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P.Cair.EgLib. 513: A Certificate for a Ziyāra to the Prophet’s Tomb in Medina (16th century)

Un certificat pour un Ziyāra au tombeau du Prophète à Médine (xvie siècle)
الوثيقة P.Cair.EgLib. 513 : شهادة تفيد إتمام زيارة لقبر النبي في المدينة المنورة (القرن السادس عشر)
Sergio Carro Martín
p. 343-357

Résumés

Cet article présente l’édition d’un document non publié, conservé à Dār al‑Kutub al‑Miṣriyya (Le Caire) sous le numéro d’inventaire P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513. Le document vante la ville sainte de Médine et contient une représentation schématique de la mosquée du Prophète (almasǧid alnabawī) comparable à d’autres rouleaux illustrés datant du xvie siècle. Les caractéristiques matérielles, textuelles et iconographiques de ce document soulèvent la possibilité qu’il s’agit d’un projet de certificat de ziyāra attestant une visite pieuse au tombeau de Muḥammad à Médine.

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Texte intégral

This research has been supported by the project “Reading Matter: Chartae, Inks and the Texts. Studies in Spanish Papyrus Collections” PGC2018-096572-B-C21, financed by MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE, and by the project “Islamic Pilgrimage and Material Culture in the Mediterranean: From Ritual to Representation”, as part of the Margarita Salas Posdoctoral fellowship funded by European Union‑NextGenerationEU, Ministry of Universities and Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, through a call from Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona).
I want to thank Khaled Younes for his valuable help with this manuscript. The papyrological abbreviations used in this paper follow “The Checklist of Arabic Documents”, available online at <http://www.naher-osten.lmu.de/isapchecklist> (accessed May 17, 2020).

  • 1 For an overview on the visitation of tombs in Islam and its treatment in the Arabic literature, see (...)
  • 2 Mouton, Sourdel‑Tomine, 2018a, pp. 507–523. On the visitations of tombs and cemeteries in Islam, in (...)
  • 3 Sourdel, Sourdel‑Thomine, 1964, pp. 1–25; 1965a, pp. 164–185; 1965b, pp. 73–85; 1983, pp. 167–273; (...)
  • 4 Winder, 1986, pp. 994–1007.
  • 5 On the visitation of the Prophet’s tomb in Medina, see Diem, Schöller, 2004, pp. 45–82. Cf. Munt, 2 (...)

1Secondary pilgrimages (ziyarāt) to important sanctuaries in the Islamic world are well documented in the Arabic literature,1 but documents attesting to this practice are particularly scarce in modern collections. Some examples on paper describing visits by proxy to sanctuaries in medieval Syria have recently been published,2 and these are consistent with the widely-documented practice of proxy pilgrimages to Mecca attested in the certificates dated between the 11th and 14th centuries and preserved in Istanbul at the Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi (TIEM).3 However, visits to the Prophet’s mosque in Medina (almasǧid alnabawī)4 do not seem to have materialised in certificates until the early 16th century, when the figure of the Prophet and his tomb became the object of increasing veneration and a growing number of visits by Muslim pilgrims.5

  • 6 Al-Bardīyāt alʿarabīya bidār alkutub almiṣrīyya = Arabic papyri, National Library of Egypt, 200 (...)

2The scroll P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 (fig. 1), preserved in the collection of the Dār al‑Kutub al‑Miṣrīyya (Cairo) is one of the few documents of this type known to us from this period. It was briefly described by Said Meghawry and Abdel Rauf Saleh in the catalogue of Arabic papyri published by the National Library of Egypt in 2008,6 where it was catalogued under the generic label “religious verses”, and dated to the 8th–9th centuries. However, the detailed study of this document allows us to confirm that it is framed in a different typology and time. Beyond praising the city of Medina, this document responds to the demand of Muslim pilgrims to obtain documents certifying their visits to this place, as had happened previously with the certificates of pilgrimage to Mecca. The main difference in the study of both types of document lies in the unequal treatment that the pilgrimage to Medina and the veneration of the Prophet received in the Islamic tradition, questioned almost from its beginnings.

  • 7 Munt, 2014, pp. 137–144. On the contrary, it will be necessary to wait until the 11th century to do (...)
  • 8 Munt, 2014, pp. 124–127. Some of these places are mentioned in the certificates of ziyāra P.Khalili (...)
  • 9 Marmon, 1995, pp. 31–43.
  • 10 Fierro, 2000, pp. 186.

3According to Munt, the practice itself had already been adopted by caliphs and governors centuries before, which demonstrates that these visits had been undertaken right from the death of the prophet, at least as part of their personal leadership of the ḥaǧǧ.7 However, sources from the 9th–10th centuries are the first to encourage the pilgrimage to the mosque of Medina and other significant places such as the Baqī’ al‑Ġarqad or the Masǧid Qubā’.8 This could have triggered an increase in visits that progressively forced the protection of the sanctuary, as we can deduce from the presence of eunuchs in the burial chamber, documented from the 12th century.9 From that time, the ziyāra to Medina received more attention by Muslim scholars,10 who discussed and added to this debate the transmission of certain traditions around the prophet’s intercession after visiting his tomb. One of these hadiths appears in the manuscript under discussion, which gives this study an added value in the face of the scarcity of private documents attesting this practice. Moreover, it highlights the role of these traditions in the establishment of Medina as a venerated place.

4To shed light on this document, I shall present the study of P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 by analysing its material, textual and iconographic features. This will allow me to place this document in the context of Islamic pilgrimages and to date it more accurately to the 16th century.

1. Study and edition

  • 11 See the certificates in the TIEM Collection and later scrolls, such as BL Add. 27566 (836/1433), MS (...)

5Document P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 (fig. 1) is composed as a description of the virtues of the city of Medina, which is illustrated in the upper half of the scroll. The text is divided into two paragraphs (ll. 1–6 and 7–10). The first paragraph begins with the ḥamdala (l. 1), as is the case in all certificates of pilgrimage to Mecca,11 and continues by extolling the city of Medina, which is called Ṭayba (l. 3), and the Prophet Muḥammad, who is referred to by the names Yasīn and Ṭaha (l. 5).

  • 12 An error in the formulation of the šahāda (l. 6) would have caused this copy to be discarded. See i (...)

