Hilya

A hilya (Arabic حِلْيَة, plural ḥilan, ḥulan, meaning "adornment") or hilye (Turkish, plural hilyeler) is a calligraphically rendered text describing the physical appearance and character attributes of the Prophet Muhammad.[1][2] In 17th-century Ottoman Turkey, they developed into an art form with a standard layout, often framed and used as a wall decoration.

Contents

Texts

There are a small number of accepted early descriptions of Muhammad's physical appearance in the hadith, the best known of which is attributed to his son-in-law and cousin Ali; another well-known one was provided by a woman named Umm Ma'bad.[3] Calligraphic renderings of such texts are said to have been in circulation since the 9th century;[4] written in very small naskh script, they were sometimes carried in a breast pocket.[2] These descriptions were later combined and elaborated on in poems, of which the Turkish Hilye-i Şerif ("The Noble Description", 1598–1599) by Mehmet Hakani (d. 1606–07), comprising over 700 verses, is one of the best known.[5][6][7]

Art form

In Ottoman Turkey in the 17th century a calligraphic art form for presenting these texts was developed by the leading calligrapher Hâfiz Osman (1642–1698), for which hilye, the Turkish version of the term, is also used.[2] These calligraphic panels were often framed and came to be used as wall decorations in houses, mosques and shrines, fulfilling an equivalent role to that played by images of Jesus in the Christian tradition.[8][9] As symbolic art, they provided an aesthetically pleasing reminder of the Prophet's presence without involving the type of "graven image" unacceptable to most Muslims' sensitivities.[10]

A characteristic feature of the texts shown at the centre of hilyeler is their praise for the beauty of Muhammad's physical appearance and character.[11] While containing a verbal description of what Muhammad looked like, a hilye leaves picturing the prophet's appearance to the reader's imagination, in line with the mainly aniconic nature of Islamic art.[8] According to Christiane Gruber, "the hilye's form was conceived in a corporealizing manner so as to recall semantically the Prophet's presence via a graphic construct", reflected in some of the names for the different sections.[5] In Iran, hilyeler occasionally also featured a portrait of Muhammad or Ali.[1]

Standard layout

Hâfiz Osman developed a standard layout for the Ottoman hilye panel with the following elements:[5]

The remainder of the space is taken up with decorative Ottoman illumination, of the type usual for the period, often with a border framing the whole in a contrasting design to the main central field that is the background of the text sections. The "verse" and "corners" normally use a larger thuluth script, while the "head" section with the bismallah is written in muhaqqaq.[13] These are the general elements, but deviations from the standard model do occur.[2] Since Osman's time, every Turkish calligrapher has been expected to produce at least one hilya, using the three muhaqqaq, thuluth and naskh scripts.[13]

Occurrence

As an art form, hilye calligraphy has mostly been restricted to Turkey, southeastern Europe and countries around the eastern Mediterranean, although there are contemporary exponents of the art outside this region, such as the Pakistani calligrapher Rasheed Butt and the American calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya.[10]

Function

The purpose of the hilya is to help visualise the Prophet as a mediator between the sacred and human worlds, to connect with him by using the viewing of the hilya as an opportunity to send a traditional blessing upon him, and to establish an intimacy with him.[14][5][11] Mehmet Hakani's Hilye-i Şerif quoted a possibly spurious 9th-century hadith[15] (attributed to Tirmidhi by Schimmel and Falaturi[16]), in which Muhammad reportedly said:[5][10][17]

For him who sees my hilya after my death, it is as if he had seen me myself, and he who sees it, longing for me, for him God will make Hellfire prohibited, and he will not be resurrected naked at Doomsday.

This hadith was thought to be genuine, but according to Mohamed Zakariya, its status is now questionable.[14] The hilya, as a vehicle for the Prophet's presence after his death, was believed to have a talismanic effect, capable of protecting a house, a child, a traveller, or a person in difficulty.[5]

Gallery

Notes

  1. ^ a b Bakker, 209
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Derman et al., 36
  3. ^ Brockopp, 130
  4. ^ Soucek, 106
  5. ^ a b c d e f Gruber, 131–133
  6. ^ Digitalisat of the 1898 edition at archive.org
  7. ^ Cf. Poyraz, Yakup: "Hâkim Seyyid Mehmed Efendi’nin “Nazire-i Hilye-i Hâkanî” Adlı Eseri". In: Turkish Studies 2/3 (2007), pp. 449–484.
  8. ^ a b Peters, 160–161
  9. ^ Safi, 276
  10. ^ a b c Ernst, 76–79
  11. ^ a b Safi, 273–274
  12. ^ a b c d e f Osborn, 236–239
  13. ^ a b Ali, 8
  14. ^ a b Zakariya, 21
  15. ^ Halman, 82
  16. ^ Schimmel & Falaturi, 45.
  17. ^ Taşkale & Gündüz, 35

References

External links