Il simbolismo mistico del volto umano nel trattato in urdu Ṣūrat-i ma'lūma-yi ṣuwar-i 'ilm di Karīm Allāh 'Ashiq

Abstract

This article describes the mystical interpretation of the traits of the human face given in the Urdu treatise Ṣūrat-i ma'lūma-yi ṣuwar-i 'ilm composed by Karīm Allāh 'Āshiq, a Sufi of the Chishtiyya order who was active in Hyderabad during the second half of the 19th century. The treatise is illustrated with large calligraphic drawings showing a human face composed with the names of the People of the Mantle (Ahl al-Kisa'), i.e. the prophet Muḥammad, his daughter Fāṭima, 'Alī, Ḥasan et Ḥusayn. The symbolic interpretation given by Karīm Allāh 'Āshiq is connected with the cosmological and metaphysical doctrine diffused among the chishtī circles of India. The human face is hence transfigured into a symbolic representation of the universe and of its different levels of existence.