The Mughal Mapmaker and his Remarkable Hajj Maps

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MUGHAL INDIA :

Safi ibn Vali’s Mughal Hajj maps

The Salamat Ras departed Surat in India on the 20th September 1676, carrying hundreds of pilgrims from Gujarat. On board was Safi ibn Vali; unlike the other pilgrims, his journey was sponsored by Zib al-Nisa, daughter of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707). Along with completing his Hajj, Safi ibn Vali was given the task of creating a Hajj guidebook for future pilgrims. Presumably aimed at Indian pilgrims like himself, the ‘Anis al-Hujjaj’ (The Pilgrim’s Companion) contains advice regarding all aspects of the pilgrimage, including the journey to Jidda by sea.

His book is but one of many surviving pilgrimage guidebooks, from various parts of the Islamic world, forming a long-established tradition. They are typically accompanied by diagrammatic views of the holy sites, and Anis al-Hujjaj is no different in this respect. What sets it apart, however, is its use of colourful illustrations depicting various scenes of the pilgrimage, as well as the remarkable accuracy of its maps.

Safi ibn Vali’s Anis al-Hujjaj (‘Pilgrims’ Companion’), possibly Gujarat, India, circa 1677–80. Ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper; modern leather binding. 3 separate folios show here side by side. Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. Copyright Nour Foundation. Courtesy of the Khalili Family Trust.

The illustration below is a map of Jidda. Jidda was a major port for pilgrims arriving for Hajj, and is thought to have been founded by Caliph Uthman in 647 AD. Safi ibn Vali, arriving at the port himself, maps major parts of the city. Archaeologist Dr Geoffrey King examined the map and found that the vast majority of places and landmarks depicted lie in the same position today.

Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. Copyright Nour Foundation. Courtesy of the Khalili Family Trust.

The upper section of the map depicts Hawa cemetery, thought to be the burial place of Eve, the mother of humanity. While the pink markers represent other graves, the black square indicates the head side of the resting place of Eve (peace be upon her), the white square her naval, and the gravelly area her feet. In Safi ibn Vali’s time, her grave, which is more than 100 feet in length, would have been marked by some sort of edifice. It is possible that the structure that can be seen in the image below, an illustration from 1894, or one similar to it, was what he saw two centuries earlier. The structure is no longer standing; it was destroyed in 1975 and covered with concrete by Saudi religious authorities.

Illustration of the Tomb of Eve in 1894, Jidda.

The middle section of Safi ibn Vali’s map shows the old city of Jidda. When examining the area, Dr King found that everything was accurately placed; a parade of shops and houses in the old city, as well as the surrounding roads, are all found in the same position today. There is however, one surprising discrepancy; an obvious landmark was mapped by Ibn Vali on the wrong side of the road. The green-domed Shafi’i mosque is shown in the Anis al-Hujjaj on the east side of the main street, whilst today it can be found on the west side; “This confuses me- was this main street in Jidda on a different alignment when the Anis al-Hujjaj was composed, or is it a simple error?” Given the remarkable accuracy of the map in every other way, King says this discrepancy is especially puzzling. The Shafi’i mosque is the oldest mosque site in Jidda; its floor is well below street-level, a fact that, according to Dr King, indicates that it predates the Shafi’i period. The oldest standing part of the mosque today is its Ayyubid minaret, dating back to the 13th century.

Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. Copyright Nour Foundation. Courtesy of the Khalili Family Trust.

Since there is no question over the identity of the mosque depicted by Safi ibn Vali, further research needs to be conducted to reach a clear conclusion over the discrepancy. In the foreground of the Jidda map, the governor of the city is shown welcoming pilgrims. There are numerous such illustrations in Safi ibn Vali’s book, depicting various scenes of the Hajj. On the folio below, pilgrims are shown on the day of Eid al-Adha. In the top right hand corner, pilgrims in ihram throw stones at the three pillars representing shaytan, while others have their heads shaved after completing the rites of the Hajj. In the foreground, animals are being slaughtered for the Eid sacrifice.

Safi ibn Vali also made mention of various holy places to visit that are not part of the Hajj itself. The illustration below is a typical diagrammatic view found in the tradition of Hajj guidebooks. According to the captions, the building in the upper section marks the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). In Ibn Vali’s time, the blessed area was marked by a small mosque with a courtyard and dome. Today a simple library building built in the 1950’s stands over the area. Depicted beneath the upper section are the birthplaces of Lady Fatima and Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may God be pleased with them both) as well as the Madrassa of Sultan Sulayman and a Sufi lodge of the Bektashi order. The clothes worn by the visitors indicate their various nationalities.

Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. Copyright Nour Foundation. Courtesy of the Khalili Family Trust.

While Safi ibn Vali’s Anis al-Hujjaj is not unique in its function, the accuracy of its map of Jidda, and possibly others, such as Surat in India and Mocha in Yemen, which are also represented, is remarkable, setting it apart from other guidebooks of the same genre. Its colourful illustrations give the viewer a sense of the energy of the pilgrimage, as well as the diversity of the pilgrims represented. Given that many of the sites Ibn Vali illustrates no longer exist in the same form, his work takes on added historical importance, preserving a past all but lost to modernity.