Book of tue Mxo!anaîîoii owf tfie M' OO/.S K Hi r—i O- 3 s *> S"_ U ï * 'TTjO T % M iA am m ad It® U m ai Psychological CoHimeîitaîy by Marie-Louise von Franz V? Book of the Explanation of the Symbols Kitäb Hall ar-Rumüz by Muhammad Ibn Umail Psychological Commentary by Marie-Louise von Franz Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum Volume I A (CALA I A) Edited by Theodor Abt and Wilferd Madelung Living Human Heritage Publications, Zurich Studies from the Research and Training Centre for Depth Psychology ACCORDING TO C. G. JUNG AND MARIE-LOUISE VON FRANZ Book of the Explanation of the Symbols Kitäb Hall ar-Rumüz by Muhammad Ibn Umail Psychological Commentary by Marie-Louise von Franz Edited by Theodor Abt L iving H uman H eritage Publications, Zurich 2006 The Arabic transcription follows the German standard which is more precise than the English one. First edition 2006 Living Human Heritage Publications Münsterhof 16, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland info @ livinghumanheritage.org w ww .livinghumanheritage. org ISBN-10 3-9522608-3-5 ISBN-13 978-3-9522608-3-8 EAN 9783952260838 Copyright © 2006 by Theodor Abt All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part, in any form. Layout: Ediz Çali§kan, Tugba Ünlü and Theodor Abt Printing and Binding: Mas Matbaacilik A.S. Istanbul Contents Foreword by the Editor 7 Foreword by Marie-Louise von Franz 11 Part I: Introduction 1. The Religious Eros in the Arab Culture 15 2. The Loss of the Dimension of Divine Matter 29 3. The Transition of Alchemy into the Western World 31 4. A Modern View of Eros 39 5. The Life and Work of Muhammad ibn Umail 49 Part II: Commentary on the Hall ar-Rumiiz 1. General Reflections 59 2. Text and Commentary 61 Part III: Ending of Manuscript G, not written by Ibn Umail 1. Introduction by the Editor 145 2. Text and Commentary 147 Part IV : Apparatus 1. Bibliography 189 2. General Index 197 3. Glossary 239 4. Diacritical Signs 241 7 Foreword by the Editor Alchemy was not just the forerunner of chemistry but also the root of modern depth psychology. It was C. G. Jung (1875-1961) who recog­ nized in the symbolism of alchemy an expression of an inner psychic trans­ formation which he and later psychologists had observed in their studies of dreams and fantasies. In the different descriptions of the alchemical process Jung saw a symbolic manifestation of the gradual differentiation and unification of the personality of the alchemist, something which he called the process of individuation. These intensive studies of alchemy gave his transpersonal psychology a foundation in history, showing that his suggested ways of attending to psychic development correspond to an experience that had been described centuries before. To support his research in alchemy, he asked the young philologist Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz (1915-1998) to translate Latin and Greek alchemical texts that she considered important for his research. Among these texts was the Aurora Consurgens, an alchemical work attributed to Thomas Aquinas. Jung asked her to edit this text on the basis of the differ­ ent manuscripts found in European libraries. Later, he suggested that she should write a psychological commentary of the text. Her edition and com­ mentary appeared in 1957 in German, as Volume III of C. G. Jung's Mysterium Coniunctionis, which was published in 1956. Muhammad ibn Umail—called Senior in Latin alchemy—is by far the most frequently quoted authority in this text. The quotes come from a work that circulated in Europe under the short title Tabula Chemica. In the course of her work on the Aurora Consurgens M.-L. von Franz came across the Arabic original of the Tabula Chemica, called al-Mtf al- waraql wa-l-ard an-nagmlya (Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth). This book is an extensive commentary by Ibn Umail on his own alchemical poem, Risälat as-sams ilä al-hiläl (Epistle of the Sun to the Crescent Moon). The commentary and poem were partly translated into Latin, in this way reaching Western culture. The Arabic text was edited in 1933 and published in Calcutta by M. Turâb CA1I, H. E. Stapleton, and M. Hidäyat Husain, but only the introduction was translated into English. Foreword by the Editor Al-McV al-waraqT is considered to be one of the most explicit sources for the spiritual dimension of Arabic alchemy, as can be seen from the many quotes in the Aurora Consurgens. Ibn Umail represents the non­ chemistry oriented alchemy, the reason why he has received little attention from historians of alchemy. Flowever, he speaks in his texts—as he repeat­ edly emphasises—of symbols and not of specific substances. In spite of these clear statements most historians of alchemy continue to consider these symbols as cover names (Decknamen) for substances. The denial of the existence of symbols can be seen as reflecting a general attitude of a one-sided rational thinking, comparable to that of Sigmund Freud, who also tried to reduce the symbols of the unconscious to nothing but covers or signs of something quite defined and graspable. In her later years Marie-Louise von Franz wanted to enlarge the base of the sources of Arabic alchemy in order better to understand the psy­ chological insights of those introverted lovers of the soul. Because of her studies on the Aurora Consurgens, the texts of Muhammad ibn Umail were of special interest to her. She encouraged me to do primary research on the texts of this author, because, until our publication of the Hall ar-Rumuz (The Explanation of the Symbols, CALA I), we had no English translation of his texts. The basis of the following commentary of Marie-Louise von Franz on the Hall ar-Rumüz was a rough translation of one single manuscript of this text from the Äsaftya Library in Hyderabad (India). It was realized as a first draft in 1987/88 by Salwa Fuad and the editor, two non-profession­ als in the field of the history of alchemy. As the health of Dr von Franz was deteriorating, she had to write her commentary on the basis of this first draft. It was, however, her wish to have the edition of this text done accord­ ing to scientific standards and thus she encouraged intensive additional research. The search for other manuscripts of the same text, the translation of other alchemical texts of Muhammad