The Roots and Forms of Illustrated Spells in the Culture of Jewish Minorities and Their Reflection in Islamic Sources

Jews were well-known in spell and its various types and techniques, and they were known as magical secrets and magical supernatural abilities in Muslim societies’ culture. From the various types of magic, spells were more prevalent in Jewish and Muslim societies, and its basis was human and animalistic images. Considering such position, the recognition of Jewish pictorial spells in Islamic culture is the subject of this article. The question is what are the origins and forms of illustrated spells in the Jewish culture of Muslim societies? To answer, based on the cultural history approach, various evidences of the use of illustration in Jewish tales have been investigated in Jewish and Islamic sources and their continuity in the Jewish communities of the dwellers of Islamic lands has been shown