Manuscript/Mixed Material Shi'i invocation to a ruler
About this Item
Title
- Shi'i invocation to a ruler
Names
- Hafiz Nur Allah
Created / Published
- 18th century
Headings
- - Calligraphy, Arabic
- - Calligraphy, Persian
- - Manuscripts, Persian--Washington (D.C.)
- - India
- - Arabic script calligraphy
- - Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
- - Islamic calligraphy
- - Islamic manuscripts
- - Nasta'liq
Notes
- - Shi'i invocation to a ruler written in black Nasta'liq script by calligrapher Hafiz Nur Allah in India during the 18th century.
- - Ay shan-i Haydari za chabin-i tu ashkar / Nam-i tu dar nabard kunad kar-i dhu al-fiqar.
- - Dimensions of Written Surface: 9.6 (w) x 18.5 (h) cm
- - Oh Dignity of Haydar, it shows on your foreheard, / Your name is like Dhu al-Fiqar in battle.
- - The text is written in black nasta'liq on a beige paper framed by light brown border cut out and pasted to a larger sheet of paper backed by cardboard. In the outside margin, the calligrapher's name, Hafiz Nur Allah, seems to have been added subsequently. Nothing is known about this calligrapher, although the style and content of the calligraphic fragment suggests that it was executed in a Shi'i milieu in India during the 18th century.
- - The two verses compare a ruler to 'Ali, the "Lion of God" (Haydar Allah), and his triumphs similar to the imam's sword's ability to secure success in combat.
- - This calligraphic fragment provides a Shi'i praise to a ruler by comparing him to the heroic figure of 'Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law, and his famous double-edged sword Dhu al-Fiqar ("Cleaver of the Spine"):
- - Script: nasta'liq
- - 1-85-154.96
Medium
- 1 volume ; 15.2 (w) x 25.5 (h) cm
Repository
- Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2019714628
Online Format
- image