Search

Ḥasan, Zakī Muḥammad al-Miṣrī, also known as Zaky Muhammad Hassan (1326–1377/1908–1957), Egyptian art historian who introduced the use of contemporary methods to the study of Islamic art.Zakī Muḥammad Ḥasan began his studies at Cairo University, finishing his first degree in 1930. He completed his studies in Paris with a diploma in Asiatic and Islamic Art at the École du Louvre, a diploma in Persian from the École des Langues Orientales in 1932, followed by a doctorate in 1934 at the Université de Paris, with a thes…

Aḥmad b. Mūsā b. Jaʿfar (d. ca. 203/818), was one of the sons of Imam Mūsā b. Jaʿfar al-Kāẓim, and was known as ‘Sayyid al-Sādāt’ and ‘Shāh Chirāgh’. There is very little biographical information about him, and the historical sources only refer to parts of his life. Regarding Aḥmad’s relationship with his father, the sources show that Mūsā b. Jaʿfar al-Kāẓim treated him with great respect and gave him a piece of land, apparently called ‘Yasīra’. It is also known that he was praised for his generosity, courage and piety (see al-Shaykh al-Mufīd, 303; al-Bayhaqī, fol. 87a). As regards his part…

ʿAbd Allāh Shīrāzī was a Ṣafawid painter. Extant sources suggest that ʿAbd Allāh was connected to Abū al-Fatḥ Ibrāhīm b. Bahrām, ḥākim (governor) of Mashhad and nāẓir (supervisor) of the Library of Imam Riḍā's shrine, from the time of the latter's appointment in 964/1557 until his assassination twenty years later on 6 Dhū al-Ḥijja 984/24 February 1577 at Qazwīn (Qummī, 148; Soucek, 205). ʿAbd Allāh, who was apparently an intimate companion of Sulṭān Ibrāhīm Mīrzā, joined the atelier of the Ṣafawid king Ismāʿīl II after I…

Abū Naṣr Pārsā, mausoleum ( maqbara). The tomb of Abū Naṣr Pārsā is a structure in Balkh belonging to the 10th/16th century, with the tomb of Khwājah Abū Naṣr situated in front of it. Previously there were other structures surrounding it. The inscriptions on the graves in the vicinity illustrate that their occupants were individuals who were close to Abū Naṣr when alive. The inscription with Abū Naṣr's name has been destroyed (Khwāndamīr, 2/1; Pugachenkova, 54; Golombek and Wilber, 1/295–296). In 995/587, ʿAbd al-Muʾmin Shaybānī founded a building that is known toda…

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Khwārazmī, a calligrapher specialising in nastaʿlīq, living in the mid- to late 9th/15th century, who occasionally called himself ʿImād al-Dīn. It is probable that he worked at the courts of Jahānshāh Qarā-qūyūnlū and his son, Pīr Būdāq, and when the latter lived in Baghdad, the artist was one of his companions (Bayānī, 2/379; Soucek, 147; Sakisian, 35). Later, Khwārazmī went to the court of Yaʿqūb Beg Āq-qūyūnlū, and enjoyed his patronage (see ʿĀlī Afandī, 56; Sakisian, 34–35). He was a contemporary of the famous nastaʿlīq calligraphers, Sulṭān-ʿAlī Mashhadī, and …

The ʿabāʾ is a long, loose-fitting, outer garment worn over other clothing, sometimes a form of cloak intended for men, but also sometimes worn by women. It is used by Arabs and non-Arabs alike. The ʿabāʾ has been used a variety of ways in different circumstances and variously called ʿabāya, ʿabāʾa, ʿabāh etc. (Dozy, 292). Garments such as the ʿabāʾ were habitually used by every social class but in different ways, depending on circumstance or occasion (Ibn Saʿd, 4/62; al-Masʿūdī, 2/305). The finest ʿabāʾs are woven from camel hair, and come in a light brown, natural shade (Yūs…

ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Khwārazmī, Mawlānā Niẓām al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Khwārazmī Anīsī, a 9th/15th century calligrapher, of the nastaʿlīq style. He is said to have been born and brought up in Shīrāz, Persia. He was the son of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Khwārazmī and brother of ʿAbd al-Karīm Khwārazmī (q.v.). It was when he met Yaʿqūb Āq-qūyūnlū (r. 883–896/1478–1491) that his fame became widespread. The epi-thet ‘Anīsī’ (‘close, intimate companion’), which ʿAbd al-Raḥīm used as a pen name ( takhalluṣ), was conferred on him by Yaʿqūb as a token of affection and appreciation of their close ass…

