MAGIC, JINN AND THE SUPERNATURAL IN MEDIEVAL YEMEN: EXAMPLES FROM IBN

AL-MUǦĀWIR'S 7TH/13TH CENTURY GUIDE

Author(s): G. REX SMITH
Source: Quaderni di Studi Arabi, Vol. 13, Divination magie pouvoirs au Yémen (1995), pp. 7-18
Published by: Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino
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 G. REX SMITH

MAGIC, JINNAND THE SUPERNATURAL INMEDIEVAL YEMEN:

EXAMPLES FROM IBN AL-MUGAWIR'S
7TH/13THCENTURY GUIDE

In the volume dedicated to thememory of Professor T.M. Johnstone, I published an

article entitled 'Ibn al-Mujawir's 7th/13th century Arabia - the wondrous and the
humorous'1. I had long appreciated the keen sense of humour and fun,much of it tinged
with magic and the bizarre, which the author of thismedieval description of his journeys in
thewest and south of theArabian Peninsula displayed in his work, the Tarlh al-Mustabsir
(TM)2. Prior to the publication ofmy annotated translation of thewhole work therefore3, I
am determined to highlight this very important facet of Ibn al-Mugawir's (IM) writing,
which, it seems tome, sits close to the surface throughout the text.The present collection
on divination and magic in the Yemen4 provides me with the further opportunity to

develop a more precise study of the subject ofmagic, jinn and the supernatural in the text
of theTM thanwas possible within themore general subject of the article towhich I have
referred above.

Ibn al-Mugawir was Abu Bakr b. Muhammad b. Mas'ud b. 'All b. Ahmad al

Bagdadl al-Nisaburi, not a well known figure, although he was certainly from the east of
the Islamic world, as is clear from his nisbahs, in all probability from Hurasan5. He
undoubtedly wrote the TM sometime during the first two decades of the 7th/13th century
during the Ayyubid period of rule in the Yemen (5(59-628/1173-1228) and before their
successors, the Rasulids (626-858/1226-1454). He follows a route from the Holy Cities
south through Tihamah, theRed Sea coastal plain, into the Yemen (i.e. historic Yemen

1
Irvine, Serjeant and Smith, Miscellany, pp. 111-125.
2
Edited by Oscar
Lofgren, Leiden, 1951-1954.
I have been working on an annotated translation of the TM for many years now. Professor Oscar
was kind enough to hand over to me all of his unpublished notes on the text before his death,
Lofgren
as was the late Professor R.B. Serjeant who had also worked on the text over a long period.
4 to participate
I am happy to acknowledge with thanks the kind invitation from Annick Regourd in
this worthy study. My thanks are also due to Dr Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle who was instrumental
in this present article being included in this volume.
5 on
This introduction can be kept as short as possible by referring the reader to previous publications
IM and the TM. See in particular my articles 'Dhofar and Socotra', PSAS. pp. 79-93, and 'Ibn al

Mujawir's 7th/13th century guide to Arabia: the eastern connection*, Occasional Papers, pp. 71-89.

