A Genealogy of the Prophet Muhammad (Nisbat al-Nabi)

Location: Middle East, possibly Syria

Materials: ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper; contemporary gold-tooled brown leather binding

Dimensions: 35 folios; 37 x 27cm

Accession Number: MSS 1112

Other Notes:

The manuscript opens with an illuminated page, probably the left-hand half of a double-page frontispiece. The following spread, folios 1b–2a, contains the title of the manuscript, written in a bold gold script. The genealogy of the Prophet follows, and it is written across the pages in the same bold script. His name begins on folio 2b, with the letters spelling ‘Muha–‘, and then continues as a straight line to folio 10b, where it is completed with the letters spelling ‘–mmad’, followed by his father’s name, ‘Abd Allah, on folio 11a, through his grandfather. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, and down the line to Adam, on folio 24b. The text surrounding the genealogy offers information on the life of the Prophet, and his companions (the sahabah).

Script:

copied in a bold muhaqqaq script (genealogy) and small naskh