Knots

When we think of witches, we usually imagine an old woman with a broom, a pointy hat and a black cat. This pervasive image is Eurocentric and narrow, so I thought it would be fun to explore some aspects of witchcraft coming from the Islamic and Pre-Islamic East Mediterranean, specifically knots.

First, witches were not always female; the most famous muslim story of witchcraft had a male warlock. The story goes that a Jewish warlock took a number of the prophet Muhammad’s hairs and tied them into knots on a small piece of rope. After muttering some incantations on the knots, the warlock dropped it into a well, and the prophet fell dangerously sick. No medicine or ritual was able to alleviate the symptoms, and it all looked grim until the angel Gabriel appeared before the prophet and told him what’s up. Muhammad then went to the well, fished out the knots, untied it and broke his curse.

One of the most feared Islamic spells was the “knotted tongue” curse, used to silence enemies. This involved tying knots in a wet rope or animal sinew while chanting names of spirits or jinn. The victim would struggle to speak, forget their words, or lose their ability to argue. Some believed it was used in court trials or politics to sabotage opponents. While these examples come to us from an Islamic tradition, they originated way before the rise of Islam. The reason we have little or no reference to them is due to the fact that the societies of the Arab Peninsula were oral societies and did not write anything down. Islam absorbed these traditions and perpetuated them through writing.

In some Middle Eastern funeral customs, people believe that knots must be untied from the clothes of the dead before burial. If a body is buried with knots in its clothes, the soul may become trapped and unable to pass to the afterlife. Some believe that untying the knots helps the angels Munkar and Nakir question the dead more easily.

Knots, however, are not merely things of malice; they can also form protection or bind in love. Many Muslims carry taweez or amulets with Qur’anic verses written on paper and tied into small cloth pouches or knotted strings for protection against curses or evil eyes. Knotting is not always a piece of rope. In some traditions, a healer writes a specific Quranic verse (Al Falaq) on fabric and ties it in knots, worn as a belt to prevent nightmares and possession. Knots were also used in love magic. A sorcerer (or someone desperate for love) would tie a knot in a piece of cloth, a rope, or even human hair while saying a spell to bind someone’s heart. In some folk tales, women who were abandoned by their husbands would take a piece of his clothing, tie knots in it, and bury it under a full moon, believing it would force him to return.

It is interesting how a curse can be physicalised into a knot, a stagnant form that just gets tighter if you pull at it and resist it. Untying it then returns the flow and breaks this “bind”. This particular form of sorcery was directly referenced in the Quran, where witches or warlocks are described as those who breathe onto knots. Some Sufi orders use knots as a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment. In this view, every human has “knots” in their heart, ties of worldly desires and sins. By engaging in remembrance of God, these knots are slowly untied, leading to divine wisdom. "The heart of a sinner is knotted, but the name of Allah is the key."

So what would be a knot in our contemporary world? Is it a bug in the software or the bind that keeps you glued to your mobile phone?

[originally posted to Patreon on 10/4/25]