| | | Click to open and read, click to collapse | | | Injurious magic | In all societies there is good and bad magic, the first being always considered as constructive, protective and productive, the latter destructive and against all set norms. Magic is practised by special people who are endowed with the powers, the training and the material. Such people can be clearly identified in every society in the Sudan. The same group that practises good magic, practises bad magic.. | | The fakis and faqirs, for example, in northern Sudan, can use esoteric knowledge to write protective charms, pray for healing or for rain, or use the same armamentarium to do harm through magic, or reverse harm done by others. They cast spells that are either uttered as incantations, or written—as astrological formulas, magical numbers,[1] seals, occult words, or verses from the Holy Quran. These papers are called waraqas (see Amulets page 116). There are other types of spells cast in the form of potions, erasures, or carried through items thought to be closely connected with the soul of the victim. Sometimes, fakis use khuddam, servant jinns, as instruments to bring harm on others. | | It is important to mention that both the Quran[2] and the Sunna, have admitted the presence of magic yet opposed it as it is associated with heathenism and involves appeals to beings other than God. Also, as early as the Prophet’s time, the da’wa (invocation), the ruqiya (protective charm) and ta’zim (healing incantation) are permitted provided only God is invoked. | | Islam has admitted the presence of two worlds—of man, and of angels, jinns and shayatin. It has also admitted the presence of sihr.[3] Later, Muslim jurists, exegesists, and scholars have endorsed this thesis, supported the belief that magic and satans are one, and attributed white magic to the Prophet Sulaiman who was believed to have exercised influence over satans. | | Medieval and early Muslim scholars have written lengthy tracts condoning the sihr, and have developed several arts and techniques to wield the powers of the occult. The writings of Al-Boni, Al-Dairabi, Ibn Arabi, Al-Ghazali, Al-Tilmisani, Ibn Khuldun, and Ibn Sirin, had great impact on the whole Muslim world. These scholars did not only sanction magic, but also made magical procedures attainable to every literate practitioner. Furthermore, as in many other cultures, dreams were believed to portend future incidents. Tafsir Al-Ahlam[4] by Ibn Sirin[5] has been the classic book in the Sudan as well as in other countries of the Muslim world. | | Several writers contributed substantially to our understanding of the social incidence of magic among the main southern Sudanese tribes. A systematic study of magic has been made by Evans-Pritchard on the Azande tribe in the Bahr Al-Ghazal province of the then Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Evans-Pritchard’s work was a continuation of the work done by Professor and Mrs. Seligman in the years 1909-10, 1911-12, and 1921-22, which they could not finish because of ill-health and appeared in 1932.[6] | | In northern Sudan, present-day Islam has incorporated and assimilated many pre-Islamic and indigenous magical and animistic elements, including fetishes, animist remnants of worshipped deities, and magical practices. In-depth studies are scattered and few; such studies as there are, provide basic material for the synthesis of this chapter. | | Evans-Pritchard has noted and attempted to demonstrate that the principles deduced, for example, from Melanesian data and formulated as general laws for all societies must be reformulated and possibly modified in the light of what is now known of African peoples.[7] Indeed, one can see that differences in the institution of magic appear clearly within the same country, when the practices of the southern and northern tribes are compared. The southern tribes are mostly shielded from foreign influence, while the northern are mostly Muslim of Arab ancestry who have drawn extensively from Middle and Far Eastern cultures. However, if we accept the thesis that magic, like other institutions, is cast in the mould of the society in which it has its place and function, then we have to accept such differences and take them as guidelines upon which we can base a general picture of magic as related to human health. | | Magic is believed to fill a gap left by lack of knowledge in man’s pragmatic pursuits. For example, the Zande uses magic