It has often been the case that Muḥammadan kings have erected their mausoleums during their lifetime, although such acts are strictly contrary to the teachings of their Prophet. A remarkable instance of this is to be seen at Bijapur in India, where the unfinished tomb of ʿAlī ʿAdl Shah (A.D. 1557) is still to be seen, having never been completed after his burial. His successor, Ibrāhīm (A.D. 1579), warned by the fate of his predecessor’s tomb, commenced his own on so small a plan—116 feet square—that, as he was blessed with a long and prosperous reign, it was only by ornament that he could render the place worthy of himself. This he accomplished by covering every part with the most exquisite and elaborate carvings. The ornamental carvings on this tomb are so numerous, that it is said the whole Qurʾān is engraven on its walls. The principal apartment in the tomb is a square of forty feet, covered by a stone roof perfectly flat in the centre, and supported by a cove projecting ten feet from the wall on every side. Mr. Fergusson says: “How the roof is supported is a mystery, which can only be understood by those who are familiar with the use the Indians make of masses of concrete, which, with good mortar, seems capable of infinite applications unknown in Europe.” (Architecture, vol. iii. p. 562.) The tomb of Maḥmūd, Ibrāhīm’s successor (A.D. 1626), was also built in his lifetime, and is remarkable for its simple grandeur and constructive boldness. It is internally 135 feet each way, and its area is consequently 18,225 square feet, while the Pantheon at Rome has only an area of 15,833 feet.
The tomb of Imām ash-Shāfiʿī, the founder of one of the four orthodox sects of the Sunnīs, and who died A.H. 204, is still to be seen near the city of Cairo. It is surmounted by a large dome, with a weathercock in the form of a boat. It is said to have been erected by Yūsuf Ṣalāḥu ʾd-Dīn (Saladin). The interior is cased to a height of eight feet with marble, above which the whole building is coloured in recent and unartistic style. The windows contain coloured glass. There are three niches, with a fourth in the form of a miḥrāb, marking the direction of Makkah. The covering of the tomb of the celebrated Muslim doctor is of simple brocade, embroidered with gold. It is enclosed with a wooden railing, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the corners being clasped with silver fittings. At the head of the tomb is a large turban, partly covered with a Cashmere shawl. Near the head of the tomb is a marble pillar, with sculptured inscriptions, coloured red and gold. From the roof are suspended a few porcelain lamps; and lamps of glass, as well as ostrich eggs, hang in profusion from the canopy of the tomb and from light wooden beams. The walls and tomb-enclosure are adorned with scrolls. Close to the building are four other tombs of the Imām’s family.
The tomb of Zubaidah, the beloved wife of the celebrated K͟halīfah Hārūnu ʾr-Rashīd, the hero of the tales of The Thousand and One Nights, is a simple edifice standing on a sloping eminence, within an extensive cemetery outside the city of Bag͟hdad. It is a building of an octagonal shape, thirty feet in diameter, and surmounted by a spire. In the upper part of the building are two ranges of windows, the upper of which presents the flattened and the lower the pointed arch. The spire is a mere sharpened cone, ornamented without with convex divisions corresponding to concave arches within. The interior is occupied by three oblong buildings of masonry, coated with lime. A modern Pacha and his wife have now the honour of reposing beside the remains of the fair Persian, and an inscription over the porch testifies that their remains were deposited nine centuries after the favourite wife of the renowned K͟halīfah.
THE TAJ AT AGRA. (A. F. Hole.)
