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The Safavid artist Afzal al-Husayni, a student of Reza Abbasi, creates a striking composition in which the focus, in vibrant colors, is on two lovers, while the decorative background is obscured by golden foliage.<br/><br/> The woman is administering love burn marks on her lover's arm, which during the Safavid era were a sign of a lover’s sincerity and devotion.
This painting depicts a well-known passage from the story of Layla and Majnun described in the third book of Nizami's 'Khamsah or 'Quintet'. Separated by their respective tribes' hostility, forced marriage, and years of exile into the wilderness, the two ill-fated lovers meet again for the last time before their deaths thanks to the intervention of Majnun's elderly messenger.<br/><br/> On seeing each other in a palm-grove outside Layla's camp, they both faint of passion and pain. The old messenger attempts to revive the lovers, while the wild animals protect Majnun by attacking unwarranted intruders.<br/><br/> The location and time of the narrative is suggested by the two tents dressed in the middleground and the dark night sky in the background. The composition's style is typical of paintings made in the city of Shiraz during the second half of the 16th century.
The Queen of Sheba (Hebrew: מלכת שבא‎, Ge'ez: ንግሥተ ሳባ, Nigiste Saba (Nəgəstä Saba); Arabic: ملكة سبأ‎, Malikat Sabaʾ) was a monarch of the ancient kingdom of Sheba and is referred to in Ethiopian history, the Bible, the Qur'an, Yoruba customary tradition, and Josephus. She is widely assumed to have been a queen regnant, although there is no historical proof of this; in fact, she may have been a queen consort. The location of her kingdom is believed to have been in Ethiopia and Yemen.
The Shahnameh (Book of Kings) is a Persian epic of 60,000 verses written by Persian poet Ferdowsi in 1000 CE. It tells of Persian history from the creation of time until the Arab invasion of the 7th century.
Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet. In general, Moses is described in ways which parallel the prophet Muhammad, and his character exhibits some of the main themes of Islamic theology, including the moral injunction that we are to submit ourselves to God.<br/><br/> Moses is defined in the Qur'an as both prophet (nabi) and messenger (rasul), the latter term indicating that he was one of those prophets who brought a scripture and law to his people.
The Battle of Siffin (Arabic: صفين‎; May–July 657 CE) occurred during the First Fitna, or first Muslim civil war, with the main engagement taking place from July 26 to July 28. It was fought between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I, on the banks of the Euphrates river, in what is now Ar-Raqqah, Syria.<br/><br/> Following the controversial murder of Uthman ibn Affan, Ali had become Caliph but struggled to be accepted as such throughout the Muslim Empire. Muawiyah, the governor of Syria, was a kinsman of the murdered Caliph, and wanted the murderers brought to justice. He considered that Ali was unwilling to do this, and so Muawiyah rebelled against Ali, who attempted to put down the rebellion. The result was the engagement at Siffin. However, the battle was indecisive, and the two parties agreed to an arbitration, which was equally indecisive.<br/><br/> The battle and arbitration served to weaken Ali's position, but did not resolve the tensions that were plaguing the empire. To the Shia, Ali ibn Abi Talib was the first Imam. To Sunnis, Ali ibn Abi Talib was the fourth Rashidun Caliph, and Muawiyah the first Caliph of the Ummayyad dynasty. The events surrounding the battle are highly controversial between Sunni and Shia, and serve as part of the split between the two groups.
A Persian miniature is a small painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a muraqqa. The techniques are broadly comparable to the Western and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. Although there is an equally well-established Persian tradition of wall-painting, the survival rate and state of preservation of miniatures is better, and miniatures are much the best-known form of Persian painting in the West, and many of the most important examples are in Western, or Turkish, museums.<br/><br/> Miniature painting became a significant Persian genre in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries. The tradition continued, under some Western influence, after this, and has many modern exponents. The Persian miniature was the dominant influence on other Islamic miniature traditions, principally the Ottoman miniature in Turkey, and the Mughal miniature in the Indian sub-continent.