Unknown - Muslim Prayers at the Kabba - 1740

An illustrated folio of Muslim prayer from a dispersed prayer book Circa 1740. The folio is from a ritual instruction for supplication at the Kaaba - Islam's holiest site, the cube-shaped stone shrine located at the center of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It reads approximately as:

"he sat between the two pillars at the door of the Kaaba, praised God and extolled Him, asked for forgiveness and then arose until he came to the back of the Kabba, where he placed his face and cheek in his prostration and primed God.

The prayers are beautifully written in black naskh script with inter-linear Persian commentary in red nasta'liq between the verses. The style is typically Indian, with a profusion of gold, including 'cloud' decoration around and between the script as shown in the close-up image. The pages are surrounded by delicate meandering vine, a treatment reserved for the finest prayer books. The condition is very good.

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