6The second paragraph (ll. 7–10), which begins with the sentence ammā baʿdu faqad zāra... (“after this (he) has visited”), introduces the subject of the document, that is, the visit itself. However, after this formula, there is a striking blank space. The structure of this line indicates that this space should have been filled in with the name of the pilgrim who visited Medina, following the example of some ḥaǧǧ certificates where the name of the pilgrim and the beneficiary are written in a second hand, which demonstrates the standardised formulation of the text. Since there are no traces of ink in this space, we posit that P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 could have been the draft of a ziyāra certificate that was never used as such by a pilgrim.12 As the text does not mention a proxy, usually introduced by the formula ʿan farḍ (“in the name of”), it seems obvious that it concerns a personal pilgrimage to Medina.

  • 13 On the hadiths concerning the visit to the Prophet’s tomb, see Munt, 2014, pp. 129–137. For a discu (...)
  • 14 Al-Bakrī, 1319/1901, pp. 277–278; Pareja, 1975, pp. 197–200. Attention should be drawn, however to (...)

7The text ends with a hadith according to which the Prophet himself will intercede on behalf of the pilgrim on the Day of Resurrection (man zāra qabrī waǧabat lahu šafāʿatī, ll. 7–10). Different sources (particularly historiographical and legal sources), collected similar versions of this hadith towards the end of the 9th century.13 It seems to emphasize the faith of Muslims on this day and highlights the emotional connection of the individuals with the Prophet. Islamic tradition usually justifies the prayer at the graves of prophets in the belief that they are alive in their graves, so that the prayer here would be meritorious.14 From a devotional perspective, the mention of this hadith in this document is relevant since it would explain the personal visit of the pilgrim for eschatological purposes.

  • 15 For a complete study of these documents see Carro Martín, 2019b; and 2021. P.Khalili. inv. 1079 wil (...)
  • 16 For example P.Khalili. inv. 1079 (ll. 5–6) and MS 14.2006 (ll. 5–6) mentions that the pilgrims arri (...)
  • 17 For an overview of Islamic jurisprudence in this regard, see Ibn Rušd, Bidāyat almuğtahid wanihāy (...)

8Despite its uniqueness, this is not the only document attesting to a pious visit to Medina that includes this hadith. We currently know of at least four other illustrated scrolls with similar material and iconographic characteristics: P.Khalili.inv.1079 (Khalili Collection, London); MS.14.2006 (Museum of Islamic Art, Doha), and P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 and inv. 1047 (Palau-Ribes Collection, Barcelona).15In addition, the five documents share a large part of the text, which again points to a standardised formulation for such documents. Both typologies (certificates for pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina) contain, for example, a preamble with the basmala, the ḥamdala, and a description of the rituals performed by the pilgrim.16 However, the main difference between these documents and certificates of pilgrimage to Mecca lies in the absence of a specific formula that mentions the witnesses of the ziyāra, whose signatures seem to have been unnecessary in P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513, owing to the nature of this document (uncompleted) and the visit itself (recommended but not mandatory). Moreover, P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 records what appears to have been a personal visit that was therefore not subject to legal constraints, unlike pilgrimages by proxy to Mecca.17

  • 18 This word only in MS 14.2006.
  • 19 This word only in P.Khalili. inv. 1079.
  • 20 For a description of the visit to these places, see Ibn Ǧubayr, A través del Oriente, 1988, pp. 235 (...)

9The same can be said of P.Khalili.inv. 1079 and MS.14.2006, the layout of which is shared by P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513. Both documents contain a similar sentence followed by a large blank space for the name of the pilgrim: ammā baʿdu faqad ansāʾ hāḏihi alziyāra almubāraka18 (blank) walam yazal muṣallā min19 ʿalā ḫayr alanām… (“after this (blank) has undertaken this blessed ziyāra and continued praying on it to the best of humans…”). The last sentence in MS.14.2006 (l. 12) reinforces the purpose of this blank space: wadaʿā almaḏkūr bilmaġfira amīn (“The (above) mentioned pleaded (with God) for forgiveness, Amen”) and clearly indicates that the pilgrim undertook a pious visit to the tomb of the Prophet Muḥammad in Medina. Both documents contain a longer version of the visit including: prayers to the prophet, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, Fāṭima, Ḥamza, and the visits to the cemetery, the mosque of Qubāʾ and the mosque al‑Qiblatayn.20 This would mean that P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 and scrolls P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 and inv. 1047 could be shortened or incomplete versions of these ziyāra certificates.

  • 21 For example P.CertificatsPelerinage 38 (602/1206), P.CertificatsPelerinage 40 (608/1212), TIEM 22 ( (...)

10In any case, a new documentary typology emerged to certify visits to the Prophet’s tomb, emulating the pilgrimage certificates issued centuries earlier. The only other plausible hypothesis would be that these documents could have been part of a longer certificate in which there was a first section devoted to Mecca and a second to Medina, thus following the order of previous certificates.21 However, the iconography in this document differs in style from those representations, which are usually decorated with vivid colours and sometimes illuminated with gold.

11The illustrations in P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 take up most of the upper half of the document and represent the mosque of the Prophet in Medina, which would have favoured their preservation as a document endowed with sanctity (baraka). Brown pigments were used to outline the drawings and colour them in. The different elements represented are arranged in a diagrammatic style composed of four sections (fig. 2), among which we can identify the courtyard of the mosque, represented in section 1, with two minarets (a), the biʾ(b) or well for ablutions; Fatima’s garden (c), represented by a palm tree, and the Qubbat alzayt (d). An internal view of the mosque is shown in section 2, with hanging oil lamps (a), the Aṣḥāb alṣuffa platform (b), used by Muḥammad to spend time with his companions who migrated from Mecca, and the Minbar or pulpit (c). Section 3 contains a representation of the main pillars inside the mosque (a, b, c, d, e), as well as the Prophet’s miḥrāb (f). Section 4 includes other interior spaces of the mosque (d), and the sacred chamber (alrawḍa) of the Prophet, with the tombs of Muḥammad (e), Abū Bakr (f), ʿUmar (g) and Fāṭima (h). Above these spaces we can identify two domes (b, c), and three minarets (a). All elements (with the exception of the tombs) are shown frontally.

