Ša‛baḏa: prestidigitazione e illusionismo tra storia della scienza, filosofia e teologia

Abstract

Cited in the classifications of sciences as operational science (ṣinā‛a), in the Islamic world of the Middle Ages, the ša‛baḏa, in its various forms and extensions — it can also be shadow play — ba-lances along a delicate border. While the public is enjoying its ‘wonders’, scholars of different back-grounds give their opinions on its real contents; the philosophers, beyond the ‘wonders’, meditate on the hand of man and on the degree of its perfection which makes it the most sensitive of instruments; the theologians tend to consider it the sister of magic, and as such to be condemned, yet they can also mention it in laudatory terms; the mystics come to compare the muša‛biḏ to God. Against this lively, colorful background, the muša‛biḏ, regardless of anything other than his art, continues to play his game