QSA, 13 (1995),pp. 7-18

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comprising the present day Republic of Yemen, plus 'Aslr and even Dhofar6, now the
southern region of the Sultanate of Oman), along the Indian Ocean coast, possibly visiting
towns in the interior of theYemen, Wadi Hadramawt, the coastal area of Dhofar, round
Ra's al-Hadd into theGulf.
He begins the TM with a definition of what he calls fann al-tdrlh, which would
appear to be his term forhistorical topography and the book at the outset looks set to be a
formal historical geography of the area outlined above. IM's basic format is indeed the
route plan: 'fromA to B is x parasangs7, from B to C is y parasangs, etc.'. However, to
the great good fortune of all those who read the text,he is unable to resist digressions, at
times written at very great length, during the somewhat dry, albeit extremely useful, route
descriptions. Since he writes verymuch from the point of view of the businessman and he
may well have been one himself, such subjects as currency exchange, taxes and customs
dues, prices, markets, agriculture and crops etc. figure prominently in the TM. His other
interests are the water supplies and also the buildings he sees on his journey. He
occasionally trieshis hand at history: dates, the reigns of kings etc., although these usually
end in total confusion8! Apart from his primary interest in all things commercial, IM has
also a fascination with people: how they live, how they dress, what they eat, how they
behave, and I am inclined to associate thiswith his business acumen; if a businessman is
to deal with people who live and behave differentlyfrom those in his own environment, it
behoves him to find out all he can about them.Finally, there is clearly a strong element of
story-telling in the TM, as if during his travels and indeed when he was back home, IM
delighted in discussing his discoveries and adventures with friends and acquaintances. Such
discussions were then the catalyst for the telling of tales and legends, often much
exaggerated, and their contents undoubtedly then found theirway into his final text. Itwas
such tales and legends which contained exploits ofmagic, the bizarre and the supernatural
and' which appear to have fascinated our author, on occasions almost to the extent of
obsession.

I preface this article, as I have others,with the remark that the text of IM's TM is, for
a number of reasons, in places extremely difficult to understand fully.Without going into
detail here, I simply state that the interpretations given below are sometimes tentative.
Where there is doubt in the text, I have tried to signify this to the reader.

6
I use the Anglicised Dhofar to indicate the southern region of present day Oman, although
undoubtedly inmedieval times theArabic name Zafar was used only of the settlement just east of the
modern town of Salalah, now a ruined site called al-Balid.
7
He almostinvariably uses the Persian word far sab, although there is one mention of mil and one of
marhalah. It should perhaps be noted that the parasang in the text would appear in the main to be the
distance one could walk in one hour, rather than some fixed measure of distance.
8
See e.g. 'The eastern connection*, p. 77.

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 All the examples given, some directly quoted from the text of the TM, some
summarized, are purposely restricted to the territorialconfines of the historic Yemen in
keeping with the subject of this collection.
The material to be highlighted in this article can conveniently be placed into four
categories as follows: a) magic (sihr), b) jinn, c) the supernatural and d) geographical
changes. References are to thepages and lines of theLofgren edition of theTM.

a)Magic.
There are several direct references tomagic (sihr) in the text, as well as accusations
that an individual or individuals is or are sorcerer(s) (sahir, plur. saharah).

The inhabitantsof Turan/Taran9 are descended from a woman called al-Faliqah who came
out of the sea. She settledon land andmarried a prominentArab who took her to live on
the land of Turan. Children were bom to her, both male and female. The Arabs declared,
The inhabitantsof Turan are from theoffspringof theArab and thewoman', meaning al
Faliqah. When a great flood came down on themand turnedaway from its [usual] path so
thatan area other [than the agricultural land]was irrigated,she would sit in thebottom of
thewadi and block itwith her enormous bulk and thewater would returnto [its] normal
course so that the [agricultural] land would be watered from its flow. There she would
remain until all the land had been watered for thepeople. When the landwas irrigatedand
the people had no [further]use of the floodwater, then she would get up fromwhere she
was sitting and the excess flood water would run into the sea. It is said that she was a
sorcerer (sahirah). I asked 'Amrb. 'All b. Muqbil, 'Whaton earthhappened toFaliqah (ma
fa'ala Allah bi-Faliqah)V He replied that she was still alive. 'Where does she live?', I
asked. 'In Wadi he replied. I asked where the wadi was. He said, 'In the
Qatmah/Qutaynah',

regions of Turan. And she will not die until theDay of Resurrection*. I asked if anyone
ever saw her. He replied, 'Yes, everyone approaching the end of his life-span'.

