Pilgrims at the Kaaba, Folio from a manuscript of Nigaristan

• Accession Number:AKM272.f31r
• Creator:Author: Ahmad b. Muhammad Ghaffari, Persian, died 1567 Scribe: Ahmad al-Shirazi
• Place:Iran, Shiraz (probably)
• Dimensions:38.7 cm × 25 cm × 6.4 cm
• Date:1573-74 CE/980 AH/AH 980
• Materials and Technique:Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper

• The miniature painting "Pilgrims at the Kaaba" is from an intact manuscript of Kitab-i Nigaristan, a collection of anecdotes and historical incidents written in prose by the historian and scholar Ahmad Muhammad Ghaffari (1504–1567/68) of Kashan in 1551–2. This illustrated manuscript, dated 1573, was probably produced in a Shiraz workshop. 

   

  See AKM272 for more information about the manuscript and links to the other illustrations. 

    

Further Reading 

 
The illustration is divided into three levels. Veiled women are depicted in the uppermost level, and the Kaaba occupies the centre. A person with a turban stands in front of the Kaaba, and reaches his right hand up to its door knocker. To her left stands a hunchbacked man with a black cap, touching the Kaaba wall with a staff with a curved tip. A dark cloth coverlet with a golden pattern is folded up from the Kaaba to the upper right, revealing the inner blue surface of the cloth and a brick structure of the building. 
 
The short text part for illustration is in the upper field. It tells of an ugly man who rubs his face against the Kaaba. When asked why he does this, he answers that purgatory never attacks a beautiful face, but an ugly one.  
 
Since the story is very short, the lower field is filled with a new story. Both belong to a genre known as nadira, which means "a strange event or happening." Within this genre, anecdotes about oddities and miracles refer to a historical or literary source and are narrated within a historical context. These strange events and miracles occur to rulers, scholars, viziers, and ordinary people in Iranian history from the introduction of Islam to the time of the Safavids (1501–1677). They offer an idealized version of history and often contain a warning or moral lesson. Ghaffari, as a historian, has produced the Nigaristan in such a way that the narratives are carefully sourced, but the content is mostly an idealized version of the history and is told for the benefit of the ruler. This approach to historiography was popular in Safavid Iran. 
 
- Elika Palenzona-Djalili