to protect himself, his children, his agricultural and hunting activities from the malign power of witchcraft. He uses productive magic to multiply his crops, to ensure success in netting game, in encouraging the termites to embark on their nuptial swarmings, in smelting and forging iron, in increasing the number of his subjects. He uses magic to give him confidence in singing or love-making, to protect his property from theft and his wife from illicit intercourse. He consults the magic of the oracles to give him confidence before circumcision, before marriage, before building a new homestead. Magic plays its part in all the main biological and social occasions of the Zande’s life.[8] Indeed, the same is generally true of other Sudanese tribes. | | While studying the Nuba tribes of south west Kordofan, Nadel observed that out of 70 clans of the Heiban and Otoro tribes only three had healing magic. In Otoro, he said, we discover rather surprisingly, two clans which are, qua clans, invested with certain healing magic. Thus every member of the Lokogyama clan (the chief’s clan) possesses—potentially—the gift of nadyama, of curing intestinal pains by laying his (or her) hands on the ailing body; and every member of the Lomgyan clan can similarly cure a certain wasting disease known as qrany.[9] Different individuals may possess this gift in different degrees. But the main fact is that the acquisition of the magic faculty depends on clan membership. | | One Heiban clan, Lgoko, possesses a clan magic of a different order: whoever steals anything belonging to a member of this clan will die.[10] Among the Tira, the Ltrngum control the wind and storms, cause and cure lunacy, and help to recover animals which have strayed. | | Lunacy treatment is interesting, as it supplies a logical link with the other magic of this clan, the control of wind and storms, Nadel reports. The Ltrngum ‘doctor’ blows into the nostrils of his patient—‘he blows like the wind’, say the informants. The Iltaro are responsible for magic against infertility of women. The Itambel clan can heal any wounds caused by iron (as in turn, it causes death by iron of perjurers). A man who has received such a wound will be taken to the house of an Itambel man; he would stay there for seven days, being sprinkled with water from a new gourd by his doctor-host, after which time the wound would close.[11] | | Also among the Nuba, certain magic protects clans or tribes by inflicting illness on perpetrators. This type of magic is called kamradha, and differs widely in range and severity with clan. For example, the people of Gilu clan of the Tira tribe of the Nuba, during the amadi ceremony, smear their faces and chests with milk; now, if any member of another clan used Gilu milk in this way, or merely drank of Gilu milk, he would become deaf. In turn the Gilu clan can cure deafness in other people, whatever its cause, by smearing their taboo milk into the ears of the patient. | | The Lamagyan clan inflicts syphilis on any outsider who as much as smells the incense used by that clan. In some clans (e.g., Ekela, Bowru, Ayen) any stranger who entered their houses with evil intentions (to commit adultery or burglary, or simply to quarrel with the people of the house) would be struck with dizziness and headache. In the Gilu clan this protective magic is slightly stronger: the intruder would be rooted to the spot and would be incapable of moving till the owner of the house released him by sprinkling water over him. | | The rain clan Udeleng possesses the severest magic of this kind; lunacy would afflict anyone who entered an Udeleng house with black thoughts; thieves who stole and ate animals belonging to this clan would be struck by lighting; even the grain and simsim (sesame) of the clan is dangerous to strangers and might cause madness if they ate of it without the special authority of the man who planted the crops. When people buy grain or accept animals (e.g., in bride-price payments) they always make certain first that the grain or animals did not come from the Udeleng clan.