A second example is as follows:

can be hired, thaton themountain side for a dirham,

In these regions10one side of a litter11
that on the wadi side for a dinar. I asked why. [My informant] said, 'Because there are many

lions in these parts. The lionwill lie inwait on a rockymountain ledge hanging over the
road. One feels nothing until he is seized by the lion with contempt, [staring at him],
eyeball to eyeball. The one on thewadi side, [however], is freefrom fear of the lion, forhe
is sitting in a safe place ('ala tall al-salamah). It is said that the 'lions'12 of this area
[only] behave like lions, i.e. sorcerers, turningtheirappearance (suwar) into thatof a lion.

9 and the fifth stopping place on

SeeTMy p. 100.16. Yaqut (Mu'gam, 27) says that Turan is near Mawza'
the Aden route. The name does not occur in the Yemeni geographical sources at my disposal.
pilgrim
10
See p. 194.5. I.e. the area of al-Dana'ib near Haggah, NW of San4a\
11
Read Suqqat/Siqqat al-Suqduf rather than the present text, al-Suqqah al-Suqduf.
12
That is they are really humans who by magic turn themselves into lions.

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 'AH b. Mu'all al-Dallal (the broker) informedme saying,The lions of thisarea do not kill
a donkey, a cow or a sheep; theygo only for a human being. If one reaches a tree, the lion
remains beneath it, stayingfor a period of threeor fourdays, waiting for theman until13he
gets tiredand climbs down, so [the lion] eats him. One can experiencemen saying to the
-
lion, 'Oh, please, please sparemy life (bi-Allah 'alay-k,aid ma 'afawta >anrii)r whilst he
[merely]wants to get him down and is drumming the ground with his forepaws and the
person [is tryingto] get him to swear by Him who is worshipped until he runs away from
him. I asked what the reason was for people behaving like lions, for is anything to be
gained from oppressing one's fellow human beings? He replied, 'They teach one another
sorcery (sihr) and a man becomes a lion and does all in his power to bring harm to his
fellow humans in the most savage manner possible'.

IM speaks14 of the area of Abyan on the coast to the east of Aden. He says the villages
therewere built by Higazis, of B. 'Amir15 to be precise, who settled and cultivated the area
down to the time of theNajahids (412-551/1021-1156), called in the text dawlat al
Habasah16. IM adds incidentally thatall thewomen of the Abyan area are sorcerers.
In a disappointingly corrupt and difficult passage [248.14], IM writes as follows:

When a woman wants to learn definitive sorcery (al-sihr al-tamm la qabla-hu wa-la

ba'da-h), she takes a human and roasts him until he dissolves and is rendered down into

grease. He cools down and when he has done so, she drinks all [the fat] fromwhich she
becomes pregnant.After sevenmonths, she gives birth to a wild human like a cat in length
and breath, called a *afw('ifw or 'ufw?). It is said thathe has on him a penis the same size
as thatof a grown young ass (aWafw al-kablr). The sorcerer continues to go round with
him and bring him up until he grows up and becomes strong and powerful. When he

reaches sexual the intercourse with his mother...17. No one can see the
maturity, 'afw has
- no one but she can look
'afw except his mother, who is his spouse upon him... [corrupt] It
is also said that he does not learn sorcery, nor does she teach it to him...18. They turn a man

into a donkey or a bull by whatever means they wish.

IM also labels thewomen of al-Mansurah, another name for the settlement of Zafar on the
southern coast, as sorcerers19.These have the ability towalk to Java in one night. They are
sorcerers because they are close to Socotra, a real hotbed of sorcery, as we are about to see.
Constant accusations of sorcery attend all IM's descriptions of the island of Socotra20.

13
Reading hand rather than the tnata of the printed text.
14
P. 248.8.
15
It is not clear which B. 'Amir is here meant. See Kahhalah, Mu'gam, 703, who lists no fewer than 60.
16
See my entry 'Nadjahids*, El2 and my 'The political history*, pp. 131-132.
17 The text is here corrupt.
18
Further corruptions including two lines of poetry.
19
P. 266.1
20
P. 266.15. See also my 'Dhofar and Socotra*, p. 86.

