262 A MALAY PANTHEIST CHARM. 
’Balang Abubakar, *balang Umar, 
"Balang Uthman, *balang Alv! 
Jaga sa-kalv! 
Angin sharvat, roma déngan kulht! 
Angin “itikad, daging déngan darah! 
Angin tarikat, wrat déngan tulang! 
Angin ma‘rifat, nyawa dengan béneh! 
Angin émpat di-dalam, €mpat di-luar, 
Empat di-kanan, émpat di-kirt, 
Empat di-bawah, émpat di-atas, 
Jaga kéluar 
Di-pintu sir, pintu ‘itikad, pintu chinta, pintu rasa. 
Dr. Gimlette has collected and 18 printing the full charm in a 
new edition of his “ Malay Poisons.” I quote the extract to illus- 
trate the pawang’s use of the mystic four. 
Snouck Hurgronje’s book on “ The Achehnese,” D. A. Rinkes’ 
“ Abdoerraoef van Singkel ” (Friesland, 1909), B. J. O. Schrieke’s 
“Het Boek van Bonang’ ” and H. Kraemer’s ‘“ Ken Javaansche 
primbon uit de zestiende eeuw ” (Leiden, 1921) should all be in the 
hands of the student of Malayan pantheism. 
The Malay magician has a strange pedigree: first, animist, 
then Hindu and lastly, as Sufi mystic, the unconscious inheritor of 
Gnostic and Neo-Platonic doctrines. Brahminical mantra,to which 
even the Gods are subject, perhaps prepared his mind for the auda- 
cities of the Sufi. I will take one instance from Skeat’s “ Malay 
Magic” (pp. 587-588) :— 
“Jibrail, Mikal, Israfil, “Azrail ; 
Ye are four but with me five! 
I sit on the seat of God! 
I lean against the pillar of God’s throne.” 
Is this a misconception or wilful corruption of al-Jil’s description 
of the Perfect Man:—“‘he furnishes from himself an antitype to 
everything in existence—his heart stands over against the Pen, 
his soul over against the Guarded Tablet, his nature over against 
the elements. He stands over against the angels with his good 
thoughts.” Another of Skeat’s pawang (p. 581) speaks of “a white 
learned Shaikh who leans against the pillar of the Throne, who 
knows the Guarded Tablet, who writes down the Creed,” (and, I 
suppose, of Muhammad in the phrase “the Sovereign Jewel who 
dwells above the Throne, controlling all the children of Adam.”) 
In this paper J translate a charm obtained in an East coast 
State of the Malay Peninsula: a promise to its possessor forbids me 
to divulge its home exactly. It was copied by me from a begrimed 
book probably a century old and transcribed according to the colo- 
phon from a still older manuscript :— 
“A chapter to explain the charm called the Fortress of the 
Unity of God, practised by Maklab Setam. Whosoever would 
practise it should recite the fatihah first and give a present to its 
owner. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
