Subḥānaka! lā ilāha illā anta! Rabba-kulli-shaiʾin! wa wāris̤ahu! wa rāziqahu! wa rāḥimahu!
Glory be to Thee! There is no deity but Thee! The Lord of All! and the Inheritor thereof! and the Provider therefor! and the Merciful thereon!
This incantation consists of forty-four letters, exclusive of vowel points, as is shown by the following table:—
In reciting such an invocation, units are reckoned as hundreds, tens as thousands, hundreds as tens of thousands, and thousands as hundreds of thousands.
In the above formula—
| Its niṣāb, or fixed estate, is the number of letters (i.e. 45) put into thousands = | 4,500 | |||
| Its zakāt, or alms, is the half of the niṣāb added to itself, 4,500 and 2,250 = | 6,750 | |||
| Its ʿushr, or tithes, is half of the above half added to the zakāt, 6,750 and 1,125 = | 7,875 | |||
| Its qufl, or lock, is half of 1,125 = | 563 | |||
| Its daur, or circle, is obtained by adding to its qufl the sum of the ʿushr and then doubling the total:— | ||||
| 563 | ||||
| 7,875 | ||||
| —— | 8,438 | |||
| 8,438 | ||||
| —— | 16,876 | |||
| Its baẕl, or gift, is the fixed number | 7,000 | |||
| Its k͟hatm, or seal, is the fixed number | 1,200 | |||
| Its sarīʿu ʾl-ijābah, or speedy answer, is the fixed number | 12,000 | |||
| Total | 56,764 | |||
After the exorcist has recited the formula the above number of times, he should, in order to make a reply more certain, treble the niṣāb, making it 135,000, and then add 2,613, the value of the combined number of letters, making a total of 137,613 recitals. The number of these recitals should be divided as nearly as possible in equal parts for each day’s reading, provided it be completed within forty days. By a rehearsal of these, says our author, the mind of the exorcist becomes completely transported, and, whether asleep or awake, he finds himself accompanied by spirits and genii (jinn) to the highest heavens and the lowest depths of earth. These spirits then reveal to him hidden mysteries, and render souls and spirits obedient to the will of the exorcist.
IV. If the exorcist wish to command the presence of genii in behalf of a certain person, it is generally supposed to be effected in the following manner. He must, first of all, shut himself up in a room and fast for forty days. He should besmear the chamber with red ochre, and, having purified himself, should sit on a small carpet, and proceed to call the genius or demon. He must, however, first find out what special genii are required to effect his purpose. If, for example, he is about to call in the aid of these spirits in behalf of a person named Bahrām (بهرام) he will find out, first, the special genii presiding over the name, the letters of which are, omitting the vowel points, B H R A M. Upon reference to the table it will be seen that they are Danūsh, Hūsh, Rahūsh, Qayupūsh, and Majbūsh. He must then find out what are the special names of God indicated by these letters, which we find in the table are al-Bāqī, “the Eternal,” al-Hādī, “the Guide,” ar-Rabb, “the Lord,” Allāh, “God,” al-Malik, “the King.” He must then ascertain the power of the letters, indicating the number of times for the recital, which will be thus:—
| B, | 2 | equal to | 200 |
| H, | 5 | equal,, to,, | 500 |
| R, | 200 | equal,, to,, | 20,000 |
| A, | 1 | equal,, to,, | 100 |
| M, | 40 | equal,, to,, | 4,000 |
| Total | 24,800 | ||