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 Its inhabitantsare Christians and sorcerers.One example of theirsorcery is the following.
-more
Sayf al-Islam made ready against the island correctly Sayf al-Dln Sunqur, the mawla

of Isma'Il b. Tughtakm21 - five galleys (SawdnJ) to take the island.When the [Ayyubid]
enemy approached the island, it disappeared from sight.They patrolled up and down, up
and down, night and day for several days and nights,but found no sign of the island, nor
had any news of it at all. So they returned.

IM also mentions22, as he talks at some length of theMahrah, that they are called al
Saharah (sorcerers), a name which, he says, is derived from sihr23. This is because they
have 'in them ignorance, intelligence (*aql) and some madness (gunun)aA.
Sorcery then, according to IM, is generally the prerogative of women. Al-Faliqah,
mainly on account of her bodily bulk, but also, it is implied, throughmagic, can divert the
flood waters inWadi Turan in order that agricultural lands can be irrigated. She will also,
itmust be remembered, live until theDay of Resurrection! It is true the gender of the
sorcerers of al-Dana'ib, north-west of San'a', is not precisely specified. They have the
ability to change themselves into lions when they attack human beings mercilessly and
seemingly out of sheer evil. It is a great pity that the account of a sorcerer in themaking is
so corrupt and therefore in places impossible to interpret.Here we return to thewoman as
the sorcerer and it comes as no surprise that the process is a bizarre one which begins with
the rendering down into fat of a whole human being! It is thewomen of Zafar too who,
through theirmagic, can visit Java in one night.They are sorcerers because they live close
to Socotra, the inhabitants of which not only work sorcery, but they are Christian to boot!
Such is theirmagical powers that theAyyubid navy with itspowerful galleys brought from
Egypt is prevented from finding the island at all! Finally, according to IM, sorcery requires
in one who practises itboth ignorance and intelligence, as well as some madness, perhaps
literally possession by jinn.

b) Jinn.
The following references to jinn and their activities in IM's text, although they are
few in number, will shed some light on his view of what they really are. Three mountains
including Kudummul inTihamah he suggests25were three jinn transformed inmountains,
although he adds they might have been a human being, Kudummul, his wife and his

21
The Ayyubid ruler of the Yemen, 593-98/1197-1202.
22
P. 271. See also my article 'The wondrous*, p. 116.
23 There is of course the strong possibility that IM has misunderstood and misheard al-Saharah for al

Saharah, the Sheris, who are strictly speaking the people who speak Jibbali. See Johnstone, Jibbali

lexicon, xi.
24
P. 272.
25 in the north of the Yemen to Dahaban.
P. 55.4. The route described is that from Sa'dah

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donkey. In another passage26, Sulayman b. Da'iid, after his marriage to Bilqls in the
Yemen, ordered the jinn to build certain fortresses. This they did, killing all the people in
the area. The two men digging a canal and hewing out a gate in Aden were in reality
'ifritaynmin al-ginn21. IM also reports28from an Indian source thatAden was the prison of
a jinni with ten heads, one that of a gazelle. This and another inAden were expelled by

Sulayman b. Da'ud 'because theywere 'afarit.

To Hatm al-Bakarat twoparasangs29. It is said thatthisplace was known by thisname only

because a jinni Vifrltmin al-ginn) said to thepoet Ramim b. 6abir, 'You recite a line tome
and I shall recite one like it to you until the one who beats his opponent is pronounced
victorious. [This is] on the condition thatyou do notmention a cock in your poetry'. He
agreed and one continued to recite a verse and his opponent to recite one like it until
Ramim b. 6abir was unable [tokeep to the condition] andssaid:
A red Sulayman! cock30, no jinni can be found in his neighbourhood,nor is thatwhere one
can be heard.

