Usul 'Ilm al-Huruf Al-Buni's Science of Letters

The Ilm al-Huruf Book in English

Usul 'Ilm al-Huruf, attributed to Ahmad ibn Ali al-Buni, is a treatise on 'ilm al-huruf: it sets out the lunar mansions and planets, the natures and spirits of the Arabic letters, and the rules governing magic squares. It is an ilm al-huruf book in the most literal sense: its full Arabic title, Kitab Usul 'Ilm al-Huruf wa-Dawabit al-Awfaq (كتاب أصول علم الحروف وضوابط الأوفاق), means The Principles of the Science of Letters and the Rules Governing Magic Squares. 'Ilm al-huruf (علم الحروف), also written ilm huruf or, as it is spoken, ilmul huruf, means “the science of letters”; al-huruf simply means “the letters.”

The book presents itself as a letter set down by Imam al-Buni for Suqrat the Wise, written to reveal what earlier authors had concealed and to clarify what they had expressed in symbols. Its opening grounds the science in the knowledge of the names that God gave to Adam, citing Asaf ibn Barkhiya, and calls the science of letters “the upright knowledge and the straight path.”

Four Parts: From the Stars to the Letters

Part One covers the science of astronomy: the lunar mansions and zodiac signs, and the seven planets with their incenses and metals. Part Two is the science of letters proper — the origin of the letter, the spirits of the letters and their assigned servitors, the natures of the letters, the auspicious, extracted, luminous, and dark letters, and a closing chapter on letter magic squares. Part Three applies the science to the human world, including taking possession of intellects, souls, and hearts, attraction, and love. Part Four treats derived sciences: the Egyptian weights, the duty of guarding this knowledge in silence, the zayirjah, and philosophy.

Luminous and Dark Letters

A central division sorts the alphabet into luminous and dark letters. The luminous letters are the fourteen that stand at the openings of Qur'anic surahs, and working with them is for spiritual things — spirits, intellects, souls, and thoughts; the dark letters are their opposites, used for bodies, plants, animals, and every sensible thing. Our essay Dark Letters, Luminous Letters explores the classification further.

If you know the letter chapters of the Shams al-Ma'arif, this is the theory behind them; for a letter-by-letter introduction to Arabic lettrism, see the secret powers of the Arabic alphabet. In this Al-Buni Manuscripts Collection edition, the talismanic seals and magic squares of the ilm al-huruf manuscript are reproduced as images from the source, and illegible passages are noted rather than reconstructed.