[12] Though any member of these clans may be appealed to to perform the magic rites or the magic treatments which are the property of his group, yet in practice one would always turn to the old and experienced men and family heads in the clan. | | Magical practices in Muslim Sudan vary from place to place, but, irrespective of the locality, they are always looked down upon. Also, just as a sahhar is feared, avoided, and always seen as a social outcast, a faki or faqir who practices magic-mongering is thought of as sinister. A similar view is also taken by tribes among which magic is more systematized. Among the Azande, for example, who have an elaborate system of witchcraft, ‘black’ or ‘bad’ magic (sorcery) is considered illicit, even immoral, and accordingly stigmatized. Evans-Pritchard says that among the Azande: | | “Good magic may be destructive, even lethal, but it strikes only at persons who have committed a crime, whereas bad magic is used out of spite against men who have not broken any law or moral convention.”[13] | | Not all types of magic are looked down upon. Some types are sought and are considered as benevolent. Gamal Abd Al-Malik (Ibn Khuldun) reports in The Fourth Dimension on the magical powers of the dambbari and the rituals he performs to drive locusts away from landing on people’s crops. He said: | | “The Zaghawa and Masalit tribes of western Sudan have a magical way to protect their trees and vegetables from the ravages of locusts. They have a certain man who sits alone on top of a hill to drive away locusts. He will not mix with women or wash his body for many days. Roots of certain plants are finely threshed, mixed with earth, put in the horn of a dead animal which the man (whom they call the dambbari) carries to the top of the hill. The dambbari will spread some of the material which he carries in the horn over his body and he will recite special incantations calling on the locusts to disperse.”[14] | | The born locust scarer (togony), as the Fur call him, is said to have a locust shape imprinted on the palms of his hands, and although their eventual powers are less efficacious, would-be scarers may learn the art from a born expert after drinking a root concoction; the services of such operators are paid for with grain.[15] | | Tigani Al-Mahi was a pioneer researcher into the social history of disease in the Sudan. His psychiatric training, encyclopaedic knowledge, and vast interest in local cultures gave him the right background. His pioneering writings, albeit few, should be studied carefully. Tigani believed that cultural patterns are developed in response to psycho-biological needs. They are modes of adaptation and adjustment to the physical and social environment, and in turn become powerful determinants of human behaviour. Cultural institutions and formulations are, therefore, correlated with fundamental needs in the light of which their meanings, motives and significance become obvious. | | Magical beliefs and practices, he wrote, are such mechanisms of adjustment and orientation to environment. They are tools in the struggle for existence. They regulate and integrate adaptive patterns and provide spiritual, social, and material solutions to everyday problems. Both in normal and pathological adaptations, magic plays a significant role in the life of the masses analogous to the role of science, religion, ethics and other institutions in the life of advanced societies. Magic, he said, works by means of stereotypes which exclude novel experience from the field of intellect. It imposes a phobic mental set that precludes originality, individuality, adventure and creation. It even, sometimes, taboos and penalizes deviations from traditional norms. Thought and action therefore become stylized, ritualized, emotionalized, and highly personalized; this is what outsiders see as the innate conservatism of primitive people. | | Magic arouses crude ambivalent affective states in its participants—awe and reverence. In totemism, alternation of fear and love or “phobia and identification” is typical. By a process of conditioning, fear and its intellectual derivatives such as mistrust and suspicion become traditional modes of emotional expression of a variety of thoughts and events that would not otherwise be appropriate for them.[16] | | All societies have the same set of components of magic: the spell, the ritual and their associated observances such as restricting the activity of menstruating women (page 172) and food taboos (page 214). Tribal magic such as that of the Rubatab and the people of Abu Jarid, and clan magic as identified among the Nuba tribes have the same components. | | The spell is a saying, a formula, or a set of rhyming words. The ritual is the backbone, the activity, and the material chosen to cast the spell. The practitioner moulds the spell and the ritual in one well-knit procedure that is difficult, if not impossible, to separate into parts. The results are equally difficult to diagnose or trace to their source though procedures to do so do exist. In most cases, the onset of illness or incapacity is the first indication to the victim that he or she has been charmed. Otherwise, the magical spell would have to be divined. |
