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{{short description|Turkish epic about the life of Muhammad}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox religious text
| image = File:Siyer-i_Nebi_223b.jpg
| caption = The birth of [[Muhammad]] in the Siyer-i-Nebi
| author = Mustafa of [[Erzurum]]
| religion = [[Islam]]
| language = [[Ottoman Turkish]]
| verses =
| period = [[Transformation of the Ottoman Empire|Era of Transformation]]
}}
The '''Siyer-i Nebi''' ({{lang-ota|سیر نبی}}) is an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] epic on the life of [[Muhammad]], completed around 1388, written by Mustafa (son of Yusuf of [[Erzurum]], known as al-Darir), a [[Mevlevi]] [[dervish]] on the commission of Sultan [[Barquq]], the [[Mamluk Sultanate|Mamluk]] ruler in [[Cairo]]. The text is based on the 13th-century writings of Abu’l Hasan al-Bakri and [[Ibn Hisham]] (d. 833). This epic would later be illustrated by Mustafa ibn Vali in the late 16th century by his patron, Sultan [[Murad III]].<ref>{{Cite web |title="The Angel Gabriel meets 'Amr ibn Zaid (the Shepherd)", Folio from a Siyer-i Nebi (the Life of the Prophet) |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/453351 |access-date=2022-07-11 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>

== Ottoman manuscript ==
The Ottoman ruler Murad III (1574–1595) commissioned a lavish illustrated copy of the epic, which has been described as "the largest single cycle of religious painting in [[Islamic art]]" and "the most complete visual portrayal of the life of the prophet Muhammad".<ref>Fisher, 75</ref> The famous [[calligrapher]] Lutfi Abdullah (Lütfi Abdullah) was in charge of the workshop at the royal palace, and completed the work under Murad's successor [[Mehmed III]], on 16 January 1595. The completed work contained 814 miniatures in six volumes, which include many [[depictions of Muhammad]], who is always shown with a veiled face, as was the convention during the time period; he is also surrounded by flames, which is the eastern equivalent of a [[halo (religious iconography)|halo]]. The style of the miniatures is distinctive, and owes nothing to earlier treatments of these subjects, as well as being "strikingly different" to the normal realist style of [[Ottoman miniature]]s; its origins remain unclear. There are a few figures in each scene, no extensive landscapes, and a "suppression of detail".<ref>Blair & Bloom, pp. 245 (quoted) – 247</ref>

Volumes I, II and VI are in the [[Topkapı Palace|Topkapı Museum]] (Hazine 1221–1223); Volume III is in the [[New York Public Library]]; Volume IV is (mostly) in the [[Chester Beatty Library]] in [[Dublin]] (MS T 419),<ref>[http://www.cbl.ie/cbl_image_gallery/search/detail.aspx?imageId=162&ImageNumber=T0000105&page=0 Page from Chester Beatty]</ref> and Volume V is missing, as are about 200 of the miniatures in total. About two dozen of the miniatures are in the hands of private [[Collecting|collectors]]. Four were sold at the [[Hôtel Drouot]] auction house in [[Paris]] in March 1984.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}} Two folios from Volume IV are in the [[Khalili Collection of Islamic Art]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Islamic Art {{!}} Two Folios from the Siyer-i Nebi|url=https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-two-folios-from-the-siyer-i-nebi-mss152/|access-date=2021-08-11|website=Khalili Collections|language=en-US}}</ref>

A 17th century copy of Volume IV, made in the court atelier, is in the [[Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts]], [[Sultanahmet, Fatih|Sultanahmet]], [[Istanbul]]. It was donated to a mosque library in [[Aksaray, Istanbul]], by the Sultan's mother in 1862–1863.<ref>[http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;tr;Mus01;30;en Discover Islamic Art, Museum with no Frontiers]</ref>

== Images gallery ==
<gallery widths="130" heights="160" perrow="7" class="center">
File:Siyer-i Nebi 151b.jpg|Muhammad at the [[Kaaba]]
File:Siyer-i Nebi 123a.jpg|Muhammad removes a dragon from the [[Kaaba]]
File:Siyer-i Nebi 158b.jpg|Muhammad at [[Mount Hira]]
File:Muhammad at Badr.jpg|Muhammad at the [[Battle of Badr]]
File:Ali Beheading Nadr ibn al-Harith in the Presence of the Prophet Muhammad. Miniature from volume 4 of a copy of Mustafa al-Darir’s Siyar-i-Nabi. Istanbul; c. 1594 The David Col..jpg|[[Ali]] beheading [[Nadr ibn al-Harith]] in the presence of Muhammad and his [[Sahaba|companions]]
File:Siyer-i Nebi 298a.jpg|Muhammad advancing on Mecca, with the angels [[Gabriel#Islam|Gabriel]], [[Michael (archangel)#Islam|Michael]], [[Israfil]] and [[Azrail]]
File:Siyer-i Nebi 414a.jpg|Death of Muhammad
File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0152.1.1.jpg|A caravan, headed by ‘Abdallah ibn Jahsh, returns to Medina from a raid by companions of Muhammad.
File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0152.2.1.jpg|‘Ubayd ibn Harith and Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib lead troops against Abu Jahl
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Qisas al-Anbiya]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Antika, ''The Turkish Journal of Collectible Art'', June 1986
*Blair, Sheila, and Bloom, Jonathan M., ''The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250–1800'', 1995, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, {{ISBN|0-300-06465-9}}
*Fisher, Carol Garrett, "A Reconstruction of the Pictorial Cycle of the "Siyar-i Nabī" of Murād III", ''Ars Orientalis'', Vol. 14, (1984), pp. 75–94, Freer Gallery of Art and University of Michigan, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629330 JSTOR]

== External links ==
{{commons category-inline}}
{{Depictions of Muhammad}}

[[Category:Biographies of Muhammad]]
[[Category:Turkish books]]
[[Category:16th-century illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:Illuminated histories]]
[[Category:Islamic illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library]]
[[Category:Manuscripts in the New York Public Library]]

Siyer-i Nebi - Revision history

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