When thejinni heard this,he flew into the air and landed to take hold of Saydah, a young
she-camel of Ramim b. Gabir, and tear her limb from limb. When Ramim saw what had

happened, he grieved forhis she-camel and began toweep and to inscribeher picture on
[all] the rocks. In these parts, there was not a single rock on which there was not a picture

of the she-camel, so the place became known as Hiyam al-Rukkab31. About this he would

recite:
There is no young girl likeMayya, nor any slim beast like Saydah..
He also recited the following:
I was sitting on one side of the debate, while $aydah was pasturing among the strong
reddish-white she-camels.

IM's final mention of jinn is contained in a passage which has been translated in full
elsewhere32. It is an anecdote narrated under the heading Qarn Ba Ibrahim, a spring found

26
P. 103.3.
27
P. 108.5.
28
P. 110.6.
29 at my
P. 207.6. The poet here concerned, Ramim b. 6abir, nowhere figures in the reference works

disposal.
30
While the full meaning here is difficult to grasp out of context, it is clear that the cock is more than a
match for the jinni. It might be worth reminding the reader that Solomon in Arab tradition has

authority over nature and is associated with magic and the supernatural. See Walker, 'Sulaiman ibn

Dawud', EIl; Thackston,Tales, 301.

31
IM seems to forget that the name the derivation of which he is clarifying is originally given as Hatm
al-Bakarat (The Young She-Camels' Muzzle) and this is a good deal more appropriate than this one,
'The Riders' Tents'. It might be noted here that the story is well known in the area and shows the

general attitude of the locals, if not all Yemenis, to the evil behaviour of the jinni, not simply that of
IM himself.
32
See 'The wondrous', p. 114. The text reference is p. 255.13.

12

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inWadi Daw'an inHadramawt. The water flowed there only for a member of theHimyar
tribe,whereas, if anyone other than a Himyari tried to drink or irrigate from thewater, the
water would immediately dry up! IM is told by his informant, 'AH b. Muhammad b.
Ahmad al-Siba'I, that the flow of water is in actual fact controlled by a jinni who has been
'appointed agent over the wadi' (muwakkal 'aid hddd al-wddt). There is, continues IM,
another spring which is designated forHawlan and called 'Amal; here only a Hawllni can
use thewater. In the case of the second spring, however, there is no mention of a jinni in
control.

What then are we tomake of IM's jinn? As often as not, he uses the expression 'ifrlt
min al-ginn. As of sorcerers, he writes of them primarily as being involved in
transformation: transformed into a mountain, into human beings who build, dig canals and
hew out gates. They might have ten heads and were certainly driven out of Aden by
Sulayman b. Da'ud simply because theywere 'afdrlt.Presumably assuming the outward
form of a human being, a jinni engages in a poetry competition and, in a rage at what he
hears, slaughters the favourite young she-camel of his opponent. Far from being
malevolent, however, the jinni controlling the flow of water at Qarn Ba Ibrahim in
Hadramawt was in all probability achieving peace in the area by making thewater available
only toHimyar, thus avoiding tribal disputes over water.

c) The supernatural.
IM not infrequently talks of thewonders ('agd'ib) which he has experienced on his
travels and these are frequently tales of the supernatural and the bizarre - perhaps for the
most part biological in subject - and the following are examples.
IM takes a little time during his discussions of Tihamah tomention certain botanical
wonders33. He firstly tells us that the fragrant screw-pine34 will flower only during the
flashing of lightning. The henna flower35 is open on moonlit nights. The cucumber turns
around with the sun, as does the lotus36.

In a passage already translated and annotated37 and entitled 'The wonders ofDamar'38,
IM remarks that snakes and scorpions do not exist in the town. As it is taken in through
soil taken fromDamar and sprinkled over snakes will kill
the gate, a snake will die. Also
them. 'This is themost wondrous thing there is!', exclaims IM.