| | The spell | Spells in the form of da’wa (invocation), talab min Allah, request from God (supplication) and ta’ziem (incantations) are the major types of sanctioned magic among the Muslims in the Sudan, and according to the situation, may cause good or bad effects. ‘Amal and huwata, on the other hand, are parts of tibb (black magic) which can bring about calamities ranging from sudden death and paralysis to general weakness and unemployment. | | The words, written or spoken, have an intrinsic force—magical, religious, or both—which is not related to their meanings or connotations. Some words even have no apparent meaning, and their import and impact is through their rhyme and rhythm. | | Da‘wa becomes part of injurious magic when the holy man curses someone. This is described as da’a ‘ala, to curse, rather than da’a li, to pray for. Those who are unfortunate in life are called mad’i, cursed. | | Other types of magic, mainly injurious, include the written spells, waraqas, knots or ‘uqdas, and kitabs (charms). Somerset reported the following about the spells of the Lotuko tribe of the southern Sudan. | | “A good deal in the way of spells can be accomplished without the aid of a magician. A spell for causing death is called nakitu. The commonest are to dig up a parson’s footprint from his doorway and keep it in an earthen pot, and to sprinkle ashes in his drinking water. There are various spells for causing death to persons who interfere with crops, flocks and articles left in the open. In the latter case charred twigs of a particular tree are laid by the article. If a woman’s apron be stolen, she will be infertile till it is restored. To undo the effect of these spells recourse must be had to a magician. The evil-eye is believed in, and it is firmly believed, even by the people concerned, that certain persons are able to turn themselves into leopards and hyenas.”[17] |
| | The ritual | The magical spell has always been accompanied by acts that provide its backbone, and give it material support. Such acts are rituals.[18] They may be as simple as a gesture, a nod, a laying-on of hands, a raising up of the palms of the hands, or as elaborate as a drama spanning several days of festivities and celebrations. In magical acts, thus, there are ritual numbers, ritual foods, ritual directions, ritual colours, and ritual operations such as shaving, etc. Rituals that celebrate transition of individuals or groups from one stage of the life-cycle to the other or from one status to the next are considered important. They include passage to life in pregnancy, from childhood to adolescence, and in funeral rites to the beyond.[19] | | We have mentioned elsewhere in this book that healers are very particular in accurately identifying the persons to be charmed, or those for whom they are conducting a divination procedure, for example, for an auspicious day for a wedding. They make sure that the person for whom the magical act is performed is the one and only one. The name, the mother’s name, and a piece of clothing of the person in question should be provided. There exists a firm belief that these items carry the finger-prints of their bearer. These items will be discussed in more details shortly. | | Paul Ghalioungui in Magic and Medical Science in Ancient Egypt, has described ritual processes in Egypt, and noted the strict adherence of the performers to details. He says that they are built on the same laws of analogy that bestowed on magical words their virtue, and they must be performed with the same fastidious faithfulness. They imply, furthermore, that the sorcerer can transform resemblance into reality.[20] | | Various substances are used in rituals for their symbolic significance such as incense, milk, water, blood, plants of special shape, or things of a particular colour. The virtues of these items are mainly derived by analogy from their material characteristics, special activity or ancestral significance. For example, among the Yangal clan of Heiban tribe of the Nuba, the ritual direction is west, the ritual number is 15, the ritual fat is that of a ram, and hair-shaving after birth takes place at the 8th day. Different permutations of these rituals identify the different clans of the Nuba tribes, and may or may not be accompanied by food taboos and avoidances.