ibn Umail as well as of Arabic alchemical manuscripts from authors quoted in the Hall ar-Rumüz, was necessary to become better acquainted with the way Ibn Umail was think­ ing. It allowed for a better translation, step by step. In 1994 and 1998 two further manuscripts for the Hall ar-Rumüz could be obtained. This cleared up translation problems which we had encountered in the first manuscript. The studies of the literature, and direct contacts with experts in the field further contributed to a better understanding. This led to many changes in the translation of the basic text. After the passing away of Marie-Louise von Franz in 1998 a fourth manuscript was obtained from the Soltan-Ali Soltani collection in Fars (Iran). This manuscript contained the most Foreword by the Editor 9 revealing introduction to the Hall ar-Rumiiz, missing in all the other man­ uscripts. The collation of the four texts was kindly done by Prof. Dr Wilferd Madelung, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford. He also reviewed the translation of Salwa Fuad and the editor. The result of this work is presented here. After the general intro­ duction of Marie-Louise von Franz, presented in Part I, follows in Part II the first translation in black colour with parts to be corrected or to be omit­ ted given in cyan blue. This was the text, available to Marie-Louise von Franz. The corrections that come from the new translation (published in CALA I) are given to the right of the original translation in green. This will allow the reader to see on what text the interpretation of M.-L. von Franz was based. Due to the insufficient translation she, for instance, could not see the symbolism of lead-copper or of the vapour and the smoke which plays such an important role for Ibn Umail. Only after further translation of texts written by Ibn Umail and of those texts that were for him a source of inspiration, did it become evident what he meant by these symbols. The fact that Marie-Louise von Franz could, in spite of this handicap and her bad health, write her commentary is quite astounding. The later research in other texts written by Ibn Umail and the translation of texts he quotes show clearly that her basic thoughts are all to the point and now allow deeper research into this field of Arabic alchemy. First results will be presented in the volume I B of the Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA IB). The commentary of M.-L. von Franz makes visible that the Hall ar-Rumüz is a key-text for a better understanding of the religious dimension of symbolic Arabic alchemy. The commentary of M.-L. von Franz includes in Part III the ending of the manuscript obtained from the library of Hyderabad (Ms G) which we have hitherto not found in any other manuscript. Thus only ameliorations of the translation of this one single manuscript can be given. This Part III turned out to be a later text not written by Ibn Umail for reasons given on page 145 of this book. The severe illness of Marie-Louise von Franz prevented her from supervising the edition of her book. Thus she handed its copyright to me, together with the request to improve the translation and edit the interpreta­ tion. In order to prevent any distortion of the meaning of her words, the language of M.-L. von Franz has been left in this edition practically unchanged. Necessary additions or remarks by the editor in the main text or in the footnotes are marked in green. As the preparation of a proper text-edition of the Hall ar-Rumüz as well as the collection and translation of other texts of Ibn Umail and his quoted sources took its time, especially due to my other obligations in 10 teaching and research, I agreed in 1999 that an early print of Marie-Louise von Franz's commentary could be published. It was strictly meant for pri­ vate use only for those who wanted to have earlier access to her text. Monika Malamud had the kindness to take over the great work of prepar­ ing and realizing this private edition at a time when I was frequently abroad. Thinking of the reader she changed at certain places the original translation and replaced our original text by later improvements of the translation that I made accessible to her. But these changes were not avail­ able to M.-L. von Franz at the time of her interpretation. For the private edition it was meant to facilitate the reading of Ibn Umail’s text, but for the present edition it is necessary to print exactly the translation which was available to Marie-Louise von Franz. Otherwise it would be not under­ standable why her commentary in the private edition is sometimes not con­ gruent with the text of Ibn Umail. The strict forbidding of the right to quote from this private edition has, hopefully, prevented the proliferation of incorrect statements and/or criticism of the text of Marie-Louie von Franz. The Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum has thus begun with Ibn Umail. Following as CALA II will be the Mushaf as-suwar of Zosimos. A new edition of ai-Mcd al-waraqT wa-l-ard an-nagmïya, a first edition of ad- Durra an-naqTya and al-Qosida al-mmnya all written by of Ibn Umail, and the Mafâtïh as-san^a of Zosimos have been prepared for publication soon. A most cordial thank you goes to Prof. Dr Wilferd Madelung for the collation of the text and the co-edition of CALA, and to Prof. Dr Fuat Sezgin, Frankfurt, for crucial support of the series from the very beginning in 1988. Furthermore I express my gratitude, for logistical help during all these years, to the Swiss Institute for Archaeological and Architectural Research of Ancient Egypt in Cairo (Director Dr H. Jaritz, since 2003 Dr C. von Pilgrim). I also thank Monica Malamud for her support, Sabine Mayer-Patzel for patient background support, Dr Nikola Patzel for help as well as Frith Luton and Dr Peter Starr for corrections and amelio­ rations. Last but not least, this publication would not have become possi­ ble without the support of Mehmet Bora Akgiil, Ufuk §ahin, Ediz Çah§kan, Tugba Ünlü and Ufuk N. §ahin from MAS Matbaacihk A. §. in Istanbul. An especial thank you for financial support goes to the Marie- Louise von Franz Foundation and the Foundation of the Research and Training Centre for Depth Psychology according to C. G. Jung and Marie- Louise von Franz in Zurich. Istanbul, December 2005 Theodor Abt