Illustrations from

Maqāmāt of al-Hariri
Manuscript British Library, Ms. Or. Add. 22114

Abou Mohammad al-Qāsim ibn ‛Ali ibn Mohammad ibn ‛Ali al-Hariri al-Basri (1054 - 1122) (author).
The Maqamat ('Assemblies') are a collection of amusing stories told by the merchant al-Harith about a peripatetic rogue named Abu Zaid.

Abu Zayd pretends to be a Muslim religious leader at a funeral


Source: Arab Painting: Text and Image in Illustrated Arabic Manuscripts edited by Anna Contadini

21st Maqama - Abu Zayd preaching


Seated figure of Abu Zayd


Seated figure of Abu Zayd wearing a "paneled" tunic from an early 14th-century Maqāmāt manuscript, probably from Syria (BM Add. 22.114, f. 98).
Source: Fig. 14, Arab Dress. From the dawn of Islam to Modern times by Smirna Si

Pilgrims on Hajj


folios 102v and 103r of the Maqamat of al-Hariri, mid-14th century. British Library, London (Or.Add.22144)
Source: Plate 4, The Hajj, collected essays. British Museum.
(British Library, Ms. Or. Add. 22114, London)

Two women accompanying Abū Zayd on the road


56. Illumination from a Maqāmāt manuscript, probably from Syria, ca. 1300, depicting two women accompanying Abū Zayd on the road. Both women wear a white miqnaʿa covering the entire lower portion of the faces, and both are enveloped in large wraps, a white izār for the women on the left and colored ridāʾ for the one between the two men (British Museum Add 22114, fol. 135 verso).
Source: Fig. 56, Arab Dress. From the dawn of Islam to Modern times by Smirna Si

Abu Zayd at a school (forty-sixth maqāma).


Fig. 16. Abu Zayd at a school (forty-sixth maqāma). Al-Hariri, Maqāmāt, thirteenth or fourteenth century. London, British Library, Ms. Or. Add. 22114, right to left: fols. 162r, 162v, 163r, 163v, 164r, 164v 165r, 166r (new foliation; total page dimensions 26.75 x 19 cm). (Photo: courtesy of the British Library)
Source: Fig. 16, George, A 2011, 'The Illustrations of the Maqamat and the shadow play', Muqarnas, vol. 28, pp. 1-42.



Other Maqamat manuscripts