Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage mss-1025-2b

The ''Anis Al-Hujjaj'' (''Pilgrim's Companion,'' also transcribed ''Anis ul-Hujjaj'') is a seventeenth-century literary work by Safi ibn Vali, an official of the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

court in what is now

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Written in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, it describes the

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

(the

pillar of Islam A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

which is the pilgrimage to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

and

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

) undertaken by him in 1677 AD ( AH 1088) and it gives advice to pilgrims. Its illustrations depict pilgrims travelling to the holy sites and taking part in the rituals of the Hajj. They are also a visual guide to significant places and people.

Summary

Ibn Vali was an official in the court of the Mughal emperor

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

. His Hajj was financially supported by

Zeb-un-Nissa Zeb-un-Nissa () (15 February 1638 – 26 May 1702) was a Mughal princess and the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort, Dilras Banu Begum. She was also a poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of Makhfi (, "Hidden, Disguised, ...

, eldest child of Aurangzeb, after ibn Vali wrote for her a commentary on the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

. He had also, in 1665, written a universal history. After his Hajj, he returned to his job in the court and continued his scholarship into old age. Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage MSS 1025 f3b CROP

Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage MSS 1025 f3b CROP

Ibn Vali set out from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

in September 1676, reaching the port of

Mocha, Yemen Mokha (), also spelled Mocha, or Mukha, is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until Aden and al Hudaydah eclipsed it in the 19th century, Mokha was the principal port for Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Long known for its coffee trade, the city ...

in January 1677 and continuing with a caravan of other pilgrims. The sea journey from India to the Arabian Peninsula would have taken about 25 days. The book has advice about travelling on ships across the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, starting with advice on choosing a ship. It recommends that each ship should have a ''tabib'' (physician) and a blood-letter. Pilgrims are advised to carry their own water in earthen pots, as the water available on ship tasted unpleasant. If they did not have their own water, they could make the ship's water palatable by adding pomegranate syrup or the juice of soured fruit. The book recommends that travellers should stay close to the main mast and away from the outer side of the deck, in order to avoid

sea-sickness Motion sickness occurs due to a difference between actual and expected motion. Symptoms commonly include nausea, vomiting, cold sweat, headache, dizziness, tiredness, loss of appetite, and increased salivation. Complications may rarely include de ...

. It describes in detail the places visited by ibn Vali and the rituals of the Hajj. These included visits to holy places where the pilgrims shaved their hair, made sacrifices, and performed the

stoning of the Devil The Stoning of the Devil ( , "stone throwing, throwing of the ' lace of pebbles) is part of the annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. During the ritual, Muslim pilgrims throw pebbles at three walls (formerl ...

Surviving exemplars

There are manuscripts of the ''Anis'' in the

Khalili Collection of Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage The Khalili Collection of Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage is a private collection of around 5,000 items relating to the Hajj, the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca which is a religious duty in Islam. It is one of Khalili Collections, eight co ...

, in the Royal Armoury in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, and in the

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, (CSMVS) formerly named the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, is a museum in Mumbai (Bombay) which documents the history of India from prehistoric to modern times. It was founded during Bri ...

in Mumbai.

Illustrations

While there are other pilgrims' guides that illustrate the pilgrimage and its locations diagrammatically, the ''Anis Al-Hujjaj'' is distinctive for also including colourful depictions of the pilgrims themselves. The Khalili exemplar (accession number MSS 1025), thought to originate from

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

between 1677 and 1680, consists of 23

folios The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book made ...

including nine half-page and eleven full-page illustrations. The text is in

nastaliq ''Nastaliq'' (; ; ), also Romanization of Persian, romanized as ''Nastaʿlīq'' or ''Nastaleeq'' (), is one of the main book hand, calligraphic hands used to write Arabic script and is used for some Indo-Iranian languages, predominantly Persi ...

script, with 23 lines per page. The Khalili manuscript includes labelled depictions of places including

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

Mocha Mocha may refer to: Places * Mokha, a city in Yemen * Mocha Island, an island in Biobío Region, Chile * Mocha, Chile, a town in Chile * Mocha, Ecuador, a city in Ecuador * Mocha Canton, a government subdivision in Ecuador * Mocha, a segmen ...

