L’importance et l’utilisation des couvertures de cénotaphe islamiques : étude basée sur les couvertures conservées aux Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire de Bruxelles

Details

Supervisors

Heering, Caroline ; Azaiez, Mehdi

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [60] en histoire de l'art et archéologie, orientation générale

Abstract

enThis work focuses on Islamic tomb covers preserved in the Royal Museums of Art and History and their relationship with Shari'a and Fiqh. A subject rarely tackled by the scientific community, their uses are only hypotheses. Whether it's a tomb cover, a coffin cover or a piece of textile buried in the burial vault, their titles suggest a limited use. Islamic jurisprudence does not seem to permit their use. Despite this, tomb covers have spread throughout almost the entire Muslim world. How and why did this happen? Beyond these facts, no one seems to have been more interested in the content of the calligraphic elements. However, it's possible that they are important statements with a specific value. Perhaps this would even explain why these cenotaph covers were used. We attempt to answer these few questions through a more detailed description of the elements in our corpus, a broad contextualization and internal comparisons within the corpus. In the second part, we shed light on the legal theory of Islamic funeral rites, and on the theological positions of scholars concerning each hypothesis of use considered. Finally, we look at the justifications believers may have offered for using the covers.