"Coffin of Imam 'Ali", Folio from a Falnama (The Book of Omens) of Ja'far al-Sadiq
Not on view
This folio is from a manuscript of the Falnama (Book of Omens), an illustrated divinatory book. It depicts 'Ali, the first Shi'i imam, shown with a face veil and a flaming halo. He leads a camel with a coffin while two other men, his sons Hasan and Husain, watch from behind a hillside. According to Anatolian mystical thought, Imam 'Ali not only predicted his own death but also told his two sons that when he died, a veiled man would carry his coffin away on a camel for burial. He cautioned them not to question the man. When 'Ali’s prediction came true, Hasan and Husain could not resist asking the man’s identity and discovered that he was in fact their father, who was carrying his own body to the grave.
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Title:"Coffin of Imam 'Ali", Folio from a Falnama (The Book of Omens) of Ja'far al-Sadiq
Date:mid-1550s–early 1560s
Geography:Attributed to Iran, Qazvin
Medium:Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Dimensions:Painting: H. 22 5/16 in. (56.7 cm) W. 16 7/8 in. (42.8 cm) Mat : H. 28 in. (71.1 cm) W. 22 in. (55.9 cm) Frame: H. 30 1/2 in. (77.5 cm) W. 24 1/2 in. (62.2 cm)
Classification:Codices
Credit Line:Purchase, Francis M. Weld Gift, 1950
Accession Number:50.23.2
Coffin of Imam Ali
In this unusual illustration, a veiled figure leads a camel with a coffin, while two other veiled men watch from behind a hillside.[1] Later inscriptions identify them as the imans Hassan and Husayn, and the figure in the lower left is their father, Imam Ali. Each one wears traditional Safavid headgear (taj-i haydari) and is distinguished by a flaming nimbus. With no additional observers, the scene seems far more "quiet" and private than almost all other Falnama illustrations.
According to the traditions of the Bektashis and Alevis of Anatolia, Imam Ali not only predicted his own death but also told his sons that when he died, a veiled man would come to their house, load his coffin on a camel, and carry it away for burial. Under no circumstance were they to follow the person or question him. When Ali's prediction came true, Hasan and Husayn could not refrain from inquiring about the man's identity. The figure lifted his veil and revealed that he was in fact their father, who was carrying his own body to its grave.[2] The story not only confirms the imam's divinely inspired, miraculous powers but also presents him as the ultimate "seer", who foretells and enacts his own death for his sons.
The accompanying augury is favorable and states, "Gladness will come to him [i.e. the seeker] through a saint or from the world of the unseen." This is also a rare instance in the dispersed Falnama when the prognostication is attributed to a specific source—the prophet Daniel—who is considered a principal authority on the act of divination. Although the illustration occurs only in the dispersed Falnama, it is still popular today in Bektashi and Alevi circles as an example of Ali's divine power.[3]
Massumeh Farhad in [Farhad and Bagci 2009]
Footnotes:
1. The records of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Armen Tokatlian, Falmaneh: Livre Royal des Sorts (Montreuil: Gourcuff-Gradenigo, 2007), no. 3, identify the image as the funeral of Fatima, Muhammad's daughter and Ali's wife.
2. Frederick de Jong, "Iconography of Bektashiism" in From History to Theology: Ali in Islamic Beliefs, ed. Ahmed Yasar Ocak (Ankara; Turkish Historical Society, 2005), p. 272.
3. I am grateful to Oya Pancaroglu for first pointing out the Bektashi connection.
Inscription: In Persian above figures: Excellency Mortaza (Chosen) Ali, on him be peace! Excellency Imam Hasan Mojtaba (Chosen), on him be peace!
Translation by Hannah McAllister
Marking: - On back of frame two stickers: 1) Le cercueil de Fatima, fille du Prophète, porté sur un chameau que conduit Ali, son mari; à l'arrière plan, ses deux fils, les deux imans Hosan et Hosain; ces trois personnages ont la tête nimbée de l'auréole divine; ou le cercueil de l'imam Riza, avex trois Alides
2) Chenue. SARL / Layetier Emballeur / 5, Rue de la Terrasse, PARIS, (17e) / R.C. SEINE 285.799 B / 14 Oct. 1949 / Monsieur Hindamian / Metropolitan Museum / New York
[ E. Hindamian, Paris, until 1949; sold to MMA]
"Recent Acquisitions." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (1951). p. 109, ill. (b/w).
Tokatlian, Armen. Falnamah: Livre Royal des Sorts. Paris: Gourcuff Gradenigo, 2007. no. 3, pp. 16, 17, ill. (b/w).
Farhad, Massumeh, and Serpil Bagci. "Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery." In Falnama: The Book of Omens. Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2009. no. 26, pp. 42, 126–27, 263, ill. (color).
Khafipour, Hani, ed. "Source Studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal Literate Communities." In The Empires of the Near East and India. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. p. 176, fig. 4.1 (b/w).
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