Folio 31r from an illustrated manuscript of the Nigāristān of A$mad ibn Mu$ammad Ghaffārī Shiraz, Iran; dated 980 H/1573 CE Opaque watercolour, ink and gold on paper Manuscript: 38.7 x 24.9 x 6.4 cm AKM 272 Publ: A. Welch 1978b, p. 78 (not ill.); AKTC 2010b, p. 303 (no. 131; binding only)

The Nigaristan, a collection of anecdotes concerning key figures from the early history of Islam, was completed by the sometime Qadi (judge) of Qazwin, Ghaffari, in 959 H/1552 CE – only some twenty years before this copy was made.


In the tradition of Islamic kingship that connects political legitimacy with Messianic claims this was an important line of descent for the ruling power. The same lineage also appears in other Safavid histories, including Ghaffari’s own Nusakh-i jahan-ara, and enabled the Safavid rulers to claim legitimacy as sayyids, or descendents of the Prophet.

As an important dynastic text for the Safavid rulers, there are a number of other Safavid manuscripts of the Nigaristan in existence; however, illustrated versions are less common and the forty-four high-quality miniatures in this example make it a very important copy of this manuscript.

The present image of a man beating on the door of the Ka'ba is indebted to a pre-existing iconography of Ka'ba scenes in miniature paintings found in earlier texts, including well-known and often-repeated narrative images from the Khamsa of Nizami and the Shahnama of Firdawsi, and certain depictions of the ascension (mi'raj) of the Prophet.

 Although this painting is distinct from many of those earlier prototypes in its close focus on the Ka'ba and lack of surrounding topography, there is an attention to detail that grounds it in reality.

The grey stone from which the Ka'ba is built, the elevated position of the door (in current reality about two metres off the ground, and with two ring knockers rather than one), the presence of the black cloth covering of the Ka'ba (known as the kiswa), missing its inscription band but embroidered in gold and lifted to reveal the door, and the circular pavement around the Ka'ba, known as the mataf, all bespeak close familiarity with visual and textual sources, or perhaps even an artist who had performed the Hajj himself.

By this period, the topography of the Ka'ba was extremely well known, and had circulated widely in different formats. A depiction fairly similar to this one can be seen in a mi'raj image from a Shiraz manuscript produced c. 1585–90 .

If the image was intended to represent the Hajj, one would also have expected to see shaved heads and the white ritual garment of the pilgrim, indicating the sacred state of Ihram, and it can be assumed that this is not what was intended. However, various aspects of the practice of ritual prayer have been considered: several pilgrims have bare feet, indicating their ritual purity, while some pray on prayer rugs and veiled women look on from a separate area.

Book Reference :
Architecture in Islamic Arts Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum by Margaret S. Graves, Benoît Junod, Gérard Friedli