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^Chapter One^
THE INTELLECTUALS, MAY ALLAH BLESS YOU, are
still aspiring to know the secrets of the philosophers
and what they mean by using symbols and enigmas in
their books through which they achieved their
objectives and goals. Is it possible for those with inferior
intelligence to achieve their goal, may Allah enlighten our
minds?
What motivated me to look for the secrets of talismans when
I was in the prime of youth is what I read in a book entitled The
Fruit by the honorable Ptolemy, in which he says that the
images in the world of creation are obedient to the celestial
images. There is consensus among philosophers that planets
possess forces by virtue of their natural disposition which they
accepted willfully. Accordingly, the talisman-makers drew their
images at the time when certain planets reach their house. This
situation helps them achieve the planned effects of their works.
They did very well in designing their secrets to fulfill their
wishes. I decided to include in this chapter an excerpt which
was written by Ahmad Ben Yusuf al-Katib and published in
Egypt in The Biography of Ahmad Ben Tolone and His Son
Khamarawayh by a Roman philosopher who lived there at that
time. I would like to cite an excerpt of the text from what he
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