The Language of the Taj Mahal by Michael D. Calabria

Author:Michael D. Calabria [Calabria, Michael D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Asia, General, Social Science, Islamic Studies, Social History, India & South Asia, Religion, Islam, Koran & Sacred Writings, Architecture, Buildings, Religious
ISBN: 9780755637874
Google: DsZKEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2021-10-21T02:45:16+00:00

Chapter 8

GOD IS WELL PLEASED: AL-BAYYINAH

The east doorway of the mausoleum, facing the Mihman Khana, is framed with al-Bayyinah, the ninety-eighth sūrah of the Qur’an (Figure 27). It consists of just eight āyāt, but several are longer than the preceding twenty-five āya of al-Inshiqāq, making the sūrahs comparable in length and the calligraphy comparable in size. The inscription panel to the right of the door comprises most of the first four āyāt, with the exception of the final word of the fourth āya—al-Bayyinah—“the clear evidence,” as it is commonly translated. Thus, the calligraphy has been neatly distributed so that the word that lends itself to the sūrah’s title appears clearly in the upper right corner. Above the door, the sūrah continues with the fifth āya and much of the sixth, and the remainder of the sūrah (āyāt 6–8) in the left panel. Although the calligraphy is for the most part characteristically densely arranged with words stacked into two registers with vertical strokes and decorative marks, there is an unusual “thinning” in the arrangement of the text near the beginning of the sixth āya in the panel above the doorway (left half), where the text reads: alladhīn kafarū—“those who disbelieve … ” This sparser arrangement hardly seems coincidental since much of the sūrah concerns “those who disbelieve among the People of the Book,” and thus it appears to be a deliberate and singular attempt by Amanat Khan to draw the viewer’s attention to this phrase.

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