Humans have sought protection from pain, harm, and negative forces since time immemorial. In Muslim lands, invocations to God and verses from the Qur’an are believed to be especially protective, and so appear on various objects over the centuries. Discover two such amulets held in the Aga Khan Museum that were made to safeguard their owners and wearers: a tiny 11th-century Egyptian printed sheet of paper and a large 19th-century Iranian talismanic chart inked on gazelle skin. Their Arabic-script written and geometric contents also appear on coins, arms and armor, and talismanic shirts, revealing a larger material urge to bring spiritual blessings in close proximity to—and, at times, even absorption into—the physical body.