[21] | | The magic-monger sometimes wraps the paper charm around a bone or shell as its vehicle, and throws it into the river, burns, or buries it. Then, in an incantation, he states how the person is to be injured or destroyed. Discovery of this material breaks the enchantment. Among the Azande, knowledge of these material elements, which are usually strange wood and rare roots,[22]is the prerogative of the practitioner. | | In northern Sudan, magical spells find their best mediums in shorn hair (especially birth-hair), umbilical cord of the infant, nail-parings (specially the first parings cut at the fourtieth ‘40th’ day after birth), a male baby’s prepuce cut in circumcision, confinement rags and wrappings, garments on which a person has perspired (items assumed to contain soul-substances), and teeth. The way these items are disposed of may influence its owner’s physical being or personality, or they may be vehicles of inflicting harm if they fall in the hands of evildoers-human or superhuman. Items that were part of one’s body or were in contact with it, are believed to be extensions of the self, and whatever is inflicted on them affects the original self. People, thus, take great care to get rid of these items or hide them away. They are either buried in the ground immediately after they are shed, or better still, thrown or buried in a near-by holy man’s shrine, if that is at all possible.[23] | | A baby’s items are sometimes preserved by the maternal grandmother in special containers called huqs (polychrome Meccan woodenware), one container for each grand-son, and hidden safely inside the house. Alternatively, together with the rags and wrappings of confinement, they are thrown in the river, i.e. entrusted to the beneficial and powerful Malaiykat al-Bahr (Angels of the River). | | Evans-Pritchard argues that it is the material component in the ritual and not the spell to which the Azande attach the main importance, and he gives examples from his field-work experience.[24] It is interesting to contrast this finding with that anecdote narrated in beautiful colloquial Arabic by Ibn Daif Allah in Al-Tabaqat about the special amulet, known as waraqat qubul, written by shaikh Hasan Wad Husuna for Mahioba,[25] a concubine in the Funj Kingdom. | | Mahioba asked shaikh Hasan Wad Husuna to prescribe for her a waragat qubul, an amulet that would increase her chances among men. The holy man obliged, and the amulet worked to her satisfaction until it was unwrapped and the contents disclosed. The amulet bore no holy verses or magical letters or numbers; it contained only mockingly abusive words.[26] | | Privacy is a characteristic of northern Sudanese as well as Azande magic. Indeed, it is a strict rule that the nature of the material used, and anything written on it, should be known only to the prescriber. In injurious charms, the place where the material is thrown or hidden should not be known to the victim and even the leather-maker who usually wraps amulets, should not read them. If he or anyone else does so, the efficacy of the charm will be lost. The consultation (if one should be required), or the act of preparing the charm itself, should also be a discreet activity. To effect a magical spell, a dummy of the victim, is tossed on the roof-top of the victim’s house. Sometimes a bird with its wings sewn is thrown there, and left to die in isolation. | | Trimingham mentioned a Funj story of Al-Hijazi ibn Abu Zaid putting a spell on King ‘Adlan II by taking some soft clay, moulding it to the form of the King, and then baking it until it cracked.[27] The victim, they believe, would have the same fate. | | Different types of ‘knots’ or ‘uqdas are popular in the Sudan. There are two types of ‘uqdas: one is the preventive ‘uqda and the other belongs to black magic. The latter is known as rubat (binding). | | The person to whom the rubat is directed is called marbut or bound. One type is used to bind a man with the intention of making him sexually impotent, blind him of other women, or prevent a man or a woman from flirting. Shuqair in 1906 writes of the Qarab, a sub-tribe of the Atbara Bisharin that: | | “If they want to bind a person to a place they make incantations against him, then he cannot leave the spot until they undo the knot. If they put food before him he is unable to stretch out his hand for the food.”