33
P. 81.6. This whole passage is fully translated and annotated inmy article The wondrous*, p. 113.
34
Arabic kadi, Pandanus odoratissimus L. See DimyatI, Mu'gam, p. 131.
35
Lawsonia alba L. or Lawsonia inermis Linn.
36
In the text laynufar, which appears also as naylufar, probably the lotus, Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.
37 See 'The wondrous*, pp. 114-115 and the text p. 190.14.
38
The town is about 50 miles/80 kilometres due south of San'a'.

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 From botany and zoology, IM turns his attention to ornithology39! Speaking of
Zabid, the famous town inTihamah, he describes the?dalanquq40 bird which is black and
white (ablaq). It seems that the bird is also found in Iraq and has a long bill. The bird has
the habit of dancing whenever it sings which it does mainly in the rainy season or in
winter. 'It is themost amazing thing that the author has ever seen', remarks IM (wa-hada
a'gabu Say'in ra'a-hu al-musannif). In theYemen also there is the gawlab bird41 which
has red wings and two bills! The noise itmakes reminds one of sayyidi, agib sittl (my
master, answer my mistress)! Another imagines the noise of someone striking the napes of
the necks of black men (daqqu qafa al-suddn)\ IM also knows of a bird in themountains

nearby which roars like a ruttingcamel!

d) Geographical changes.
IM mentions in the text of theTM threemajor geographical changes which have been
wrought by some supernatural, not to say in the case of one, divine hand and which result
in the creation of some new physical feature.
The first example from the text involves the creation of the Red Sea and Bab al
Mandab as follows42.

This sea was not in ancient times a sea, I mean the Red Sea. It is nothing more than a new
sea opened up by Du al-Qarnayn43,or a variantversion is by one of theTubba's [i.e. one of
the pre-Islamic rulers of theYemen]. The reason is given by a number of local [writers],
includingAmir Abu al-Tami Gayya? b. Nagah44 inhis Kitab al-Mufid fl ahbar Zabid45
who wrote as follows: When
al-Qarnayn Duarrived at this wadi46, he took a look around.
He found the heat oppressive there, so he opened [the wadi] up, that is he dug out the end
of the wadi. The sea rushed out and a branch [of the wadi] poured out as far as Suez where it

stopped47. It is said thatAbyssinia was joined to theArabian Peninsula, so Du al-Qarnayn

declared, 'We want to separate the two regions so that each one recognizes its own ruler
and everyone takes possession of his land and territory and all mastery [over the other

land] and hostility [between the two] ceases'. So when the sea was opened up, the two
regions split asunder, each one independent.

The account which follows is fully translated and annotated in The wondrous', p. 114; TM> p. 233.14.
40
The vocalization is tentative and the word unknown in any sources I have been able to investigate.
41
Translated by Landberg, Glossaire> p. 1294, as 'pigeon'. It is also mentioned by Rossi, VAraboy p.
162.
42
P. 95.8.
43
Alexander the Great. He is mentioned in Qur'an 18:83. See also Watt, 'al-Iskandar', El2.
44
The third and final Najahid ruler of the Yemen, ca. 482-98/1089-1104.
45 No longer extant, as far as I am aware.
46
I.e. in all probability Wadi Zabid, but this is not immediately clear from the text.
47
In other words, before he 'opened up' the wadi, its water did not reach the huge valley which is now
the Red Sea. His excavations were between the wadi and this valley and there was sufficient water in
the wadi to fill the valley as far as Suez.

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The second example concerns themarvellous creation ofAden and indeed with it thewhole
of theGulf of Aden and theRed Sea48.

