Lot Essay
The inscription reads:
bism'allah al-rahman al-rahim , inna fi Allah 'aza' min kulli musiba wa khalaf , min kulli haliki wa darak min kulli ma fa- , ta wa inna a'zam al-musa'ib a- , l-musiba bi'l-nabi Muhammad salla Allahu 'alaihi , wa sallama hadha ma yashhadu bihi Farah bin , Ibrahim shahid alla illa Allah , wahdahu la sharik lahu wa inna Muhammad , 'abduhu wa rasuluhu salla Allah 'alaihi wa salama , tuwuffiya fi sana tis'a wa 'ashrin wa mi'atein
In the name God the clement and merciful; in God there is consolation for every calamity, a compensation for everyone who dies and reparation for all that is passed; and the greatest calamity is the calamity which befell Muhammad (i.e. his death) on whom prayers and blessings of God; this is what Farah bin Ibrahim confesses: there is no God but God, he is one, and there is none besides him, and Muhammad is his servant and messenger, on whom be prayers and blessings; he died in the year 229.
For comparative material dating from the same year see:
Hawary, M.M. Hassan and Rached, Hussein, Catalogue general du Musee Arabe du Caire, Steles funeraires, Cairo, 1932, Vol. 1, pp. 157-165 and plates.
The date mentioned in the inscription, AH 229, falls within the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Wathiq (AH 227-232/842-847 AD). Apart from a number of steles, not many objects with historical inscriptions dating from his reign are known. One of the rare pieces is a tiraz textile in the Cleveland Museum of Art inscribed with al-Wathiq's name.
The similarity in calligraphy and also the rope-pattern around the inscription field links the present piece to the tombstones in Cairo published by Hassan Hawary. An attribution of our piece to Upper Egypt may be justfied by the fact that many of the steles in the Islamic Museum in Cairo were found in that region.
bism'allah al-rahman al-rahim , inna fi Allah 'aza' min kulli musiba wa khalaf , min kulli haliki wa darak min kulli ma fa- , ta wa inna a'zam al-musa'ib a- , l-musiba bi'l-nabi Muhammad salla Allahu 'alaihi , wa sallama hadha ma yashhadu bihi Farah bin , Ibrahim shahid alla illa Allah , wahdahu la sharik lahu wa inna Muhammad , 'abduhu wa rasuluhu salla Allah 'alaihi wa salama , tuwuffiya fi sana tis'a wa 'ashrin wa mi'atein
In the name God the clement and merciful; in God there is consolation for every calamity, a compensation for everyone who dies and reparation for all that is passed; and the greatest calamity is the calamity which befell Muhammad (i.e. his death) on whom prayers and blessings of God; this is what Farah bin Ibrahim confesses: there is no God but God, he is one, and there is none besides him, and Muhammad is his servant and messenger, on whom be prayers and blessings; he died in the year 229.
For comparative material dating from the same year see:
Hawary, M.M. Hassan and Rached, Hussein, Catalogue general du Musee Arabe du Caire, Steles funeraires, Cairo, 1932, Vol. 1, pp. 157-165 and plates.
The date mentioned in the inscription, AH 229, falls within the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Wathiq (AH 227-232/842-847 AD). Apart from a number of steles, not many objects with historical inscriptions dating from his reign are known. One of the rare pieces is a tiraz textile in the Cleveland Museum of Art inscribed with al-Wathiq's name.
The similarity in calligraphy and also the rope-pattern around the inscription field links the present piece to the tombstones in Cairo published by Hassan Hawary. An attribution of our piece to Upper Egypt may be justfied by the fact that many of the steles in the Islamic Museum in Cairo were found in that region.