[28] | | The Quran mentioned ‘uqdas in chapter CXlll. This chapter together with chapter CXLV (both chapters, called mu’awazatain, refer to magicians as ‘blowers on knots’). The magician actually does this by reciting incantations to do harm on others while they tie ‘knots’ in a string. The two chapters are always recited when looking for protection against magic and the evil eye. Sometimes the recitation of bism Allah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim, the opening verse in Quran, or the utterance of azzan, the prayer call, should have the same powers as protective amulets. | | When one is continually facing problems and misfortunes, especially in one’s social achievements, one is said to have ‘arid, opposing magical force. One is treated like a mas-hoor, a bewitched, a ma’rooq, one affected by magical roots, or a marboot, bound, through counter-magic. | | Performing magic by the weaving, of spells in knots dates back to antiquity. In ancient Egypt, the hieroglyphic ideogram for magic, haka, is represented partly by knots. ‘H’, the first letter of the ideogram, is represented as a rope with three knots, indicating their binding powers. On the principles of homeopathic or imitative magic, the physical obstacle or impediment of a knot on a cord would create a corresponding obstacle or impediment in the body of the victim. Some ‘uqdas are preventive. On these, Trimingham writes: | | “The preventive ‘uqda are seven ‘knots’ tied and blown upon by the faki with incantations over each which are obtained especially for pregnant women and for the prevention and cure of fevers in children.”[29] | | Sidi Al-Hasan, a notable holy man in Tokar in eastern Sudan, is noted for the efficacy of his knots. Generally ‘uqdas should be concealed when worn on the body, thrown into a well or river, burnt, or buried. To treat disease or any harm that is suspected to be due to ‘uqdas, the faki writes a special hijab to be worn on the right side of the body. The faki also writes some letters on a vessel which is filled with honey or olive oil. The vessel is then washed, and the erasure is given to the victim to drink. | | Al-Tunisi reported on several magical practices in Darfur in the last century in his book Tash-hizh Al-Azhan. He said that the Darfurians used to put their victims to sleep before robbing them of their belongings. They waved ‘the magic root’ in front of the victim who immediately falls asleep. They used other type of ‘roots’ to paralyze a part of the body or to kill an enemy. Nara roots were particularly useful for men who seek to possess women. The roots increased a man’s sex appeal and attraction.[30] |
| | Sympathetic magic | Several healing techniques are derived from concepts of analogy rather than cause and effect. People in the Sudan generally know that snakes and scorpions are deadly creatures and that, when they bite or sting, they emit a poisonous fluid that does the damage. Hence they apply tourniquettes to prevent the spread of the poison and used scarring to get rid of any unabsorbed material. However, a scorpion sting is also treated by tying the dead scorpion to the stung site. For snake bites, however, the snake is killed and buried because, if it is left to be scorched with the sun, the patient will be similarly affected in sympathy. Equally, vegetables resembling female breasts are tied to real breast in an attempt to cure tumours there. | | Names of diseases, especially those such as sul (tuberculosis), which are deemed fatal, are tabooed. People speak of consumption as al-marad al-barid (the cold disease). Consequently whenever the name of such a disease is uttered, a protective formula invariably follows. The association between the name and the named is considered so substantial and real a bond that the mere mention of the name may call for the presence of the named. For similar reasons also, the Azande tie the bones of a tortoise round the ankles with the idea of strengthening the legs. |
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References
