Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, and Syria are particularly known for the practice of rituals for summoning jinn. Egypt especially stands out, as a large number of dervishes and sheikhs operate there. The ritual of communicating with jinn, known as darb al-mandal, can be performed using a fingernail, a coffee saucer filled with ink and oil, or even a chicken egg. Naturally, for this purpose the egg must be coated with oil and black ink. The procedure is always the same, and the key element for seeing is the oil stain that remains on the surface. Through it, a boy or a girl—much like watching a television screen—can see images or events. Anyone else sitting nearby, even if they look directly at the object, sees nothing.
It is believed that the ritual is particularly successful if, on the day it is performed, there is not a single cloud in the sky. Why this is important has never been publicly explained.
The darb al-mandal ritual in Bosnia is known as “gathering the daira,” and according to written documents it was practiced in Bihać, Sarajevo, Fojnica, Foča, Srebrenica, Tuzla, Zenica, Brčko, and many other places where dervishes or healer-hodjas known for their knowledge were present. In the book Folk Superstition (Pučko praznovjerje, Ljudevit A. Ivandić, 1965), the author devotes several pages to describing the ritual, but the following passage particularly stands out, as it illustrates how powerful the ritual was believed to be:
“The Catholic populace of the surrounding areas recounts that during these gatherings of the daira various natural disasters occur: violent winds, trees breaking, earth being carried through the air, and buildings collapsing. By this, even Christians ‘know’ that dairas are being performed. It is still alive in the memory of the Catholic people in Fojnica a supposedly true event involving a certain sheikh who was gathering a daira. After he had completed the daira, he was unable to dismiss the jinn. Some invisible force lifted him to the top of a poplar tree, from which he could not descend despite all the incantations of the hodjas.”
In another part of the text, the author mentions an interesting detail—namely, the most favorable time for practicing the described ritual:
“These same people told me that in springtime, during the gathering of the daira, they would see hodjas around Fojnica dispersing jinn after the daira had been performed, attempting in this way to protect the area from the calamities caused by the jinn.”
Ljudevit A. Ivandić, thanks to Muhamed Garčević, an official of the State Museum in Banja Luka—who spent over twenty-one years in Turkey and devoted himself especially to the study of ruhanijat (spiritual science), and who was regarded as an expert on amulets, talismans, and all types of daira summoning—provides a description of the ritual in his book. It should also be noted that Garčević himself, in his work Records and Amulets (Zapisi i hamajlije, 1942), gives descriptions and insights into the ritual. However, here we will focus on what is recorded in Folk Superstition.
The daira can be gathered in several ways. I learned of five types:
Daira using water. Water is taken and placed in a vessel that is green on the inside. Then one grain of wheat, one grain of barley, forty akçe (coins), or a silver groschen or ducat are added.
Daira using a mirror or porcelain dish.
Daira using a fingernail coated with ink.
Daira using the palm of the right hand.
Daira using a cup (fildžan) half-filled with water. This is the most common form of gathering the daira, and so it is presented here to show what it looks like. I note that the other types are more or less similar to one another.
In a clean, well-ventilated room, a serdžada (a prayer rug used by Muslims) is laid out facing southeast (toward the qibla), and the gatherer performs ablution (abdest). Other people may be present in the room besides the gatherer, but throughout the entire time they must do nothing except pray to God, regardless of what may happen. Women who are menstruating are not permitted to be present.
After preparing everything needed, the gatherer kneels on the prayer rug, and in front of him a child aged nine to twelve is placed, preferably with green or blue eyes. The child must kneel just like the gatherer, so that their knees face one another and remain in constant contact.
Next, the gatherer writes words from the Qur’an in black ink on the palm of the child’s right hand and frames them with a square. In the same way as the square with words is written on the child’s palm, it is also written on a piece of paper. Then the gatherer takes the cup with water and places it on the child’s palm, with the paper underneath the cup.
After that, the same words are written on a narrow but long strip of paper, sized according to the child’s forehead, and this paper is placed on the child’s forehead with the written side facing outward. This is done so that the child does not become frightened by the figures he or she will see in the cup.
Next, the gatherer brings closer a vessel containing embers for incense, which is always frankincense. When this is done, the gatherer takes a knife with a black handle and, using the tip of the knife, draws a circle on the floor around himself and the child. This is done so that the spirits (jinn) cannot harm the child or the gatherer if they become hostile. The circle is drawn starting from the left side of the gatherer and the right side of the child. While drawing the circle, the gatherer continuously recites (reads) Ayat al-Kursi (a verse from the Qur’an), finishing both the circle and the prayer at the same time.
When this is completed, the knife is stabbed into the spot where the circle was begun. The knife must remain embedded for the entire duration of the daira.
Then, on four equal pieces of paper, a square is written with prescribed verses from the Qur’an, and these are thrown one by one onto the embers with incense. When all of this is completed, the child—still holding the cup on the palm, with the paper underneath—is covered over the head with a transparent green veil.
Then the recitation of the sura Wa ash-shamsi wa duhaha begins. The child is instructed to look only into the water and to report any change noticed in it. The mentioned suras are continuously recited until an image appears on the water for the child.
The child will first see a green meadow on the surface of the water, upon which living figures will appear, sometimes dressed in military clothing. When the child reports this to the gatherer, the gatherer must, through the child, command their leader (king) to appear. When the child announces that the leader has arrived, the gatherer must stand as a sign of respect and remain standing until the child announces that the leader has sat down. When the leader sits, the gatherer may also sit.
Then the question for which the daira was gathered is posed. If it concerns a sick person—as is the case in most instances when a daira is gathered—the leader is asked to reveal the cause of the illness and to say which jinn has possessed the patient. After the child conveys the answer, the leader is asked to remove the attacker peacefully.
If the leader refuses, the gatherer must use those Qur’anic verses and names of God that are capable of destroying the attacker. The names of God and verses are written on papers that are thrown into the fire; as they burn, so too should the jinn who refused to depart peacefully be burned.
If the attacker leaves the patient peacefully, the patient will immediately fall unconscious, remaining so for some time before regaining consciousness. If the attacker is forcibly removed, the unconsciousness will last longer, because the jinn will take their final revenge on the patient.
If the jinn do not respond to the recitation of the mentioned sura, other, more effective verses from the Qur’an must be recited. Likewise, if the jinn refuse to answer questions after arriving, specially designated Qur’anic passages must be recited for that purpose.
After the task is completed, the jinn must be allowed to disperse by reciting the prescribed Qur’anic verses and clapping the hands together. If they do not disperse, Ayat al-Kursi is recited and one blows over the child into the cup. If they still do not disperse, the sura Alam nashrah laka must be recited, after which the jinn will certainly disperse.
In this way, the daira is concluded.
