Sacred power: the motif of the seven magical signs
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
6:00 pm
- Venue
- SOAS, Main Building
- Room
- R301
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
The motif of the Seven Magical Signs is a set of seven symbols believed to represent the Most Exalted Name of God.
They are discussed in texts on magic such as the Shams alma‘arif al-kubra and appear on amulets and various talismanic objects.
This seminar will examine the tradition of the Seven Magical Signs in Southeast Asia from the perspective of both texts and objects. In doing so it aims to investigate possible relationships between the textual tradition and material culture, which may help shed further light into the connections between theory and practice in the occult sciences within Muslim societies.
Event series
This is event is part of the ReSIA (Research Seminar in Islamic Arts) series.
Image credit: Ring with the Seven Magical Signs, Indonesia, c. 2010s-2023. Author’s collection.
About the speaker
Dr Farouk Yahya researches Southeast Asian arts of the book and texts and images on magic and divination. He holds an MA in Islamic art and a PhD on Malay manuscripts from SOAS University of London. He authored Magic and Divination in Malay Illustrated Manuscripts (2016), edited The Arts of Southeast Asia from the SOAS Collections (2017), and co-edited Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice (2021). His recent publications examine Malay manuscript collections, Islamic art objects, and talismans in Southeast Asia, contributing to volumes and journals including Archipel (2025) and studies on Islamic material culture and manuscript traditions.