  • 22 Cf. al-Bardiyyāt al‑ʿarabiyya bi‑Dār al‑Kutub al‑Miṣriyya = Arabic papyri, National Library of Egyp (...)
  • 23 Measurement verified through transmitted light photography.
  • 24 P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042. See Carro Martín, 2019b, pp. 268–279, and Carro Martín, 2021, figs. 5 an (...)
  • 25 Milstein, 2006, p. 183. Cf. Fahmi, 1949, pp. 25–26; El‑Basha, 1989, pp. 228–229. On the architectur (...)

12Finally, the date proposed by Said Meghawry and Abdel Rauf Saleh in the catalogue of the Arabic papyri (2nd–3rd/8th–9th) does not correspond to any palaeographic or material criteria. There is also no reference to the place where this document was drawn up. However, the features that this document shares with the aforementioned manuscripts allows us to date it to the first half of the 16th century.22 With this in mind, we should consider two main aspects: the type of paper and the illustrations. First, the separation of the laid lines (1 mm)23 suggests that the paper was produced in Europe after the 14th century. This is also the case of the aforementioned documents, among which we can also identify a watermark with what appears to be the Latin capital letters SNM.24 Second, the construction of the five minarets illustrated in the manuscript (two in section 1 and three in section 4) is only documented as far back as the 16th century, as confirmed by illustrations of the sanctuary prior to this date. According to Rachel Milstein, the number of minarets of this sanctuary increased from four to five between 891/1544–1545 and 967/1560,25 and we should therefore not date it to before this century.

  • 26 Munt, 2014, pp. 129–130. According to Munt, scholars began to discuss the permissibility of the vis (...)
  • 27 For example, inv.nr. 543–12 (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden), plano 53 F1 no. 58 (Leiden Univ (...)

13We can also not ignore the fact that, at this time, new literary and eschatological compositions surrounding Medina (also illustrated) took on a greater role in Islamic pilgrimages. The same can be said about the development of certain hadiths that encouraged visits to the prophet’s tomb.26 In this context, new documentary forms like P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 could have emerged to attest to pious visits to his mosque. Considering other modern certificates of ziyāra to Medina in which the same hadith on the Day of Resurrection is documented,27 it seems likely that this documentary typology has remained to this day.

Fig. 1. P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513, 26 × 11 cm, 16th c. A.D, Provenance unknown.

Fig. 1. P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513, 26 × 11 cm, 16th c. A.D, Provenance unknown.

© By courtesy of Dār al‑Kutub al‑Miṣriyya.

14The document has been drawn up on brown laid paper (lines 1 mm apart) without a watermark. It has a vertical scroll format and holes distributed over the surface but there are no apparent folds.

Fig. 2. P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513
Section 1: a. Minarets, b. Biʾr, c. Fāṭima’s garden, d. Qubbat al-zayt.
Section 2: a. Hanging oil lamps, b. Aṣḥāb al-ṣuffa platform, c. Minbar.
Section 3: a, b, c, d, e. Main pillars inside the mosque, f. The Prophet’s miḥrāb.
Section 4: a. Minarets, b. Qubbat al‑Nabī, c. Qubba, d. Interior spaces, e. Tomb of Muḥammad, f. Tomb of Abū Bakr, g. Tomb of ʿUmar, h. Tomb of Fāṭima.

Fig. 2. P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513Section 1: a. Minarets, b. Biʾr, c. Fāṭima’s garden, d. Qubbat al-zayt. Section 2: a. Hanging oil lamps, b. Aṣḥāb al-ṣuffa platform, c. Minbar. Section 3: a, b, c, d, e. Main pillars inside the mosque, f. The Prophet’s miḥrāb.Section 4: a. Minarets, b. Qubbat al‑Nabī, c. Qubba, d. Interior spaces, e. Tomb of Muḥammad, f. Tomb of Abū Bakr, g. Tomb of ʿUmar, h. Tomb of Fāṭima.

© Sergio Carro Martín.

15The text consists of ten lines of nasḫī script without vowel markings, written in black ink. The body of the text is horizontal and occupies approximately the bottom half of the paper (10 × 11 cm). It is in two paragraphs: paragraph 1 consists of lines 1–6, and paragraph 2 of lines 7–10. Between the paragraphs there is a hole. The scribe maintains a regular spacing between lines, except at the end of line 6 and the beginning of line 9. Letters contain most of their diacritical marks. The scribe substitutes the hamza for the letter ʾ in ʾir (l. 2) and omits it above or below the letter alif. It is a remarkable feature that the scribe does not trace the teeth of the letters sīn and šīn in šarrafa (l. 1), samā‑hā (l. 3), ašhadu (l. 4), šarīk (l. 5), samā‑hu (l. 5), sayyidu‑nā (l. 6), šafāʿatī (l. 8) and sallama (ll. 8 and 10). The sīn is written in a single horizontal stroke excessively stretched to the left, sometimes extended above the preceding letter, see samā‑hā (l. 3), samā‑hu (l. 5), sayyidu‑nā (l. 6), sallama (ll. 8 and 10) and rasūl (l. 10). The scribe has mistakenly written the dots for the letter ʾ instead of alif maqṣūra: ʿalā (l. 2), and ṣallā (ll. 7 and 10).

Text

161. الحمد لله الذي شرف المدينة وحماها
2. واختارها على سا{يـ}ـر البقاع واصطفاها
3. وسماها طيبة لانها طابت من طيب الحبيب
4. وطاب ثرا<ء>ها واشهد ان لا اله الا الله
5. وحده لا شريك له) الذي سماه ربه يـٓس وطه
6.            وان سيدنا محمدا عبده ورسوله
7. اما بعد فقد زار         وقال صلى الله
8. عليه وسلم من زار قبري وجبت له شفاعتي
9. يوم القيامة
10. [     ] ورسول الله ﷺ

2. Translation

171. Praise be to God who exalted Medina and protected her.
2. He preferred her to other places and chose her
3. and He called her Ṭayba because she is fragrant, because of the nobility of the beloved
4. and gratified her land. And I declare that there is no god but God
5. unique, He has no peer (whom his Lord called Yasin and Ṭaha,
6 And that our Lord Muḥammad is His servant and His messenger.
7. After this has visited          (blank)          and said, blessings of God be upon him: “Whoever visits my grave will be guaranteed my intercession
9. on the Day of Resurrection”.
10. [     ] and the messenger of God, blessings of God be upon him

3. Commentary

  • 28 Cf. P.HaramCat. 616v, l. 9 (796/1394); P.GenizahCambr. 142 fol. 2r, l. 4 (402/1012).