A very interesting specimen of tomb architecture is found at Sultaniah in Persia. It is the sepulchre of one Muḥammad K͟hudabandia. Texier ascribes the building to K͟hudabandia, of the Ṣūfī dynasty, A.D. 1577–85; but Fergusson says its style shows that the monument must be two or three hundred years older than that king. Ker Porter says it is the work of the Tartar Muḥammad K͟hudabandia, who was the successor of G͟hazan K͟hān, the builder of the celebrated mosque at Tabrīz, who, being seized with as much zeal for his Shīʿite faith as his predecessor had been for the Sunnite, his intention was to lodge in this mausoleum the remains of ʿAlī and his son al-Ḥusain. This intention, however, was not carried into effect, and consequently the bones of the founder repose alone in this splendid shrine, and not under the central dome, but in a side chamber. The general plan of this building is an octagon, with a small chapel opposite the entrance, in which the body lies. Internally, the dome is 81 feet in diameter by 150 feet in height, the octagon being worked (Mr. Fergusson says) into a circle by as elegant a series of brackets as, perhaps, ever were employed for this purpose. The form of the dome is singularly graceful and elegant, and superior to anything of the kind in Persia. The whole is covered with glazed tiles, rivalling in richness those of the celebrated mosque at Tabrīz; and with its general beauty of outline, it affords one of the finest specimens of this style of architecture found in any country.
The grave of the Persian poet Ḥāfiz̤, at Shiraz in Persia, is a single block of beautiful marble from Yezd, of which about eighteen inches appear above the ground. It is a fine slab, is perfectly flat, and is nine feet long by two feet nine inches in width. Raised in low relief, in the centre of the top of the slab, is one of the poet’s odes in the beautiful letters of the Persian alphabet, and round the edges, in a band about five inches deep, is another ode. The tomb, which is probably about two hundred years old, is situated in a square enclosure or garden, and the ground around is thickly beset with tombs, mostly flat like that of the poet.
The finest specimen of monumental architecture is the celebrated Tāj at Agra, erected over the grave of Urjummad Banu Begum, called Mumtāz-i-Maḥall, or the “Exalted One of the Palace,” the favourite wife of the Emperor Shāh Jahān, who died about A.D. 1629. The designs and estimates for the building are said to have been prepared by a Venetian named Geronimo Verroneo; but the architect died at Lahore before its completion, and the work is supposed to have been handed over to a Byzantine Turk. Mr. Keene says that it is certain Austin, the French artist, was consulted. Mr. Fergusson gives the following particulars of this remarkable building:—
“The enclosure, including garden and outer court, is a parallelogram of 1,860 feet by more than 1,000 feet. The outer court, surrounded by arcades and adorned by four gateways, is an oblong, occupying in length the whole breadth of the enclosure, and is about 450 feet deep. The principal gateway leads from this court to the garden, where the tomb is seen framed in an avenue of dark cypress trees. The plinth of white marble is 18 feet high, and is an exact square of 313 feet each way. At the four corners stand four columns or towers, each 137 feet high, and crowned with a little pavilion. The mausoleum itself occupies a space of 186 feet square, in the centre of this larger square, and each of the four corners is cut off opposite each of the towers. The central dome is 50 feet in diameter by 80 feet in height. On the platform in front of the juwab, or false mosque, is a tracing of the topmost spine, a gilded spike crowning the central dome to the height of 30 feet. The interior is lighted from marble-trellised-screen lights above and below.”—Fergusson’s History of Architecture, vol. ii. p. 693. [[ZIYARAH].]
TRADITION. It is the belief of all Muḥammadans, whether Sunnī, Shīʿah, or Wahhābī, that in addition to the revelation contained in the Qurʾān, the Prophet received the Waḥy g͟hair Matlū (lit. “an unread revelation”), whereby he was enabled to give authoritative declarations on religious questions, either moral, ceremonial, or doctrinal. Muḥammad traditions are therefore supposed to be the uninspired record of inspired sayings, and consequently occupy a totally different position to what we understand by traditions in the Christian Church. The Arabic words used for these traditions are Ḥadīs̤ (حديث), pl. Aḥādīs̤, “a saying”; and Sunnah (سنة), pl. Sunan, “a custom.” The word Ḥadīs̤, in its singular form, is now generally used by both Muḥammadan and Christian writers for the collections of traditions. They are records of what Muḥammad did (Sunnatu ʾl-fiʿl), what Muḥammad enjoined (Sunnatu ʾl-qaul), and that which was done in the presence of Muḥammad and which he did not forbid (Sunnatu ʾt-taqrīr). They also include the authoritative sayings and doings of the Companions of the Prophet.