The version of the ''Miraj Nameh'' (Mirâj Nâmeh) (to persian:معراج نامه) in the National Library of France, "supplément turc 190" is an Islamic manuscript created in the fifteenth century, in the workshops of

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

in Khorasan (modern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

), at the request of Shahrukh Mirza, son of Timur. The text is written in Eastern Turkic language and was composed between 1436 and 1437 (840 in the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...

).Miraj Nameh: Recit de l'ascension de Mahomet au ciel, compose ah 840 (1436/1437), texte iran, publie pour la premiere fois d'apres le manuscript... Ecole des langues orientales, Paris) The most important text is one of many redactions of the story of ''The Miraculous Journey of Mohammed'', which tells of the Isra and Mi'raj or night journey, including the ascension 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 ...

to heaven. The text was composed by the poet Mir Haydar in Eastern Turkic, with calligraphy by Malik Bakhshi of Herat in the Uighur script. The manuscript is illustrated with sixty-one Persian miniatures; like other Mi'raj manuscripts, these include depictions of Muhammad. The Mi'raj has been described as "one of the most extraordinary of all Islamic illustrated manuscripts"."''The Miraculous Journey of Mahomet by Marie-Rose Séguy'' Review by: Walter B. Denny" (June 1980), ''The Art Bulletin'', Vol. 62, No. 2, p. 309

Inspiration

The work is inspired by the first verse from

Surah A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...

XVII of 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 ...

, " al-Isra": The journey appears as a climb during which the angel

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

leads Muhammad from Mecca to the Farthest Mosque in Jerusalem, and thence to the Seventh Heaven, where they received the founder of Islam in ecstatic contemplation of the divine essence. In the first centuries of the Hejira, this story led to the creation of other popular Arabic stories and then, after theological progress, mystics and literary, were gradually integrated into Muslim belief.

Provenance

The book was bought in 1673 in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

by the famous translator of '' The Thousand and One Nights'', Antoine Galland (1646-1715). It was taken to France, and was part of the library of Jean-Baptiste Colbert.

References

Bibliography

*Nameh, Miraj: "The Miraculous Journey of Mahomet . ''Introduction and commentaries by Marie-Rose Séguy'' (1977) Ed Braziller (George) Inc., US *Hillenbrand, Robert: ''Persian Painting: From the Mongols to the Qajars'' (Pembroke Persian Papers) Ed. IB Tauris (2001) {{ISBN, 1-85043-659-2

External links

Text about illustrations in Mi'raj works
Islamic illuminated manuscripts Persian art Bibliothèque nationale de France collections