Multi-Religious Protection and Familial Bonds

In this chapter I analyse how the Hebrew phase from the Torah ‘ehyeh ašer ehyeh’ and its variations is used in a sixteenth-century Arabic-Aljamiado Morisco grimoire, the Dichos de libros maravillosos , which alternates between Ibero-Romance or Spanish and Arabic with no warning and often within the same sentence, all represented in Arabic script. This phrase or its variations are used as part of the instructions or the protective talismans themselves — many of which suggest a collegiality among the monotheistic believers and require the assistance of or protection from jinn. I argue that the repeated presence of this phrase in this manuscript exclusively for Moriscos, a group for the most part already fluid in their religious identity and practice, highlights further fluidity among the three major Abrahamic traditions for this type of culturally fluid Moriscos. While one religion was always prioritized — and indeed many Moriscos strived to remain faithful Muslims despite their outward conversion — they were still all ‘siblings’ with followers who can be considered the children of God. The presence of this Hebrew phrase helps erase divisions among believers through these shared God-sanctioned magical practices as this Morisco magic text draws indiscriminately from the three major Abrahamic religions for protection.