John Friend is a nom de plume. Behind it is an esotericist, occultist, scholar, and translator who has spent years immersed in the Arabic manuscript tradition — reading what most academics catalog but never open, and translating what has never before appeared in any Western language. His work sits at the crossroads of Islamic esotericism, Solomonic magic, and the living tradition of ʿilm al-ḥurūf (the science of letters). He translates not as an outsider looking in, but as a student of the tradition itself.
Every book translation published under the name is a complete Arabic to English translation made directly from the source text, not a paraphrase of earlier European versions.
Real Arabic Translation, Made From the Manuscripts
This is medieval Arabic manuscript translation, and the material sets the rules. The texts weave together Quranic verses, prayers, the Divine Names, the technical vocabulary of letter science and magic squares, and barbarous names (‘ajami) — sequences of letters meant to be pronounced exactly as written. Each edition handles that material the same way:
- Three layers. Prayers, invocations, divine names, and Quranic passages appear in English translation, in romanized transliteration, and in the original Arabic script.
- Scholarly romanization. Arabic terms follow IJMES romanization with full diacritical marks.
- Barbarous names left intact. They are transliterated exactly and printed beside the Arabic, never translated.
- Seals and squares as images. Talismanic seals and magic squares are reproduced as images from the source manuscript.
- Nothing invented. Where a source is illegible, the gap is noted as a lacuna rather than filled in.
If you arrived looking for Arabic language translation in general, the work here is narrower and deeper: book-length Arabic translation of the Islamicate esoteric tradition — Solomonic conjuration, planetary magic, talismanic science, jinn taxonomy, the science of letters, and magic squares. For a survey of what has reached English so far, see every Arabic occult manuscript available in English.
The Book Series
Arabic Islamicate Occult Manuscripts in Translation
A seven-volume series presenting the first complete English translations of major Arabic grimoires and esoteric texts — works that have circulated in manuscript form for centuries but were never rendered into any Western language until now.
The series spans Solomonic conjuration, planetary magic, talismanic science, jinn taxonomy, the science of letters and magic squares, and the operational ritual tradition preserved in the great compilations of al-Būnī and his successors.
Its volumes are the Kitab Danyal al-Nabi, Mujarrabat al-Ruhban, Shams al-Anwar wa Kunuz al-Asrar al-Kubra, Kitab al-Ajnas of Asif ibn Barkhiya, al-Jawahir al-Lamma’a, Tumtum al-Hindi, and Sihr Muluk al-Jann.
Available on Amazon.
The Al-Buni Manuscripts Collection
An eight-volume book series presenting the collected works attributed to Ahmad al-Buni (d. 1225 CE) in English for the first time — more than 2,500 pages of letter science, magic squares, the Divine Names, protective talismans, and litanies.
It opens with the first complete Shams al-Ma’arif English translation: all 40 chapters and all four parts of Shams al-Ma’arif al-Kubra, translated from the 1927 printed Arabic edition.
Browse all eight volumes of the Al-Buni Manuscripts Collection.
John Friend Publishing
John Friend Publishing is the imprint behind both series. Fifteen translations have been published so far, sold on Amazon in Kindle and print editions; the Kindle editions are free to read with Kindle Unlimited. The essay library adds field notes and primers on the manuscripts behind the books.
Questions About John Friend and the Translations
Who is John Friend?
Are these real Arabic translations?
How does John Friend translate Arabic to English?
What book series has John Friend translated?
Is there a Shams al-Ma’arif English translation?
Where can I buy John Friend’s translations?
For inquiries: hello@johnfriendpublishing.com
Bookstores and retailers interested in stocking these titles are welcome to write to the same address.