A Handbook for Pilgrims to Mecca and Medina (Futuh al-Haramayn)

Gallery Location

Not on View

Maker

Maker's name unrecorded

Medium Opaque watercolour, ink, and gold on paper

Geography

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Date Early 17th century AD

Period Ottoman Period

Dimensions 21.7 x 14.6 x 1.3 cm

Object number 967.270

Cataloguer Dr. Fahmida Suleman ROM Staff, 2019-

Cataloguer Dr. Lisa Golombek ROM Staff 1967-2005, Emeritus 2005-present

Collection

Islamic World

Department Art & Culture: Islamic World

Description

The Futuh al-Haramayn is a guide in Persian verse describing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which was composed by Muhi al-din Lari (d.1526/1527) (also Muhyi-i Lari) and completed in western India in around 1505-06. The book was dedicated to Muzaffar ibn Mahmudshah, the ruler of Gujarat, and acts as a guidebook for pilgrims to Mecca and Medina, providing instructions on hajj pilgrimage rituals and descriptions of important religious sites Muslim pilgrims can visit. Manuscripts of the Futuh are often lavishly illustrated and it was popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when it was mainly copied in the Ottoman realm from Mecca to Istanbul, and also in Central Asia and India. Illustrations of sites and buildings are commonly shown from a bird’s-eye view.