From Suez toAden, to themountain of Socotra, all of thiswas one stretchof landwith no
body of sea (bdhah) at all. Du al-Qarnayn arrivedduring [one of] his toursand came to this
very place. By digging out, he opened up an expanse of water (halTg) into [what became]
the sea which then flowed until it stopped at themountain of Bab al Mandab. So Aden
remained in the sea, completely surrounded by it. But only the tops of themountains
could be seen inAden like islands.One clear indicationthatwhat we are saying [is fact] is
that tracesof the sea and thewaves can stillbe seen on the summitsof6abal al-'Urr and of
themountain on the summitof which Hisn al-Ta'kar was built, and also of6abal al-Ahdar.
The second indication [of the truthof thematter] is thatSaddad b. 'Ad built IramDat al
'Imad49 between al-Lahabah and Lahg on theone hand and al-Magawi on theotherwhich is
on the road to al-Mafalls and thiswas the [stretchof] sand which [reaches] as far as 6abal
Dar Zlnah. He built it only midst the best and purest lands and climate, far from the sea.
Now the sea has reached50 the territory of Iram Dat al-'Imad and taken away some of it.
was no sea - was
There in this area [previously] it created new by Du al-Qarnayn's opening
up [the expanse of water]. It stretchedfrom the island of Socotra and was one great flood
until it came to a stop at the last part of al-Mandab.

The third indication [of the truthof thematter] is that the sea between al-Sirrayn51 and
Jeddah is called Matarid al-Hayl andMarabit al-Hayl. The origin of this is that theArabs
used to tether their horses in this area. The most accurate [version of the story, however,] is

that they used to hunt horses there when there was no sea and the sea was dry land. When

Du al-Qarnayn opened up Bab al-Mandab, all the landswere drowned and theirhigh lands
became islands in the sea which was the original name of Matarid al-fjayl... The sea
given
so remained untilDu al-Qarnayn opened up Bab al-Mandab. The sea flowed into [whatwas
previously dry land] and only stopped at Suez.

The third example of such amazing geographical changes is the creation of the island of
Socotra52. In ancient times, IM tells us, while the area to thewest of an imaginary line
drawn fromCape Gardafui to, say, Saihut was land53, all that to the east was sea. Socotra
was something in between, perhaps only the high land of the island being visible at low

48
P. 106.8. See also Mermier, 'Fondations', Y6men, p. 135.
49 See Wensinck, 'Iram I&at al-Tmad', Er2.
50
Taking raga' in itsmore usual sense in the TM\ i.e. this is happening for the first time.
51
An Islamic coastal site about 145 miles/200 kilometres south of Mecca. See 7M, p. 53; Baladi,

Mu'gcutiy iv, p. 199; Zayla'i, 'Mecca', 100 ff.

52 is quoted in full; cf. also
See p. 266.4; my article 'Dhofar and Socotra*, pp. 83-84, where the passage

Serjeant, population', p. 140, and my review of Doe's book, JSS% pp. 137-138. In short, the
'Coastal

passage I am about to summarize does not coincide with Serjeant's interpretation in the above quoted

chapter of Doe's book.

See the previous example in this section on the creation of Aden.

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tide. God54 opened up the sea and it flooded out as far as Bab al-Mandab. The second
phase was the opening up of an access for the sea as far as Suez, leaving less water in the
Gulf of Aden and thus creating the island of Socotra as we know itnow.
Thesethree passages then essentially refer to the same miracle to create theRed Sea,
and thus incidentally separating thePeninsula fromAbyssinia, and theGulf ofAden which
were originally, IM states, dry land, and also Aden itself and to turnSocotra into a genuine
island. The hand ofGod ismentioned only once and the other two deeds are ascribed toDu
al-Qarnayn.
Within the confines of time and space, it is hoped that the examples provided above
from a work written in the early 7th/13thcentury begin to paint a picture of how magic and
the supernatural might well have been perceived in theYemen at that time. Apart from
clear examples like those given, it should be stressed thatmagicians and jinn in particular
appear to play a part in IM's guide which is, in any case, such a wonderful reflection of life
in themedieval Yemen. How else too could such wonders of the physical world, such as
theRed Sea, the port of Aden and the island of Socotra, be explained if they did not appear
over night, wrought by the hand of God, perhaps too with the aid of the legendary Du al

Qarnayn?