181. Al‑ḥamdu li‑l‑llāh: the scribe begins to write the ḥamdala below the line and progressively ascends until the text regains its horizontality. This causes the following lines (ll. 2–5) to acquire the same curvature in the first words. The ḥamdala is also documented in P.Khalili.inv. 1079 (l. 1) and MS.14.2006 (l. 1) after the basmala. P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 (l. 1) and inv. 1047 (l. 1) begin with the formula al‑ḥamdu Allāh instead of al‑ḥamdu li‑l‑llāh.28

  • 29 Ibn Baṭṭūṭa also refers to the city of Medina with this term. Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Riḥlat Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, 1417 (...)
  • 30 On the different names of Madina, see Al‑Yaʿqūbī, Kitāb alBuldān, 1892, VII, p. 78, and Ibn Šabba, (...)

191–4. Allāḏī šarrafa al‑Madīna wa‑ḥamāhā wa‑iḫtārahā ʿalā sāʾir al‑biqāʿ wa‑<i>ṣṭafāhā wa‑samāhā Ṭayba li‑annahā ṭābat min ṭīb al‑ḥabīb wa‑ṭāba ṯarā<ʾa>hā: these lines are documented in P.Khalili.inv. 1079 (ll. 1–3), P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 (ll. 1–4), P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1047 (ll. 1–3) and MS.14.2006 (ll. 1–3). The text emphasises the sacredness of Medina by employing the root ṭ-y-b, which denotes a sense of purity and fragrance, up to four times. Its repeated use in the text borders on poetic prose. —Ṭayba: designates the city of Medina in the Arabic sources,29 in which it also received the name of ṭābat (cf. P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1047 ending in tāʾ marbūṭa, l. 2).30ṣaṭafāhā instead of iṣṭafāhā: the scribe has omitted the initial alif of the third person masculine singular perfect. The affix (3rd person fem.) is written above the writing line, occupying the space between the first and the second line. —ṭīb: constitutes an iḍāfa with al‑ḥabīb, “the nobility of the beloved”. This expression is consistent with the mystical and poetic language of the preceding lines.

  • 31 See Gimaret, 1997 p. 201; Gardet, 2000, p. 389.
  • 32 Cf. Quran VII, 158 and Quran XLIX, 3.
  • 33 See Gacek, 2009, pp. 170–171.
  • 34 Cf. Rippin, 2005, pp. 488–491. Other ways of referring to the oneness of God in the Qurʾān are: qul (...)

204–5. Ašhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh waḥduhu lā šarīk lahu: formula of acceptance of the Islamic faith (cf. Quran V, 73).31 In this document the šahāda constitutes a variant of the simple form waašhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh (cf. Quran XXXVII, 35 and XLVII, 19) by adding the terms waḥduhu lā šarīk lahu (cf. Quran VI, 163). The usual structure contains two parts: ašhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh and waašhadu anna Muḥammadā ʿabduhu warasūluhu.32 Here, the scribe seems to have become aware of this error in the writing of the complete formula and introduces the omission with an insertion mark in the form of an “opening” round bracket [symbol: )] to indicate that the continuation follows in the middle of next line (see l. 6 below).33waḥduhu lā šarīk is also attested in P.Khalili.inv. 1079 (l. 3), P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1047 (l. 4) and MS.14.2006 (l. 3). Conversely, the scribe of P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 (ll. 3–4) has opted for the cardinal number wāḥidahu.34

  • 35 Annemarie Schimmel (1985, chap. 6) suggests that both names are acronyms formed from terms that des (...)
  • 36 In this manuscript Yasin is written as follows: ʾ + sīn + yāʾ + nūn.
  • 37 Gacek, 2009, pp. 2–3.

215. Allāḏī samāhu rabbuhu Yāʾ-Sīn wa-Ṭāʾ-Hāʾ: both ʾSīn and Ṭāʾʾ are names mentioned in the Qurʾān (Quran XXXVI, 1; Quran XX, 1) and contain what have been called “mysterious letters”.35 They are also considered two of the ninety‑nine names given to the Prophet Muḥammad. The same names are mentioned in P.Khalili.inv. 1079 (ll. 4–5), P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1047 (l. 5)36 and MS.14.2006 (l. 4).—samāhu: the scribe has written the letters sīn and mīm in a single V‑shaped stroke. —ʾ-Sīn: The scribe has drawn a curvilinear stroke over the word. This mark is written over an omitted letter (or several letters) as a scribal abbreviation or portmanteau, for example, a word made up of two or more words.37

  • 38 Schimmel, 1985, 119–120, 177.

226. Wainna sayyidunā Muḥammadan ʿabduhu warasūluhu: the text begins in the middle of the line, below the aforementioned sign - ) -. The scribe resumes the profession of faith initiated in lines 4–5. The formula waašhadu anna Muḥammad ʿabduhu warasūluhu is documented in P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 (ll. 5–6) and MS.14.2006 (l. 4). A more extensive formula is waašhadu anna Muḥammadan ʿab<duhu>lā ilāha illā Allāh waḥduhu lā šarīk lahu, found in P.Palau.Rib.Arab.inv. 1047 (ll. 3–4). Another accepted variant is waašhadu anna Muḥammadan rasūluhu (cf. Quran VII, 158; XVII, 1; LIII, 10).38sayyidunā: cf. P.Khalili.inv. 1079 (l. 4), P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 (l. 6), P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1047 (l. 5) and MS.14.2006 (l. 4).—warasūluhu: written above ʿabduhu.

237. Ammā baʿdu faqad zāra (blank): the subject of the document is introduced by the expression ammā baʿdu. As was mentioned earlier, the structure of the sentence suggests that the blank space (about three centimetres) between the first words and the beginning of the hadith should be occupied by a proper name, thus recording the name of the person who made the ziyāra. According to the conjugation of the verb (3rd person masc.) it would be a man.

  • 39 Al-Dāraquṭnī, 1432/2011, Sunna alDāraquṭnī, no. 2669, p. 243.
  • 40 P.CertificatsPelerinage 4 (594/1198); 17 (603/1207); 25 (648/1251); 27 (651/1254); 28 (653/1256); 2 (...)
  • 41 P.Istanb.EvkMuz.inv. 144, l. 9 (489/1096), edited by Sourdel, Sourdel‑Thomine, 1983, pl. 2b.
  • 42 Cf. Sourdel, Sourdel‑Thomine, 2006, pp. 40–41. Other certificates reference the gardens of paradise (...)

