Funerary stele in the form of a mihrab

Theoretically, Muslim law holds the ornamentation of tombs in great distrust. The practice is suspected of aiming to exalt the individual at the least appropriate moment.[1] Despite this opposition in principal, from the beginning of Islamic history funerary steles have been produced[2], while even more imposing monuments celebrate important people (though other tombs may be marked only by a simple unengraved stone). Law-makers have therefore been obliged to codify these widespread practices. At the present time there is no study of funeral steles in the Islamic world that brings together their chronological and geographical development, particularly since specialists’ interests differ widely in this domain (interests in funeral rites, the palaeography of inscriptions, the decoration of steles etc.).

Islamic steles can be divided into three types, all of them present in Sicily[3] :  the first consists of a vertical slab, placed at the head of the grave and, in general, accompanied by another, smaller stone placed at its foot, both facing eastwards towards Mecca. This is the type most frequently to be found in Sicily (about half of the 90 preserved steles), especially in the Trepani area[4]. The stele analysed here is a good example[5] of this. The second type is the smaller cylindrical cippus which may be accompanied by another one or by a vertical slab at the opposite end; there are only nine such steles known in Sicily[6]. Finally there is the stele known as “prismatic”, which can have various shapes and is particularly found in Palermo. In Sicily the “prismatic” steles are long (normally more than 1.5m), not very high (about 20cm) and not very thick (between 10 and 15cm); they were placed horizontally on the tombs, lying lengthwise. They are as a rule pentagonal in shape and pointed at the top; the base of the parallelepiped is corniced[7].  The inscriptions are generally found on the long sides. In Sicily both the bottom part and the angular top part may hold inscriptions. The steles that most resemble the Sicilian type are those of eleventh century Malta[8] and Tunisia[9].

The vast majority of Sicilian inscriptions are sculpted in relief and not engraved; in the Muslim west, the widespread change from engraving to this technique in the funerary field is attributed to a Fatimid influence[10]. On the island the inscriptions are mainly written in Kufic script, rather plain and rarely embellished with fleurons.

The stele under discussion is one of the rare ones preserved that date from the period of the Islamic domination of Sicily (most are later). It is one of the type known conventionally as “ in the form of a mihrâb”, because it is decorated with an arch, this being identified with that of the prayer niche, the mihrâb, but also symbolizing the passage to the other world. Here the arch is trilobate and ends, at the seventh line up from the bottom, in two three-branched palm trees surmounted by a lily flower. The Kufic inscription is sparsely punctuated with flowers (final ‘ayn), and only the lam and the alif are intertwined. The passages of the Koran quoted here are common on funerary steles. The text, which insists on the faith of the deceased, concludes with a “eulogy by transfer” which asks for the blessing of God upon those who pray for the deceased.

In that it is rare in Islam to be able to know the exact location of a dead body, there is nothing to prove that this stele was engraved in Sicily[11] and not imported by a collector at a later date from neighbouring Ifriqiya, except for the fact that if that were so, it would probably rapidly have been reproduced either by, or at the behest of the collector[12].

[4]For an overview, cf  the article “Kabr” by J. Sourdel, in the Encyclopédie de l’Islam.

[5]Grassi 1993 and the article published in the Encyclopédie de l’Islam, s.v. Siqilliya.

[6]Grassi 2004

[7] C. Tonghini proposed a catalogue of prismatic steles found in Italy in “Gli Arabi di Amantea…” appendix .D, p.221-226. Twenty-five are listed.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Cf. Grassi 1989

[10] Ibid.

[11]Vire 1956, inscr. 7 (ill. 40) dated 1016 ; inscr. 10 (ill. 41) dated 1018; inscr. 11 (ill.42) dated beginning of Ve. S. H.; inscr. 12 (ill. 43) dated 1024; inscr. 13 (ibid. ) dated1036-1037; inscr. 14 (ill.44) dated 1048; inscr. 16 (ibid) dated 1041-1042; inscr. 15 (ill.45) dated first half of the 11^th century etc.

[11]Cf.  “Kitâbat”, in the Encyclopédie de l’Islam

[12] Or that the engraving was completed in Sicily, because the importation of steles on which only the name of the deceased is missing was also possible.

[13] This was the case when the stele was removed to Verona at the request of the antique collector Scipio Maffei between 1714 and 1719.