The Landscape of Mystical Professions
The term “Tehran Magicians” as used by Tehran Muswar did not refer to illusionists or stage performers. It described a sprawling underworld of supernatural practitioners, many of whom presented themselves as vessels of divine knowledge or guardians of ancient secrets. These individuals fell into several distinct categories, each rooted in a particular tradition and claiming unique powers or sources of wisdom.
1. Prayer Writers (Do’a Nevis)
Prayer writers were perhaps the most publicly visible and socially tolerated segment of the mystical professions. Typically men of religious appearance, these individuals claimed to channel spiritual power through the written word. Using Quranic verses, supplications, and names of angels, they wrote prayers on locks, bowls, animal skins, keys, and parchment — objects that were believed to carry protection, healing, or even the power to bind a lover’s heart.
While to the scientific community prayer writing was — and remains — an act of superstition, many in 1950s Tehran saw these writers as intermediaries between the material and the divine. Clients approached them for everything from curing infertility and driving out jinn, to ensuring business success and warding off the evil eye.