THEUNIVERSITYOFMANCHESTER

REFERENCES

al-baladi, 'Atiq b. Gayt

1980 Mu'gam ma'dlim al-Higaz> iv,Mecca, 1980.

al-dimyati, Mahmud Mustafa

1965 Mu'gam asma' al-nabatat al-waridah fiTag al-'Arus li-l-Zabidl, Cairo.

johnstone, T.M.
1981 Jibbali lexicon, Oxford.

kahhalah, 'UmarRida
1982 Mu 'gam qaba 'il al- 'Arab, ii, Beirut.

Landberg ,Le Comte de

1929 Glossaire dattnois, i,Leiden.

54
In the two previous IM states that itwas Du
examples al-Qarnayn who was involved in the change.

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Mermier, F.
1993 'Les fondations mythiques de Sanaa et d'Aden'. Michel Tuchscherer (ed.), Yemen,
passe etpresent de Vunite,Aix-en-Provence, pp. 131-141.

Rossi, E.
1939 L'Arabo parlato a San'a'. Rome.

Serjeant, R.B.
1992 /The Coastal population'. Brian Doe, Socotra, island of tranquillity.London, pp.
133-80.

Smith, G. Rex
1985 'Ibn al-Mujawir on Dhofar and Socotra', Proceedings of theSeminar for Arabian
Studies, 15, pp. 79-93. [PSAS ]
1988 'Ibn al-Mujawir's 7th/13th century Arabia - the wondrous and the humorous'.
Irvine, A.K., Serjeant, R.B. and Smith, G. Rex (eds), A Miscellany ofMiddle
Eastern articles - inmemoriam Thomas Muir Johnstone 1924-83..., Harlow, pp.
111-25.
[1988] 'The Political history of the Islamic Yemen down to the firstTurkish invasion (1
945/622-1538)', Werner Daum (ed.), Yemen, 3000 years of art and civilisation,
Innsbruck, pp. 129-40.
1990 'Ibn al-Mujawir's 7th/13th century guide to Arabia: the eastern connection',
Occasional Papers of theSchool of Abbasid Studies (St Andrews) 3, pp. 71-89.
1994 review of Brian Doe, Socotra (see Serjeant above), Journal of Semitic Studies,
39/1, pp.136-39.

Strothmann, R. and Smith, G.R.

1993 'Nadjahids', Encyclopaedia of I slam, Leiden-Paris,

thackston, W.M., jr.

1978 The Tales of theProphets of al-Kisa'i. Boston.

Walker, J.
1934 'Sulaiman ibnDawud', Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden-Paris.

Watt, W. M.
1978 'al-Iskandar', Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden-Paris.

wensinck, A.J.
1971 'IramDhat al-'Imad\ Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden-Paris.

Yaqiit b. 'Abdallah,
1979 Mu'gam al-bulddn, ii,Beirut.

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Zayla'I, Ahmad 'Umar,
1983 'The Southern area of the amirate of Mecca (3rd-7th/9th-13th centuries), its
history, archaeology and epigraphy', PhD thesis,University ofDurham.

RflSUMfi
La magie, les djinns et le surnaturel dans le recit fait par Ibn al-Mugawir de ses
voyages au Yemen, au VII/XIII s., retiennent ici Vattention. Uauteur, probablement un
homme d*affaire originaire de VEst du monde musulman, bien qu'il se soit principalement
interesse aux miurs, aux vetements, aux moeurs, aux monnaies, aux et mesures, a
poids
aux ressources en eau, etc., livre se rapportant au bizarre et au
Vagriculture, unfonds
surnaturel.

Les materiaux en quatre categories: a) sorcellerie; b) djinn;

ont ete classes
c) surnaturel; enfin d) des transformations colossales produites par le passe dans la
physiographic de la region.

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