The earliest Arabic magic squares (original) (raw)

My aim here is to shed light on the origins of magic squares in the Islamic world. This question has often been tentatively addressed, but previous studies have considered only part of the evidence. The earliest Arabic texts presenting squares (al-Ṭabarī, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, Brethren of Purity) are examined here together for the first time, as well as the Indian medical sources. The extraordinary coincidences in the use of the square of three in therapy for a good delivery in both the early Arabic texts and the Indian, as well as the close cultural, geographical, and chronological context, strongly suggests that such eutocic practice represents the origin of Islamic magic squares.