Sulayman Ibn Dawud

This page transmits what Ibn al-Nadim recorded in the Fihrist about Sulayman ibn Dawud. He says that it is said, and God knows best, that he was the first to enslave the jinn and the devils and to make use of them. It is also said that the first to do so, in the manner of the Persians, was Jamshid ibn Awnjahan ².

Ibn al-Nadim reports that Asaf ibn Barkhiya, who was the cousin of Sulayman through his mother, wrote for him, as did Yusuf ibn Ai'su, a Hebrew, and al-Hurmuzaz ibn al-Kardul, who was Persian and Hebrew ².

Ibn al-Nadim attributes to the enchanters (al-mu'azzimin) their claim that Sulayman sat and summoned the chief of the jinn and devils, named Faqtas, and reviewed them. He informed him of the name of each of them and of what he did to the children of Adam, and took their covenant and pledge. When he swore them by that covenant, they answered and departed. Their number, they say, was seventy ghouls. This is a transmission of the enchanters' account, not a judgement on it ².