Other Za'irajah Methods

People have methods other than the zd’irajah for finding out answers from questions.

However, those answers are not rhymed.

The secret of obtaining a rhymed answer from the za’irajah lies in the fact that a verse, namely, that of Malik b. Wuhayb -“A weighty question, etc.”- enters (into the operation).

Thus, one gets an answer which rhymes on the rhyme letter of Malik’s verse.

In other methods, there is no rhymed answer. 923

We are going to report this much about other methods of finding answers. A competent (practitioner of letter magic) said: On learning hidden secrets from letter connections 924

Let it be known to you - God guide us and you 925 - that the following letters are the basis for answers to any problem. They produce the answers through total division. 926 There are forty-three letters, as one can see:

alif, w, l, alif, ‘ayn, z, s, atif, l, m, kh, y, d, l, z, q, t, alif, f, dh, s, r, n, gh, sh, r, alif, k, k, y, b, m, d, b, j, t, l, h, h, d, th, l, th, alif.

Some excellent man has worked these letters into the form of a verse in which every double consonant stands for two letters. He called the (verse) the “pole.” It runs:

A weighty question you have got. Keep, then, to yourself Remarkable doubts which have been raised and which can be straightened out with diligence. 927

If one wants to produce the (answer from the) question, one must eliminate the letters of the question that are repeated and set down those that remain.

Then, one eliminates one letter that is similar to (a letter of the question) from the basic (verse), the “pole,” for each remaining letter of the question. One sets down what remains.

Then, one mixes the two remainders together in one line. One begins by taking as the first (letter), one from the remainder from the basic (verse), and as the second, one from the remainder from the question, and so forth, until the 2 remainders are finished, or until one of them is finished before the other.

(In the latter case,) one leaves the rest as it is. If the number of the letters that come out after the mixing agrees with the number of the letters in the basic (verse), before elimination, the operation is correct.

Then, one adds to them five n’s, in order to have the musical scales balanced and to have a complete complement of forty-eight letters. With those letters, one fills a table of squares.

The end of the first line is the beginning of the second, and the rest is moved as it is, and so forth, until the table is filled and the first line reoccurs.

The letters in the “region” follow each other inproportion to the motion. Then, one finds out the chord of each letter through square division by the smallest aliquot part found in it, 927a and one puts (each) chord opposite its letter. Then, one finds out the elemental relations for the letters of the table and indicates their natural power, their spiritual power, their spiritual scales, their psychic dispositions, and their principal bases from the table which has been composed for the purpose and which looks as follows:

Bases 300 60 100 3 900 80 6 40 5 500 4 20 5 1000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Dispositions Scales Powers 80 7 1000 900[?] 1 500 10 800 70 9 400 30 7 200 20 200 80 400 40 2 700[?] 90 20 7 10 9 90 100 10 2 90 8 10 1 w Dispositions Results 20 2 Scales t 30 3 Principal Base k Powers 40 4 50 5 60 6 70 7 80 8 90 9 4 b 5 j 5 d 4 h w z

Then, 929 one takes the chord of each letter after multiplying it by the bases of the four cardines of the (celestial) spheres. One should avoid what is adjacent to the cardines and also the sawaqit, 930 because their relationship is confused.

The result here is the first degree of diffusion. 931 Then, one takes the total of the elements and subtracts from it [?] the bases of the generated things. There remain the bases of the world of creation, after it has been exposed to the moments [?] of creation.

Then, there are transferred to it some abstractions from matter - the elements that constitute matter. The result is the middle horizon of the soul.

The first degree of diffusion is subtracted from the total of the elements. There remains 932 the world of mediation. It has to do with the world of simple beings, and not with (those of) composite ones.

The world of mediation is then multiplied by the middle horizon of the soul.

The result is the most high horizon. To it, the first degree of diffusion is transferred.

Then, the first of the elements basically constituting matter is subtracted from the fourth (degree of diffusion [?]). There remains the third degree of diffusion.

The total of the particulars of the elements is always multiplied by the fourth degree of diffusion. The result is the first world of particularization.

The result of the multiplication of the second (element) with the second (degree of diffusion) is the second world of particularization; that of the third with the third is the third; and that of the fourth with the fourth is the fourth world of particularization. The worlds of particularization are added up and subtracted from the world of totality. There remain the worlds of abstraction.

They are divided by the most high horizon.

The result is the first particular. The remainder is divided by the middle horizon.

The result is the second particular.

The remainder is the third. The fourth here is fixed forthe fourth (division [?]). If one wants more than four (divisions [?]), one must increase the number of the worlds of particularization, that of the degrees of diffusion, and that of the magic squares containing letters in their numerical value. God guide us and you.

Likewise, if the world of abstraction is divided by the first degree of diffusion, the result is the first particular of the world of composition, and so forth to the end of the last degree of the world of existence.

Another method to find the answer is this. A competent (practitioner of letter magic) said:

Let it be known to you - God strengthen us and you with a spirit coming from Him - that the science of letters is an important science. The scholar who knows it comes to know things that he would not be able to know with the help of any other science in the world. The practice of the science of (letter magic) requires certain conditions.

With its help, the scholar may discover the secrets of creation and the inner workings of nature. Thus, he learns the two results of philosophy, which are letter magic and its sister (alchemy). The veil of the unknown is lifted for him. He thus learns the contents of the secret recesses of the heart.