247–8. Waqāla ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wasallama man zāra qabrī waǧabat lahu šafāʿatī yawm alqiyāma: the scribe introduces a hadith collected by al‑Dāraquṭnī (305–384/918–995) in his work Sunna alDāraquṭnī.39 The same hadith is also documented in P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 (ll. 7–9) and 1047 (ll. 6–7); however, it is not reproduced in the certificates of the TIEM Collection (11th–14th c.). The Day of Resurrection (yawm alqiyāma) is usually expressed as follows in pilgrimage certificates: ḏakarahu nafaʿahu Allāh bihā yawm alqiyāma yawm alḥusra wa-l-nidāma (“may God be conducive to him on the Day of Resurrection, the day of sighs and return”)40 and taqabbala Allāh minhu wanafaʿahu bihā yawm alqiyama [sic] (“may God welcome him and be conducive to him on the Day of Resurrection”).41 In other cases, the scribes introduce Quranic verses such as Quran XXVI, 89; XXVI, 112 and III, 28 that evoke the salvation of Muslims in their last days of their life.42 Modern certificates like ARC.ct. 38 (19th c.) from the Khalili Collection include the beginning of this same hadith: man zāra qabrī waǧabat lahu šafāʿatī (“whoever visits my tomb, will be guaranteed my intercession”). —yawm alqiyāma: note the closeness of these terms to those in the preceding line (see also l. 10 below). Cf. al-qiy<ā>ma, P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042 (l. 9) and inv. 1047 (l. 7).

2510. [     ] wa-rasūl Allāh ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wasallama: the loss of support could have affected the beginning of the line.—ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wasallama is usually written after the Prophet is mentioned, so it is possible that the scribe may have written this sentence here as a continuation of line 6 (see commentary l. 6 above). If we consider this line as an error in the writing of the document, we might also suppose that this could have been the reason for (hypothetically) having discarded the certificate, as it does not contain the name of any pilgrim.

4. Final remarks

26The study of P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 lays bare the fact that the visit to Medina (ziyāra) resulted in a specific typology of document in which the devotion of the pilgrims to Muḥammad was recorded in writing and illustrated. This make us wonder if these documents can be understood in the same bureaucratic and legal context as the certificates of pilgrimage to Mecca. To shed every possible light on this issue we have focused on a global study of the document.

  • 43 Meri, 2002, p. 17.

27At a textual and codicological level, this document presents a standardized nature that it has not so far been possible to attest before the 16th century. In this regard, only a few certificates of visits to Mecca dated to the middle of the 15th century briefly mention the visit to Medina. This gives us the idea that the ziyāra was gaining importance during the next century, either as a complement to the major pilgrimage, or with a particular devotional purpose. However, as this document lacks the name of the pilgrim, we can only suggest that it was not used for legal purposes (for example, a ziyāra by proxy). Even if his/her name had been written, we cannot rule out the hypothesis that it was preserved for its material value. As Josef Meri points out, “In addition to commemorative places, such as shrines, portative holy objects, such as copies of the Qur’an and the sandal of the Prophet Muhammad, which were addressed later, possessed baraka”.43

28It is this character of portability and sanctity which defines certificates that suggests that documents such as P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 could have been acquired by Muslims on their visit to Medina. In addition, the illustration of the prophet’s mosque would endow the document with the sacredness of that space, and would explain this preservation behaviour. In this regard, the dating of the document to the 16th century, supported by the analysis of its illustrations, has been essential in advancing knowledge about visits to Medina and the material culture that they generated, especially given the lack of documentation on this subject.

  • 44 Carro Martín, 2019a, pp. 148–150.

29The preservation of this document must therefore be understood in association with the sanctity that the prophet’s tomb acquired in the centuries after his death. The hadith about the prophet’s intercession on behalf of those who visit his tomb seems to be in line with this. If we compare P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 with the certificates of pilgrimage by proxy, which have a clear legal purpose,44 this hadith would legitimize its issuance as a certificate. Furthermore, it would validate the visit itself and raise the ziyāra to the level of religious precept, which could help explain the controversy that this practice aroused among Muslim jurists and scholars.

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Bibliographie

Abbreviation List

AKM: Aga Khan Museum.

BL: British Library.

MIA: Museum of Islamic Art (Qatar).

P.CertificatsPelerinage: Sourdel, Dominique & Sourdel‑Thomine, Janine, Certificats de pèlerinage d’époque ayyoubide, Contribution à l’histoire de l’idéologie de l’Islam au temps des croisades, Documents relatifs à l’histoire des croisades 19, Paris, 2006.

P.HaramCat: Little, Donald, “Two Petitions and Consequential Court Records from the Ḥaram Collection”, JSAI 25, 2001, pp. 171–194.

P.GenizahCambr: Khan, Geoffrey (ed.), Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, Cambridge, 1993, nos. 1–159.

P.Istanb.EvkMuz: Sourdel, Dominique & Sourdel‑Thomine, Janine, “Une collection médiévale de certificats de pèlerinage à la Mekke conservés à Istanbul. Les actes de la période seljoukide et bouride (jusqu’à 549/1154)”, in Études médiévales et patrimoine turc. Volume publié à l’occasion du centième anniversaire de la naissance de Kemal Atatürk, CNRS, Paris, 1983, pp. 167–273.

TIEM: Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi.

Working Tools

EI2 = The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., 12 vols., Brill, Leiden, 1960–2007.

Gardet, Louis, “Ḳiyāma”, EI2, V, 1986, pp. 325–238.

Gardet, Louis, “Tawḥīd”, EI2, X, 2000, pp. 389.

Gimaret, Daniel, “Shahāda”, EI2, IX, 1997, p. 201.

Winder, R. B., “Al‑Madīna”, EI2, V, 1986, pp. 994–1007.

EQ1 = Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, 1st ed., 6 vols., Brill, Leiden, 2002–2006.

Hasson, Isaac, “Last Judgment”, EQ1, III, 2003, pp. 136–144.

Rippin, Andrew, “Witness to Faith”, EQ1, V, 2005, pp. 488–491.

Primary sources

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Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Riḥlat Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, 5 vols., ʿAbd al‑Hādi Tāzī (ed.), Akādīmiyyat al‑Mamlaka al‑Maġribiyya, Rabat, 1417/1997.