[1] see numerology page 8. [2] The word sihr as a root appeared over 60 times in the Quran in different contexts. For those interested to pursue the matter further, please see the following suras: 2: 102, 3: 17, 5: 110, 6: 7, 7: 109-112-113-116-120-132, 10i 2-76-77-79-80-81, 11: 7, 15: 15, 17: 47-101, 20: 57-58-63-66-69-70-71-73, 21: 3, 23: 89, 25: 6, 26: 34-3537-38-40-41-46-49-153-185, 27: 13, 28: 36-48, 34: 43, 37: 15, 38: 4, 40,. 24, 43: 30491--46:-7, 51: 18-39-52, 52: 15, 54: 2-34, 61: 6, 74: 24. [3] "And when there came to them a messenger from God, confirming that which they already have, a party of those who were given the Book cast off the Book of God behind their backs as though they knew not.(101) And they followed what the devils recited over the kingdom of Solomon. Not that Solomon disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people sorcery and what was sent down to the two angels in Babylon, Harut and Marut. Yet they taught not anyone till they had said, ‘We are but a temptation. Renounce not your faith,’ From both, they learned that which might set a man and his wife apart, though they could hurt no one thereby save by God’s leave. They surely learn what hurts them and profits them not. And they know that he who buys it shall have no share in the hereafter. And wretched is the price for which they sold themselves. Had they but known."(102) The Bounteous Koran, chapter 2, surat al Baqarah. [4] Ibn Sirin, Muhammad. Muntakhab Al-Kalam fi Tafsir Al-Ahlam (Tafsir Al-Ahlam Al-Kabir) [Arabic]. Cairo: Matba’at Al-Istiqama; 1959; Many editions. [5] Muhammad Ibn Sirin, one of the narrators of the hadith, and an authority in ta’bir al-ruya or dream interpretation. [6] Seligman, C.C. ; Seligman, Brenda Z. Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan, London: Routledge; 1932. [7] Evans-Pritchard, Edward E. The Morphology and Function of Magic: A comparative study of Torbriand and Zande ritual and spells. In: John Middleton, editor. Magic, Witchcraft, and Curing. Austin and London: University of Texas Press; 1921: i-22. [8] Evans-Pritchard. Op. Cit. Pages 3-4. [9] Among the Tira of the Nuba Mountains, for example, wives are adopted fully into their husbands’ clans and follow all their clan observances, yet they are not believed to share their husbands’ magic faculties also. [10] Nadel, S.F. The Nuba: An anthropological study of the Hill Tribes of Kordofan. London: Oxford University Press; 1947: 95. [11] Nadel. Op. Cit. Page 192. [12] Nadel. Op. Cit. Page 201. [13] Evans-Pritchard, E.E (1937). Op. Cit. Page 187. [14] Gamal A. Malik. The Fourth Dimension. Merlin Books Ltd. Braunton, Devon, 1983: 170. [15] Beaton, A. C. The Fur. Sudan Notes and Records; 1948; 29 (1): 1-39. [16] Ahmad Al-Safi; Taha Baasher, Editors. Tigani Al-Mahi: Selected Essays. Ist ed. Khartoum: Khartoum University Press; 1981; University of Khartoum, Silver Jubilee-1956-1981. 187 pages, pages. 22-23. [17] Somerset, R. R. Major the Hon Fitz. The Lotuko. Sudan Notes and Records. 1918; 1: 153-159. [18] Rituals are collective, public, social practices that are symbolic, formal and frequently ceremonial in nature. ‘A key characteristic of all rituals is that they are a form of repetitive behaviour that does not have a direct, overt technological effect.’ (Cecil Helman. Culture, Health and Illness. 1984: 123). As Lewis puts it, [rituals] give solemn and collective expression to the social sentiments on which the constitution of a society depends. (John Lewis. Anthropology, Made Simple. 1969: 160). [19] These celebrations are popularly known in anthropology as rites de passage. [20] Ghalioungui, Paul. Magic and Medical Science in Ancient Egypt. London: Hodder and Stoughton; 1963. pages 25-26. [21] For full description of these permutations see Nadel, S.F. The Nuba: An anthropological study of the Hill Tribes of Kordofan. London: Oxford University Press; 1947: 97. [22] The Azande word for magic is ngwa, which generally means wood and only in special contexts refers to magic. Evans-Pritchard. Op. Cit., page 7. [23] Other items used for bewitching include human effigies, and the skins of various animals and birds. Chameleon skin is particularly sought for this purpose. [24] Evans-Pritchard. Op. Cit. Pages 7-8. [25] Muhammad Al-Nur Ibn Daif Allah. Op. Cit. 146. [26] The amulet contained the following: “hammouzat Mahioba hamra maqlouba, tal'abbah al-houba, fi gazayir al-Nuba.” [27] Quoted by Trimingham, p. 168. [28] Naom Shuqair. Op. Cit. [30] Muhammad Ibn Umar Al-Tunisi. Tashhidh Al-Adhhan Bi-Sirat Bilad Al-’Arab Wa-’I-Sudan (Arabic), (Eds) Khalil M. ‘Asaker and Mustafa M. Mus’ad, Cairo: Al Dar Al Masriya Lil-Ta’lif wal-Tarjama, 1965: 322-330. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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