Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/180

 ali " (al-wakf, al-khatam, al-jadwal, al-muthallath lil-Ghasali) and finally has become the starting point for the whole "Science of Letters" ( ( Ilm ul-huruf) (e. g. f Cf. Al-Buni’s Shems ul Mu arif A. H. 622).

Al-Ghazali is said to have developed the formula, under divine inspiration (ilham), from the combinations of letters which open Suras xix. and xlii. of the Koran, and which by themselves are also used as talismans. Others trace the formula back to Adam, from whom it passed down to Al-Ghazali.

For the popular mind Buduh has become a Jinn whose services can be secured by writing his name either in letters or numbers. The uses of the word are most varied to invoke both good and bad for tune. It is used against menorrhagia, against pains in the stomach, to render oneself invisible, against temporary impotence, etc. Lane’s Cairo magician also used it with his ink mirror (" Modern Egyptians/ chap. xii. ) . We find the same in magical treatises. It is also engraved upon jewels and metal plates or rings which are carried as per manent talismans, and it is inscribed at the beginning of books as a preservative. But by far the most common use is to ensure the arrival of letters