Standard

Standard (alam)

Standards in the shape of a palm were a popular feature of religious ceremonies in Iran. Referred to as a khamsa (meaning five in Arabic) or panja (which in Persian refers to the number five and the palm or hand), this type of standard was also particularly popular among the Shi'i communities in India.[1] Although they appear in early seventeenth-century paintings, most extant examples date from the eighteenth century and are covered with Shi'i-inspired inscriptions and invocations.

This standard recalls the Khaybar-seizing hand of Ali in the Ahmed i Falnama (Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, H.1703, f.33b). Written in elegant nasta'liq script, one side of the palm is decorated wih a medallion, inscribed with the name of the twelfth iman, hazrat-i madhi, imam-i qayib-i akhar al-zamam (The Lord, the Mahdi, the hidden imam of the end of time), who is referred to as wali al-Allah, "the deputy of God." A band with the imam's epithets surrounds the medallion, and in the outer circle, the names of the twelve Shi'i imams appear in roundels.The fingers also carry inscriptions that include, from right to left, "Help from God and near victory" (Koran 61:13), followed by verses from the nad-i Ali, the call of Ali, a celebrated Shi'i prayer.

On the other side, the palm is centered on a series of concentric circles anchored by a medallion with the names of Allah and members of the prophet's family, the ahl-i bayt (Arabic) or panjtan (Persian): Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn. An outer crescent-shaped area is inscribed with the celebrated Throne Verse (2;255) that is often included as a talisman on objects. The inscriptions on the fingers begin with the invocation, "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate," and include the names of the Twelve Imans. This dense calligraphic program transformed the standard into a potent apotropaic symbol (i.e.one intended to remind the viewer of the protective role of the Prophet and his descendants), which became particularly important in religious rituals.[2]

Massumeh Farhad in [Farhad and Bagci 2009]

Footnotes:

1. James Allen and Brian Gilmour, Persian Steel: The Tanavoli Collection. Oxford: Oxford university Press, 2000, p. 261.

2. The inscriptions were read by Annemarie Schimmel.

Inscription: In Arabic in nasta'liq script:
- Side one (in the central round):
Ya Ghaffar (trans. O Forgiver) then Allah, Hadrat Imam Mahdi of the end of time - blessing and greetings upon him; (surrounding circle) in Nasta'liq, epithets (?) of the Imam Mahdi, beginning with al-Mustafa al-Murtada , then illegible, then al-Fatima then rest illegible [possibly these are qualifying names, and should be read as al-Mustafavi (belonging to Mustafa, i.e. Muhammad the Prophet) al-murtadavi (belonging to `Ali al-Murtada etc.; (outer circle) in Nasta'liq (the names of the twelve Imams in round cartouches); (on the five fingers [the middle one being missing]) in Nastal'liq: Help from God and near victory, from the Qur'an, Sura 61/13, and continuing with the Shi'a invocation of `Ali; nadi `Aliyyan: "Call `Ali, the locus of manifestation of miracles, and you will find him a help in every grief and sorrow..." and ending with "By your position as Friend of God, o `Ali, o `Ali, o `Ali";
- Side two: (in smaller circle on the palm) in Nasta'liq (the names Allah, Muhammad, `Ali, Hasan, Husain, and Fatima); (on the fingers) in Nasta'liq: "In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate" and from the second finger onward continuing in Persian verse, beginning with Ya Muhaimin (O Protector) and continuing "By the Prophet and by `Ali... " [ names the twelve Imams]... and by the Mahdi who is in concealment." The poem is apparently longer, and implores Divine succour"; (remaining areas) in Nasta'liq: the Throne-verse of the Qur'an (Sura 2/256), which has very strong protective power).
(Translation Annemarie Schimmel, April 1985)

Arabic poem and Qur'anic verse are written on each finger in nasta’liq script:
نصر من الله و نصر قریب
ناد علیاً مظهر العجایب [ تجده عوناً لک في النوایب]
کل هم و غم سینجلي بولایتک یا علي یا علي یا علي
In the palm of the hand in nasta’liq script:
حضرت علي مرتضی/ حضرت حسن/ حضرت حسین/ حضرت زین العابدین/ حضرت محمد الباقر/ حضرت جعفر الصادق/ حضرت موسی کاظم/ حضرت علي بن موسی رضا/ حضرت علي نقي/ حضرت محمد تقي/ حضرت حسن عسکري/ حضرت زکي ...
Continu on the inner circle in Nasta’liq script:
حضرت امام مهدي آخر الزمان علیه صلوات الله و السلام/ یا غفار
On the large circle Arabic poem in Nasta;liq script:
لي خمسة اطفئ بهم حر الجحیم الحاطمة المصطفی و المرتضی و ابناهما و الفاطمة
On the other side In Nasta’liq script:
On the fingers:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
And Persian poem as:
مهیمناً بنبي و علي و هر دو پسر [بعابدین باقر امام دین جعفر]
بموسی و برضا و تقي و هم بنقي بعسکر و بمهدي امام غیب اندر
On the circle:
الله محمد علي فاطمة حسین و حسن است
Quranic verses (255 chapter 2)
الله لا اله الا هو الحي القیوم لا تأخذه سنة و لا نوم له ما في السموات و و ما في الارض من ذا الذي یشفع عنده الا بإذنه یعلم ما بین ایدیهم و ما خلفهم و لا یحیطون بشئ من علمه إلا بما شاء وسع کرسیه السموات و الارض و لا یؤده
A.Ghouchani, 2011

Marilyn Jenkins-Madina, New York (until 1984; gifted to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Power and Piety: Islamic Talismans on the Battlefield," August 29, 2016–February 13, 2017, no catalogue.

Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture. "Agents of Faith: Votive Objects in Time and Place," September 14, 2018–January 6, 2019.

Harari, Ralph, and Richard Ettinghausen. A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, edited by Arthur Upham Pope. vol. I–VI. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1938. vol.. III, p. 2515, ill. vol. VI, pl. 1388B, finial of processional standard; one of a pair.

Ettinghausen, Richard. "Notes on the Lusterware of Spain." Ars Orientalis vol. 1 (1954). pp. 148–54, ill. pl. 6, fig. 29.

Safadi, Yasin Hamid. Islamic Calligraphy : with 200 illustrations. Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 1978. pp. 120–21, ill. fig. 134.

Schimmel, Annemarie. "Islamic Calligraphy." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., vol. 50, no. 1 (Summer 1992). pp. 46–47, ill. fig. 56 (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. 25, pp. 124–25, 248, ill. pl. 25, fig. 9.2.