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Early 14th century image in an illuminated Ilkhanid manuscript of کتاب الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية (The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries) by Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (completed about 1000 AD)

The above picture from a famous 14th century manuscript, celebrated as one of al-Biruni’s (d. 1048) major works, shows two determined riders approaching a watchtower with a fearful looking guard. One rider has mounted a camel while the other is riding an ass. Faces of the three persons are deliberate Mongolian. Both heads are surrounded by a halo, and the right one is pointing at the left. It is intuitively clear that the artist wants to characterize Jesus and Muhammad in his painting.

I have written about the Ilkhanid manuscript of al-Biruni work before.

One of the key manuscripts in the formative period of Ilkhanid painting is the Kitab al-Athar al-Baqiya , or “The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries”, by Abu Rayhan al-Biruni who had died in 1048 (MS Arab 161, Edinburgh University Library) which is dated 707 AH/ 1307 CE. It contains 25 paintings. The Edinburgh al-Biruni manuscript has been written in either Maragha, the Ilkhanid scientific center, or in its capital Tabriz, the cultural and commercial hub at the crossroads between East and West in early 14th century. The miniatures include multiple non-Islamic elements, Jewish, Byzantine and Buddhist.

The context in the above miniature is as follows. According to its description in the respective catalogue (Chronology of Ancient Nations) by the Edinburgh University Library, it “[a]llegedly depicts a passage from Is[a]iah 21, presenting it as a prophecy about Muhammad: shown riding on a camel next to Christ, who is riding a donkey, Al-Biruni asserts that the Prophet’s arrival at the watchman’s tower announced the destruction of Babylon.” The passage reads (according to King James Version),

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