Amulet Atlas

amuletsQur'an pendantآية الكرسي

said Āyat al-Kursī, the Throne Verse — the text most often inside one

also: miniature Qur'an · Ayat al-Kursi pendant · Qur'an case · hirz

amuletArabia and the GulfAnatoliaIranSouth AsiaThe MaghrebEgyptTurkeyIranPakistanIndiaconfidence mediumneeds checking

A metal case at the throat with scripture inside it. Sometimes a whole miniature Qur'an, protected by an illuminated metal cover; sometimes a single verse on paper or engraved on the metal itself. The verse is most often Āyat al-Kursī, the Throne Verse, Qur'an 2:255 — the 255th verse of the second chapter, and the one the tradition names the greatest in the book. Others hang the same verse framed on a wall or from a mirror in a car.

cited

When

text amulets in cases from the 10th or 11th century; still worn still carried inference

PeriodMedieval Islamic to the present
How the date is knowna dated example survives
NoteNo dated earliest Qur'an pendant was read. The floor here is the dated class of medieval Islamic text amulets in metal cases the Amulet article describes, from the tenth or eleventh century. The verse itself is seventh-century. Treat the floor as the object's, not the practice's.

Years are stored astronomically — 1 CE is 1, 1 BCE is 0, 500 BCE is −499 — and printed the way a reader says them. How these dates are made.

The thing itself

FormBox or reliquary
Made ofSilver · Gold · Carnelian · Paper · Ink · Lead
GoesAt the neck · In a vehicle · On a wall · In a pocket or a bag
Made byhandwritten by a scribe for those who could pay; serialised block-printed copies in sealed lead cases for those who could not
It saysĀyat al-Kursī, Qur'an 2:255, or a miniature complete Qur'an; on printed cases, surat al-Ikhlas stamped into the lead (Arabic)
NoteNo published measurement was read for a pendant; the related printed packet in the Aga Khan Museum is 7.2 × 5.5 cm and is recorded on the ta'wiz record.

What its carriers say it stops

Reported, attributed, not tested here. Each row below is somebody's claim, with their name on it.

The story

The verse opens: "Allah: there is no god but Him, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Watchful. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him." It is built concentrically, in the symmetry most common in the Qur'an, where each segment answers its pair across a centre.

What the tradition says it does is on the record in hadith and in commentary, and this atlas reports it without weighing it. Reciting the verse is said in hadith to ward off devils, šayāṭīn, and fiends, ʿafārīt; recited after every obligatory prayer it is held to admit the reciter to Paradise with nothing in the way but death. Al-Suyuti narrates a man of humanity meeting a man of the jinn, and the jinn, beaten in a wrestling match, teaching him the verse that keeps any devil from entering his house with him — this one. The Throne Verse is used in exorcism, against jinn and devils. Because it is associated with protection, the tradition also reads it as a shield against the evil eye. It is recited before a journey and before sleep, morning and evening as a daily adhkār.

The material tradition round it is documented. Miniature Qur'ans kept in illuminated metal cases are one form; block-printed text amulets sealed into lead cases with lugs, so they could be sewn on or hung, are another. Preferred materials are precious and semi-precious, and the reasons given for them are explicit: carnelian, ʿaqīq, is favoured because it was counted the stone of Muhammad, who was said to have worn a carnelian seal set in silver on the little finger of his right hand; jade and jasper are held to assure victory in battle, guard against lightning and treat diseases of the internal organs. A combination of jade and carnelian is read for fertility and embryogenesis — the reddish, light-carrying carnelian standing for blood, which echoes the clot of congealed blood God created the human from, Qur'an 96:2.

Inference — the cited accounts are careful to separate early Islamic amulets from what came before them: these appeal to God in the first instance, where Byzantine, Roman and early Iranian magic addressed demonic forces or the spirits of the dead. That is a claim about direction of address, not about efficacy, and it is the line the tradition's own scholars keep returning to when they argue about whether to wear one at all.

cited

What this is near

traditionIslamic talismanic craftthe tradition, and the argument about whether this object should existkinTa'wizthe same scripture folded into a packet rather than sealed in a casekinTalismanic shirtthe same verses at the scale of a garmentkinHirzthe silver box of Qur'anic verses the Egyptian tradition names alongside the eye and the hamsaparallelMezuzahscripture in a case, fixed where a person passes it — the same object in another book, with the opposite ruling about what to call itparallelKetef Hinnom silver scrollsthe oldest dated instance of this idea anywhere in the atlas: a blessing, rolled small, carriedmaterialCarnelianthe stone the tradition singles out as the Prophet's, worn set in silvermotifThe namethe sign underneath: the names and attributes of God doing the workdescendantCar saintwhere this one most often ends up now — hung from a mirror rather than wornplaceKhan el-Khalilithe Cairo market where the cases are sold

What names this one

Each in its own words, from its own page.

kinHirzthe same verses worn as a solid inscribed piece rather than as paper in a boxparallelKetef Hinnom silver scrollsscripture in a case at the throat; this is that idea's oldest dated instance in the atlasparallelMezuzahscripture in a case, put where a person passes it daily — the same object in another bookparallelTabizthe same text worn without a fold — the verse legible on the surface rather than sealed in a casekinTalismanic shirtthe same verses in a case at the throatkinTa'wizthe same scripture in a metal case rather than a folded packetcarriesIslamic talismanic craftscripture in a metal case worn at the throat, and an object some of this tradition's own authorities say should not existcarried-byThe namethe verse worn as an object, most often Ayat al-KursicontrastWashing off the inkthe kept version of the same verses — worn instead of drunktermtaweezthe same idea in metal and glass — scripture carried where it can be seen

Where this came from

Elsewhere

Record updated 2026-09-16. This record as JSON. Every field carries its own provenance; the tier chips above say which.

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