ʿAbd al-Karīm Khwārazmī, a 9th/15th-century Persian poet and calligrapher. He was the son of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (q.v.) and the brother of ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Khwārazmī (q.v.), both renowned calligraphers (ʿAlī Shīr, 301; Quṭb al-Dīn Muḥammad, 83). He is believed to have been born in Shīrāz, where he spent most of his life. If he did officially enter the court of Yaʿqūb Āq-qūyūnlū (r. 883–896/1478–1491) and receive patronage, as implied by the fact that he occasionally used the epithet ‘al-Yaʿqūbī’, this means that ʿAbd al-Karīm…

ʿAbd Allāh Bukhārī was a painter of the 10th/16th century. Due to the lack of information on his life, we are obliged to confine ourselves purely to a study of his works. Among ʿAbd Allāh Bukhārī's favourite subjects were portraits of couples seated in a garden. These paintings reflect the influence of the Herat school during the 9th/15th to 10th/16th centuries, which was especially popular in Bukhārā. It is said that some of his paintings follow the style of Bihzād and other artists of Herat (Sou…

Bābā Qāsim, Mausoleum. The mausoleum of Bābā Qāsim al-Iṣfahānī, a prominent mystic of the 8th/14th century, is located in the Shahshahān area of Iṣfahān (see Fig. 2). According to an inscription over the entrance, and several within the mausoleum, the building was erected in 741/1340 by Sulaymān b. Abī al-Ḥasan b. Ṭālūt Dāmghānī, one of Bābā Qāsim’s disciples and an official of the late Īlkhānid and post-Īlkhānid era (see Iṣfahānī, 73; Rafīʿī, 785–786; Godard, ‘Le tombeau de Bābā Ḳāsem et la Madrasa Imāmī’, 165, ‘Le tombeau’, 38).The architectural style of the Bābā Qāsim mausoleu…

al-Ḥākim Mosque, a place of worship in Cairo that dates to the Fāṭimid era, named after the Fāṭimid Imam-caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (r. 386–411/996–1021), in whose reign it was completed. It is also known by the names of ‘Jāmiʿ al-Anwar’ (lit. ‘the illuminated mosque’, as a counterpart to ‘al-Azhar’, meaning ‘the radiant’) and ‘Jāmiʿ al-Khuṭba’ (‘the sermon mosque’).The mosque of al-Ḥākim represents one of Egypt’s oldest mosques, and as a piece of architecture it displays a variety of novel features that influenced the design of similar structure…

Al-Azhar, or al-Jāmiʿ al-Azhar, dating from the Fāṭimid era, is the oldest extant educational-religious establishment in Egypt. It was built within a year of the founding of the city of Cairo. After the passage of a thousand years during which many political, social and cultural changes have taken place, the institution is still active in the fields of education and learning, and is considered one of the most vibrant and important Islamic universities in the world.Part 1: HistoryThe Fāṭimid EraAl-Azhar was founded as the congregational mosque by Jawhar al-Ṣiqillī (d. 381/9…

al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, son of Imam ʿAlī and Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ, and grandson of the Prophet Muḥammad. Al-Ḥusayn (3 Shaʿbān 4–10 Muḥarram 61/8 January 625–10 October 680) was the third Shiʿi imam and the most notable martyr of the battle of Karbalāʾ, whose killing is considered one of the foundational events in the early history of Islam. It plays an important part in the collective memory of the Shiʿa to this day, and has become part of a rich religious and cultural heritage. He is one of the members of the Prophet’s family, known as ahl al-kisāʾ, meaning ‘people of the cloak’, these…

ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, first cousin of the Prophet Muḥammad; first of the Imams for all Shiʿi Muslims—the very term Shīʿa being derived from the designation Shīʿat ʿAlī, ‘the supporters of ʿAlī’; fourth and last of the ‘rightly-guided caliphs’ ( al-khulafāʾ al-rāshidūn); son-in-law of the Prophet through marriage to Fāṭima; father of the Prophet’s only surviving grandsons, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, and thus forebear of all the descendants of the Prophet, referred to as the spiritual ‘nobility’ (the shurafāʾ, sing. sharīf; or sādāt, sing. sayyid, lit. ‘lord’) of the Muslim community.…