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

and Mina. The maps of these towns show buildings which are still identifiable today. The illustrations also depict shrines around Mecca, some of which are no longer in existence. These include birthplaces of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, of his daughter

Fatimah Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and ...

, and of his companion Abu Bakr al Siddiq. The convention for maps in the ''Anis'' is that the top of the page represents the direction in which pilgrims are travelling. The illustrations show ships carrying pilgrims from the port of Surat on the Indian subcontinent, crossing the Sea of Oman, and arriving at Jeddah on the Arabian Peninsula. At Jeddah, smaller boats are shown which would have conveyed passengers between the large ships and the port. Another folio of the Khalili manuscript shows a pilgrim caravan, including its

amir al-hajj ''Amir al-hajj'' ( or ; plural: ) was the position and title given to the commander of the annual Hajj pilgrim caravan by successive Muslim empires, from the 7th century until the 20th century. Since the Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid period, there w ...

("commander of the pilgrimage"), named as Abdi Pasha, and ahead of him the

mahmal A mahmal () is a ceremonial passenger-less Litter (vehicle), litter that was carried on a camel among caravans of pilgrims on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca which is a sacred duty in Islam. It symbolised the political power of the sultans who s ...

, an empty litter carried on a camel with each pilgrim caravan from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Sources differ on whether anything was carried within the mahmal, with some sources saying it was kept empty, although in ibn Vali's illustration it contains a Quran on a stand. The illustrations also show the

Sharif Sharīf or Sherif (, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, from the fami ...

Barakat, ruler of the sanctuaries, meeting an emissary of the Ottoman sultan

Mehmed IV Mehmed IV (; ; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693), nicknamed as Mehmed the Hunter (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to b ...

. The pilgrims converging on Mecca included groups from North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Iran, India and the

Arabian Desert The Arabian Desert () is a vast desert wilderness in West Asia that occupies almost the entire Arabian Peninsula with an area of . It stretches from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It is the fourth largest desert in the ...

; the ''Anis'' shows their camps. At

Muzdalifah Muzdalifah () is an open and level area near Mecca in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia that is associated with the ("Pilgrimage"). It lies just southeast of Mina, on the route between Mina and Arafat. In Pre-Islamic times the Hums being the ...

, pilgrims are shown collecting pebbles. Then at Mina they throw the pebbles in the ritual of ''ramy al-jamarāt'' (

). File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage Mss 1025 fol 10b.jpg, Pilgrims in Mina, being shaved, making sacrifices and stoning the Devil File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage Mss 1025 fol 11b.jpg, The birthplaces of the Prophet Muhammad; of Fatimah; of Abu Bak al-Siddiq; as well as the Madrasah of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

, and a

Bektashi Bektashism (, ) is a tariqa, Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the wali, ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The ...

lodge File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage Mss 1025 fol 15a.jpg, Camp of the North African pilgrim caravan File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage Mss 1025 fol 17a.jpg, Camps of the Indian (top) and Iranian pilgrim caravans File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage Mss 1025 fol 18b.jpg, The

Amir al-Hajj ''Amir al-hajj'' ( or ; plural: ) was the position and title given to the commander of the annual Hajj pilgrim caravan by successive Muslim empires, from the 7th century until the 20th century. Since the Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid period, there w ...

of the Egyptian caravan riding from Mecca to Medina with the

File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage Mss 1025 fol 21a.jpg, Pilgrim ships leaving the port of

for India

References

{{reflist

External links

Safi ibn Vali’s Anis al-Hujjaj (‘Pilgrims’ Companion’)
Khalili Collections online catalogue Islamic illuminated manuscripts Mughal art Hajj pilgrimage from India 17th-century Persian books Indian painting Persian literature Islamic studies books

Summary

Surviving exemplars

Illustrations

See also

References

External links