'if al-'Awarif'' is a 13th-century grimoire on Arabic magic and a manual for achieving esoteric spirituality. It was written by the scholar Ahmad al-Buni who wrote it while living in Ayyubid Egy ...

'', a book that is still regarded as the foremost occult text on

talismans A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...

and divination.

Contributions

Theurgy

Instead of ''sihr'' (Sorcery), this kind of magic was called ''Ilm al-Hikmah'' (Knowledge of the Wisdom), ''Ilm al-simiyah'' (Study of the Divine Names) and ''Ruhaniyat'' (Spirituality). Most of the so-called ''mujarrabât'' ("time-tested methods") books on sorcery in the Muslim world are simplified excerpts from the ''Shams al-ma`ârif''. The book remains the seminal work on

Theurgy Theurgy (; ) describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more deities, especially with the goal of achieving henosis (uniting wi ...

and esoteric arts to this day.

Mathematics and science

In c. 1200, Ahmad al-Buni showed how to construct

magic squares In recreational mathematics, a square array of numbers, usually positive integers, is called a magic square if the sums of the numbers in each row, each column, and both main diagonals are the same. The 'order' of the magic square is the number ...

using a simple bordering technique, but he may not have discovered the method himself. Al-Buni wrote about

Latin squares In combinatorics and in experimental design, a Latin square is an ''n'' × ''n'' array filled with ''n'' different symbols, each occurring exactly once in each row and exactly once in each column. An example of a 3×3 Latin s ...

and constructed, for example, 4 x 4 Latin squares using letters from one of the

99 names of Allah Names of God in Islam ( ar, أَسْمَاءُ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ , "''Allah's Beautiful Names''") are names attributed to God in Islam by Muslims. While some names are only in the Quran, and others are only in the hadith, th ...

. His works on traditional healing remains a point of reference among Yoruba Muslim healers in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

and other areas of the Muslim world.

Influence

His work is said to have influenced the

Hurufi Hurufism ( ar, حُرُوفِيَّة ''ḥurūfiyyah'', Persian: حُروفیان ''hōrufiyān'') was a Sufi movement based on the mysticism of letters (''ḥurūf''), which originated in Astrabad and spread to areas of western Iran (Persia ...

s and the New Lettrist International.

Denis MacEoin Denis M. MacEoin (26 January 1949 – 6 June 2022) was a British academic, scholar and writer with a focus on Persian, Arabic and Islamic studies. He authored several academic books and articles, as well as many pieces of journalism. Since 2014 ...

in a 1985 article in ''

Studia Iranica ''Studia Iranica'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering Iranian and Persianate history, literature, and society published by Peeters Publishers on behalf of the Association for the Advancement of Iranian Studies. The editors-in-chi ...

'' said that Al-Buni may also have indirectly influenced the late Shi'i movement of Babism. MacEoin said that Babis made widespread use of

and magical letters.

Writings

Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0300 fol 108b-109a

* ''Shams al-Maʿārif al-Kubrā'' (''The Great Sun of Gnosis''), Cairo, 1928. * ''Sharḥ Ism Allāh al-aʿẓam fī al-rūḥānī'', printed in 1357 AH or in Egypt al-Maṭbaʿa al-Maḥmudiyya al-Tujjariyya bi'l-Azhar. * ''Kabs al-iktidā'', Oriental Manuscripts in Durham University Library. * ''Berhatiah'', Ancient Magick Conjuration Of Power. * ''Treatise on the Magical Uses of the Ninety-nine Names of God'' in the

Khalili Collection of Islamic Art The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art includes 28,000 objects documenting Islamic art over a period of almost 1400 years, from 700 AD to the end of the twentieth century. It is the largest of the Khalili Collections: eight collections ...

References

Notes

* Edgar W. Francis, ''Mapping the Boundaries between Magic. The Names of God in the Writings of Ahmad ibn Ali al-Buni''

External links

Shams al-Ma'arif al-Kubra - شمس المعارف ولطائف العوارف

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Buni, Ahmed 1225 deaths 13th-century Algerian people 13th-century Arabs Magic squares Medieval Egyptian mathematicians Buni Sufi writers Year of birth unknown People from Annaba People from the Almohad Caliphate