About

Societas Occulta Islamica is an academic society devoted to the study of the arcana and esoterica of Islamicate Civilization. The obscure theurgy associated with the latter is grounded in the most recondite of oriental doctrines. It is for the thorough scholarly investigation of these theurgic technologies and doctrines that the Societas Occulta Islamica was founded.

To this end the Societas Occulta Islamica will soon be launching its peer-reviewed electronic journal, Studia Occulta Islamica. Papers from researchers in Islamic studies as well as those with interdisciplinary interests are most welcome. For full particulars please refer to the ‘Call for Papers’. The inaugural issue of Studia Occulta Islamica will be devoted to the premier Occult Sage of Islamicate Civilization, Shihāb al-Dīn Abū al-‘Abbas Aḥmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Yūsuf al-Qurashī al-Būnī (d. 622 H / 1225 CE at Cairo) and his formidable oeuvre, which has been aptly termed the ‘Corpus Būnīanum’ by Jan Just Witkam. Without doubt the most distinguished work of the Corpus Bunianum is the celebrated Shams al-Ma‘ārif al-Kubrā (The Great Sun of Knowledge) which will be the principal work of focus in the first issue of Studia Occulta Islamica. Future numbers of the journal will investigate the Divine Names, ‘Ilm al-Jafr, Astrology, Alchemy, ‘Magic Squares’, et cetera…

Other activities of the Societas include occasional lectures of which the first was held on 21 November 2011 at the American University in Cairo under the sponsorship of its Arabic Literature and Islamic Studies Unit of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Civilizations.

A bibliography of primary and secondary sources on the Occult Sciences is under preparation and will be periodically updated. The latest version of the latter at the time of publication will be included in the initial number of Studia Occulta Islamica.

Finally, a series of occasional briefs dubbed Manazil and a series of monographs dubbed Buruj will also be issued for download. For more information, please visit the ‘Publications’ page.

For general inquiries, please email info [at] occultaislamica [dot] com.