Ibn Rušd, Bidāyat almuǧtahid wanihāyat almuqtaṣid, 2 vols., Dār al‑Maʿruf, Beirut, 1302/1982.

Ibn Šabba, Kitāb taʾrīḫ almadīna almunawwara, 4 vols., Fahīm M. Šaltūt (ed.), Dār al‑Kutub al‑ʿIlmiyya, Mecca, 1979.

Ibn Ǧubayr, A través del Oriente. El siglo xii ante los ojos. Riḥla, F. Maillo Salgado (trans.), Serbal, Barcelona, 1988.

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al-Harawī, Kitāb al-išārāt ilā maʿrifat alziyārāt, Janine Sourdel‑Thomine (ed.), Ifead, Damas, 1953.

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Carro Martín, Sergio, “Three Unpublished Scrolls Attesting to Pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina (16th century)”, DerIsl 98, 1, 2021, pp. 221–245.

Carro Martín, Sergio, “Los certificados de peregrinación islámica delegada y la qubbat alḫazna de Damasco: texto vs. Contexto”, eHumanista/IVITRA 15, 2019a, pp. 145–157.

Carro Martín, Sergio, “La materialización de la fe islámica. Estudio material, textual e iconográfico de seis certificados de peregrinación a La Meca y Medina (ss. xvxvi)”, PhD Thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2019b.

Chekhab, Mounia, Couvrat, Amélie & Roxburgh, David, “Sayyid Yusuf’s 1433 Pilgrimage Scroll (ziyārātnāma) in the Collection of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha”, Muqarnas 33, 2016, pp. 384–399.

D’Ottone, Arianna, “Manuscripts as Mirrors of a Multilingual and Multicultural Society: the Case of the Damascus Find”, in B. Crostini & S. La Porta (eds.) Negotiating CoExistence: Communities, Cultures and Convivencia in Byzantine Society, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, Trier, 2013, pp. 63–88.

D’Ottone, Arianna, Hirschler, Konrad & Vollandt, Ronny (eds.), The Damascus Fragments: Towards a History of the Qubbat al-Khazna Corpus of Manuscripts and Documents, Ergon Verlag, Beirut, 2020.

Déroche, François, “La ‘bibliothèque’ de la mosquée des Omeyyades”, in J-M. Mouton & C. Onimus (eds.), De Bagdad à Damas, études en mémoire de Dominique Sourdel, Droz, Geneva, 2018, pp. 311–325.

Diem, Werner & Schöller, Marco, The Living and the Dead in Islam: Epitaphs as Texts, 3 vols., Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2004.

El-Basha, Hassan, “Ottoman Pictures of the Mosque of the Prophet in Madina as Historical and Documentary Sources”, IslArt 4, 1989, pp. 228–229.

Fahmi, I., “Al‑Masǧid al‑Nabawī”, Maǧalat alʿImāra 8, 3, 1949, pp. 25–26.

Fierro, Maribel, “El espacio de los muertos: fetuas andalusíes sobre tumbas y cementerios”, in P. Cressier, M. Fierro & J.‑P. van Stävel (eds.), L’urbanisme dans l’occident musulman au moyen âge: aspects juridiques, Casa de Velázquez, CSIC, Madrid, 2000, pp. 153–190.

Flood, Barry, “Faith, Religion, and the Material Culture of Early Islam”, in Helen C. Evans and Bradie Ratliff (eds.), Byzantium and Islam. Age of Transition 7th9th Century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven, London, 2012, pp. 249–250.

Gacek, Adam, Arabic Manuscripts. A Vademecum for Readers, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 2009, pp. 170–171.

Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Maurice, Le Pèlerinage à la Mekke, P. Geuthner, Paris, 1929, pp. 318–319.

Marmon, Shaun E., Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society, Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford, 1995.

Meghawry, Said & Saleh, Abdel Rauf (eds.), alBardiyyāt alʿarabiyya bidār alkutub almiṣriyya = Arabic papyri, National Library of Egypt, Cairo, 2008, ID number 4383 (inv. 513).

Meri, Joseph W., The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria, Oxford, 2002.

Milstein, Rachel, “Futuh al‑Haramayn: Sixteenth‑Century Illustrations of the Hajj Route”, in David J. Wasserstein and Amy Ayalon (eds.), Mamluks and Ottomans: Studies in Honour of Michael Winter, Routledge, London, New York, 2006, pp. 183.

Mouton, Jean-Michel & Sourdel‑Tomine, Janine, “La pratique de la ziyāra par procuration dans la Syrie médiévale à partir de trois documents inédits”, DerIsl 95, 2, 2018a, pp. 507–523.

Mouton, Jean-Michel & Sourdel‑Tomine, Janine “Pèlerinages par procuration à la Mecque et société médiévale damascaine (476/1084–710/1312)”, JournAs 306, 1, 2018b, pp. 3–29.

Munt, Harry, The Holy City of Medina: Sacred Space in Early Islamic Arabia, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2014.

Pareja, Félix María, La religiosidad Musulmana, La Editorial Católica, Madrid, 1975.

Radiciotti, Paolo & D’Ottone, Arianna, “I frammenti della Qubbat al‑khazna di Damasco. A proposito di una scoperta sottovalutata”, Nea Rhome 5, 2008, pp. 45–74.

Reichmuth, Stefan, “Aspects of Prophetic Piety in the Early Modern Period”, ASSR 178 2017, pp. 129–150.

Reinaud, Joseph Toussaint, Description des monuments musulmans du Cabinet de M. Le Duc de Blacas, vol. 2, Imprimerie royale, Lyon, 1828.

Sauvaget, Jean, La mosquée omeyyade de Médine, Vanoest, Paris, 1947.

Schimmel, Annemarie, And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety, The University of North Carolina Press, USA, 1985.

Sijpesteijn, Petra M., Oates, John F., Kaplony, Andreas, Youssef‑Grob, Eva M. & Potthast, Daniel, The Checklist of Arabic Documents, Institut für den Nahen und Mittleren Osten, last update 23 July 2019 <http://www.naher-osten.lmu.de/isapchecklist>, accessed 17 May 2020.

Sourdel Dominique & Sourdel‑Thomine, Janine, “Nouveaux documents sur l’histoire religieuse et sociale de Damas au moyen âge”, REI 32, 1964, pp. 1–25.

