A True Story
Here is a wonderful and funny event that happened to the publisher of the great eminent scholar’s books, and ended with my being saved from the danger of black magic.
When I was eight years old, I was very fond of reading and the perusal of books. I read all the books of my father – who was the greatest preacher and scholar of Hadith in Damascus – one example being The Encyclopedia of Prophetic Tradition. After reading The Holy Qur’an fourteen times the same year, my desire increased greatly and, in my curiosity, I aspired to read any book available.
The following laughable occurrence happened to me when I found a magic book that revealed the secret of how to make a hat of hiding. This was supposed to be a hat that could hide a person from the sight of others as soon as they put it on their head, so that they could see other people without being seen themselves.
Undoubtedly, this idea was one that would fulfill the wishes of anyone with a longing for adventure and a thirst for exciting and funny situations. I decided to make this hat for myself, and I set about preparing it by following the directions and the requirements detailed in the book, following all the measurements given minutely and accurately.
I kept imagining how nice it would be if I was able to be present among my friends as they played, hiding myself from their sight. I imagined how I would touch their necks from behind, jokingly. Surely, each of them would think that the one behind him was doing it, and consequently, there would be a battle of accusations and denials as I watched, all the while invisible to their eyes.
At that moment I would take off the marvelous hat and reveal the game I had been playing, appearing amongst them and unveiling the reality behind those taps on the back of the neck.
Furthermore, I would do many wonders at home with my brothers. I imagined how my days would be full of exciting events. Because of my yearning for such possibilities and such amazing episodes, I bought precisely all that the book said was required to make and prepare such a hat. It cost me a lot of money, and so I ended up spending all my pocket money on this project. I bought a gazelle skin from the leather market that is located behind Bab-Al-Jabiah, some incense from Souq-Al-Bzooriah, and all of the various other materials which were necessary to make and prepare the hat of hiding.
According to the directions, the preparations were to be made in broad daylight for Shamhorash, the king of the Red Jinn. They should be carried out when the sun was radiant in the middle of the sky. I should also be out of sight of others at this time.
Therefore, I chose the roof of our house as the place for this activity, because I was able to have the required privacy there. The weather became hotter and hotter as I burned the censer to incinerate and fumigate all the necessary ingredients as required. I remained there for a long time working on the dictated lines that were to be read out, and repeating them as directed.
At last, the ultimate moment approached when I would put on the hat. After the appointed term mentioned in the directions had passed, and having carried out all the necessary duties, I put the hat on my head as the air around me on the roof became aromatic and filled with the rising fumes of incense vapor.
What a wonderful moment that was, and what overwhelming ecstasy I felt, seeing everything without being seen by anyone (or so I thought). Such was the fancy that possessed me at that moment.
But alas!!!
As soon as I came downstairs with the hat on my head, I met my mother, who was astonished at my appearance and made that clear by asking me, “Why are you wearing such a hat on your head, my son?!!”
It immediately became clear to me that there was no such thing as a hat which makes a man invisible. I realized then that these magical talismans and charms were nothing but trickery, without a shred of truth behind them. I became absolutely certain that there was no hat in existence which could hide a person from sight, because this would mean a perversion of truth and a break in the strict universal discipline of the world.
People had never been able to make such a hat before, so surely there was no basis for thinking that it could possibly be done. Had it been real, thieves and criminals would have learnt how to make it in order to commit their crimes without detection, and moreover, the governments of the world would have taught their spies how to use it. If this were the case, crimes and felonies would have become widespread; there would be no restraint on their incidence and no law that could control them, since the perpetrators could remain unknown and unseen. Truly, one that believes a diviner has given the lie to seventy prophets.