The wheel diagram in the Malay divinatory technique of the Faal Qur’an

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article aims to explore how diagrams can help us understand the production and usage of Malay manuscripts during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It will investigate this through a case study of a divinatory technique known in Malay as Faal Qur’an. This procedure employs a wheel diagram which contains Qur’anic verses or surah titles for divination, and demonstrates the close relationship between texts and graphic representations that can be found within the Malay manuscript tradition. Furthermore, the act of using the diagrams to find the predictions provides a further facet to the usage of manuscripts, as apart from containing texts to be read or recited, here the manuscripts themselves also function as instruments to be employed for practical purposes.