Sourdel Dominique & Sourdel‑Thomine, Janine, “Trois actes de vente damascains du début du ive/ixe siècle”, JESHO 8, 1965a, pp. 164–185.

Sourdel Dominique & Sourdel‑Thomine, Janine, “À propos des documents la Grande Mosquée de Damas conservés à Istanbul: Résultats de la seconde enquête”, REI 33, 1965b, pp. 73–85.

Sourdel Dominique & Sourdel‑Thomine, Janine, “Certificats de pèlerinage par procuration à l’époque mamlouke”, JSAI 25, 2001, pp. 212–233.

Sourdel Dominique & Sourdel‑Thomine, Janine, “Une collection médiévale de certificats de pèlerinage à la Mekke conservés à Istanbul. Les actes de la période seljoukide et bouride (jusqu’à 549/1154)”, in O. Aslanapa (ed.), Études médiévales et patrimoine turc : volume publié à l’occasion du centième anniversaire de la naissance de Kemal Atatürk, CNRS, Paris, 1983, pp. 167–273.

Sourdel Dominique & Sourdel‑Thomine, Janine, Certificats de pèlerinage d’époque Ayyoubide, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles‑Lettres, Paris, 2006.

Wensinck, A.J. & Mensing, J.P., Concordance et Indices de la Tradition Musulmane, 8 vols., 2e édition, E. J Brill, Leyden, 1992.

Zwemer, Samuel, Arabia: The Crandle of Islam, Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, Chicago, Toronto, 1900.

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Notes

1 For an overview on the visitation of tombs in Islam and its treatment in the Arabic literature, see Diem, Schöller, 2004, pp. 11–44 and 295–313.

2 Mouton, Sourdel‑Tomine, 2018a, pp. 507–523. On the visitations of tombs and cemeteries in Islam, including the Prophet’s tomb, see Diem, Schöller, 2004, pp. 11–82. On the holy places in Syria, see al‑Harawī, Kitāb ališārāt ilā maʿrifat alziyārāt, 1953; Guide des lieux de pèlerinage, 1957; Meri, 2002.

3 Sourdel, Sourdel‑Thomine, 1964, pp. 1–25; 1965a, pp. 164–185; 1965b, pp. 73–85; 1983, pp. 167–273; 2001, pp. 212–233; 2006; Mouton, Sourdel‑Tomine, 2018b, pp. 3–29. For an overview of this discovery and the Qubbat alḫazna, see Radiciotti, D’Ottone, 2008, pp. 45–74; D’Ottone, 2013, pp. 63–88; Déroche, 2018, pp. 311–325; Carro Martín, 2019a, pp. 145–157 and D’Ottone, Hirschler, Vollandt (eds.), 2020.

4 Winder, 1986, pp. 994–1007.

5 On the visitation of the Prophet’s tomb in Medina, see Diem, Schöller, 2004, pp. 45–82. Cf. Munt, 2014, pp. 123–147. Apart from P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513 and the documents mentioned in this article, visits to the Prophet’s tomb are only expressly mentioned in a certificate held at the British Library, BL Add. 27566 (836/1433), see Reinaud, 1828, p. 321. Cf. MS 267.1998 (837/1433), see Chekhab, Couvrat, Roxburgh, 2016, pp. 384–399. By contrast, from the beginning of the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517) representations of Medina in the certificates are quite frequent (see infra footnote 22).

6 Al-Bardīyāt alʿarabīya bidār alkutub almiṣrīyya = Arabic papyri, National Library of Egypt, 2008, ID no. 4383 (inv. 513). The collection consists of 3739 documents on papyrus, paper and parchment from different periods. According to the introduction, B. Moritiz began collecting those documents, and later the collection grew with new finds from excavations and donations. However, there is no additional information on the context in which this and other documents were found.

7 Munt, 2014, pp. 137–144. On the contrary, it will be necessary to wait until the 11th century to document the ziyāra to Medina in the personal narratives of (well‑known) pilgrims.

8 Munt, 2014, pp. 124–127. Some of these places are mentioned in the certificates of ziyāra P.Khalili.inv. 1079 and MS.14.2006, see infra “Study and edition”.

9 Marmon, 1995, pp. 31–43.

10 Fierro, 2000, pp. 186.

11 See the certificates in the TIEM Collection and later scrolls, such as BL Add. 27566 (836/1433), MS 267.1998 (837/1433); TSL H. 1812 (950/1544); P.PalauRib.Arab. inv. 1041 (16th c.), and AKM 528 (18th c.).

12 An error in the formulation of the šahāda (l. 6) would have caused this copy to be discarded. See infra edition.

13 On the hadiths concerning the visit to the Prophet’s tomb, see Munt, 2014, pp. 129–137. For a discussion of the subject in later sources, see Reichmuth, 2017, pp. 135–141.

14 Al-Bakrī, 1319/1901, pp. 277–278; Pareja, 1975, pp. 197–200. Attention should be drawn, however to another hadith in which the Prophet condemns the fact that tombs become mosques. See Wensinck, 1992, V, p. 230. See also Marmon, 1995, pp. 85–86.

15 For a complete study of these documents see Carro Martín, 2019b; and 2021. P.Khalili. inv. 1079 will also be published in Carro Martín, “A Pilgrimage Scroll with a Diagrammatic Representation of the Prophet’s Mosque”, Hajj and The Arts of Pilgrimage, Khalili Family Trust (in press).

16 For example P.Khalili. inv. 1079 (ll. 5–6) and MS 14.2006 (ll. 5–6) mentions that the pilgrims arrive at the sanctuary by way of the bāb alsalām and pass through the prophet’s tomb, where they complete two sequences of prayer. On the indications to pray in this space, see al‑Ġazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm aldīn, 1356/1357–1937/1938, p. 471.

17 For an overview of Islamic jurisprudence in this regard, see Ibn Rušd, Bidāyat almuğtahid wanihāyat almuqtaṣid, 1302/1982, pp. 319–321, and Gaudefroy‑Demombynes, 1929, pp. 318–319.

18 This word only in MS 14.2006.

19 This word only in P.Khalili. inv. 1079.

20 For a description of the visit to these places, see Ibn Ǧubayr, A través del Oriente, 1988, pp. 235–236; Al‑Harawī, Kitāb ališārāt ilā maʿrifat alziyārāt, 1953, pp. 247–251. Cf. Al‑Ġazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm aldīn, 1356/1357–1937/1938, pp. 470–472.

21 For example P.CertificatsPelerinage 38 (602/1206), P.CertificatsPelerinage 40 (608/1212), TIEM 22 (684/1286) Sourdel, Sourdel‑Thomine, 2001, no. 2, plate I; BL Add. 27566 (836/1433); MS 267.1998 (837/1433) and H. 1812 (950/1544). This hypothesis is based on the material study of the certificate of pilgrimage to Mecca P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1041 (Palau‑Ribes Collection, Barcelona) where a second piece of paper (with similar dimensions to these scrolls) is attached to the bottom of the scroll. On this document, see Carro Martín, 2021.

22 Cf. al-Bardiyyāt al‑ʿarabiyya bi‑Dār al‑Kutub al‑Miṣriyya = Arabic papyri, National Library of Egypt, ID no. 4383 (inv. 513); Flood, 2012, pp. 249–250; and Munt, 2014, p. 124, no. 2.

23 Measurement verified through transmitted light photography.

24 P.PalauRib.Arab.inv. 1042. See Carro Martín, 2019b, pp. 268–279, and Carro Martín, 2021, figs. 5 and 6.

25 Milstein, 2006, p. 183. Cf. Fahmi, 1949, pp. 25–26; El‑Basha, 1989, pp. 228–229. On the architectural developments of this mosque, see Sauvaget, 1947. The eight-metre scroll MS E 7750 (Topkapi Palace Museum Archive, Istanbul, ca. 1540), addressed to Sultan Sulaymān I, contains a representation of Medina with five minarets.

26 Munt, 2014, pp. 129–130. According to Munt, scholars began to discuss the permissibility of the visit to his tomb in the 11th/12th century.

27 For example, inv.nr. 543–12 (National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden), plano 53 F1 no. 58 (Leiden University Library), ARC.ct. 38 (Khalili Collection, see comments to this document in lines 7–8), and the certificate published by S. Zwemer (1900, plate 3), all dated in the 19th century.

28 Cf. P.HaramCat. 616v, l. 9 (796/1394); P.GenizahCambr. 142 fol. 2r, l. 4 (402/1012).

29 Ibn Baṭṭūṭa also refers to the city of Medina with this term. Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Riḥlat Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, 1417/1997, p. 349.

30 On the different names of Madina, see Al‑Yaʿqūbī, Kitāb alBuldān, 1892, VII, p. 78, and Ibn Šabba, I, pp. 162–164. According to Atrim (2012, pp. 36–37) names served to reverse the opinion of non‑believers and adversaries of the Prophet about Medina.

31 See Gimaret, 1997 p. 201; Gardet, 2000, p. 389.

32 Cf. Quran VII, 158 and Quran XLIX, 3.

33 See Gacek, 2009, pp. 170–171.

34 Cf. Rippin, 2005, pp. 488–491. Other ways of referring to the oneness of God in the Qurʾān are: qul huwa Allāhu aḥadun (Quran CXII, 1); huwa ilāhu wāḥidun (Quran VI, 19, XIV, 52 and XVI, 51), ilāhukum ilāhun wāḥidun (Quran II, 163; XVI, 22; XLI, 6; XVIII, 110 and XXI, 108), Allāh ilāhun wāḥidun (Quran IV, 171).

35 Annemarie Schimmel (1985, chap. 6) suggests that both names are acronyms formed from terms that designate the prophet Muḥammad.

36 In this manuscript Yasin is written as follows: ʾ + sīn + yāʾ + nūn.

37 Gacek, 2009, pp. 2–3.

38 Schimmel, 1985, 119–120, 177.

39 Al-Dāraquṭnī, 1432/2011, Sunna alDāraquṭnī, no. 2669, p. 243.

40 P.CertificatsPelerinage 4 (594/1198); 17 (603/1207); 25 (648/1251); 27 (651/1254); 28 (653/1256); 29 (609/1213); 30 (?); 31 (620/1224); 33 (646/1249); 37 (601/1205) and 38 (602/1206).

41 P.Istanb.EvkMuz.inv. 144, l. 9 (489/1096), edited by Sourdel, Sourdel‑Thomine, 1983, pl. 2b.

42 Cf. Sourdel, Sourdel‑Thomine, 2006, pp. 40–41. Other certificates reference the gardens of paradise and eternity after earthly life (see, for example, Quran IX, 21–22), thus reminding the reader of the merit earned through the fulfilment of the pilgrimage rites. Gardet, 1986, pp. 235–238; Hasson, 2003, pp. 136–144.

43 Meri, 2002, p. 17.

44 Carro Martín, 2019a, pp. 148–150.

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Table des illustrations

Titre Fig. 1. P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513, 26 × 11 cm, 16th c. A.D, Provenance unknown.
Crédits © By courtesy of Dār al‑Kutub al‑Miṣriyya.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/anisl/docannexe/image/10274/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 2,9M
Titre Fig. 2. P.Cair.EgLib.inv. 513Section 1: a. Minarets, b. Biʾr, c. Fāṭima’s garden, d. Qubbat al-zayt. Section 2: a. Hanging oil lamps, b. Aṣḥāb al-ṣuffa platform, c. Minbar. Section 3: a, b, c, d, e. Main pillars inside the mosque, f. The Prophet’s miḥrāb.Section 4: a. Minarets, b. Qubbat al‑Nabī, c. Qubba, d. Interior spaces, e. Tomb of Muḥammad, f. Tomb of Abū Bakr, g. Tomb of ʿUmar, h. Tomb of Fāṭima.
Crédits © Sergio Carro Martín.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/anisl/docannexe/image/10274/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 858k
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Sergio Carro Martín, « P.Cair.EgLib. 513: A Certificate for a Ziyāra to the Prophet’s Tomb in Medina (16th century) »Annales islamologiques, 55 | 2021, 343-357.

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Sergio Carro Martín, « P.Cair.EgLib. 513: A Certificate for a Ziyāra to the Prophet’s Tomb in Medina (16th century) »Annales islamologiques [En ligne], 55 | 2021, mis en ligne le 02 novembre 2022, consulté le 09 mars 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/anisl/10274 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/anisl.10274

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Sergio Carro Martín

Pompeu Fabra University

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