Hum هم and After the Cut / A Close Looking Into Seventeenth-century Mughal painting, Zulaykha’s Guests Distracted by Yusuf’s Beauty A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2020 Fatema S. Abdoolcarim School of Arts, Languages and Cultures CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 3 ABSTRACT 4 DECLARATION & COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 هم Hum 9 (هم) NOTES ON Hum CHAPTER ONE Rabia 10 CHAPTER TWO Hayam 55 CHAPTER THREE Yusuf 105 After the Cut: A Close Looking Into Seventeenth-century Mughal painting, Zulaykha’s Guests Distracted by Yusuf’s Beauty INTRODUCTION An Open(ing) Wound: Looking’s Pleasure 136 CHAPTER I White Spread: Kayd, Silence and Beauty, Nicked 162 CHAPTER II Blood-lined Oranges: Words, Images and Female Bodies, Touching 217 CONCLUSION Looking (Again): A Fresh Incision, Bleeding Gold 255 FIGURES 275 BIBLIOGRAPHY 286 Word Count: 75,482 2 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS All figures appear from page 275 to page 285. Figure 1 Zulaykha’s Guests Distracted by Yusuf’s Beauty, attributed to Muhammad Nadir al-Samarqandi, Kashmir, Mughal India, c. 1650, 24.6 x 14.5 cm, pigment and gold on paper, illuminated folio from a copy of Jami’s Yusuf and Zulaikha, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Figure 2 Picnic In a Tree House, Qazvin, Iran, 1550-1570, 28.5 x 19 cm (each leaf), pigment and gold on paper, illuminated double frontispiece from a copy of Jami’s Yusuf and Zulaikha, The David Collection, Copenhagen. Figure 3 Sufi’s in Ecstasy, attributed to Muhammad Nadir al-Samarqandi, Kashmir, Mughal India, c. 1650, 29.9 x 15.9 cm, pigment and gold on paper, illuminated folio from a copy of Jami’s Yusuf and Zulaikha, British Library, London. © British Library Board (J.7,3). Figure 4 Seduction of Yusuf, signed by Bihzad, Herat, Iran, 1488, 30.5 x 21.5 cm, opaque watercolour, ink and gold on paper, illuminated folio from the Bustan of Sa’di, Egyptian National Library and Archives, Cairo. Figure 5 Lovers and Beloveds: A Composite of Scenes from Persian, Urdu, and Sanskrit Literature, attributed to Chitarman II (Kalyan Das), Dehli, India, c. 1735, 41.2 x 29.6 cm, opaque watercolour with gold on paper, illuminated folio, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Figure 6 Seated Scribe, attributed to Gentile Bellini, Istanbul, Turkey, 1479-1481, 18.2 x 14 cm, pen in brown ink with watercolour and gold on paper, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Figures 7 and 8 Early-Modern Anatomical Illustrations of a male and female figure, Anonymous, India, probably eighteenth-century, ink and opaque watercolours on paper, illuminated folios from an unsigned, eighteenth- century manuscript copy of Tibb al-Akbar (Akbar’s Medicine), National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland. Figure 9 The Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim Army at the Battle of Uhud, Turkey, Istanbul, c. 1594, 37.3 x 27 cm, pigment and gold on paper, illuminated folio from Volume 4 of a copy of Mustafa al-Darir’s Siyar-i Nabi (Life of the Prophet), The David Collection, Copenhagen. Figure 10 Expulsion of Adam and Eve, Qazvin, Iran, mid-1550s, 59.7 x 44.9 cm, opaque watercolour, ink and gold on paper, illuminated folio from a Falnama (Book of Omens), Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, Washington DC. 3 ABSTRACT This PhD project is comprised of two parts, each of which is intended to stand alone. Though each piece was conceived and written separately, they do stem from a similar desire: to speak to the practice of khatna (a form of female genital cutting) among the Dawoodi Bohra community in new ways. Both film script and critical essay are rooted in the specificity of the context of the Dawoodi Bohra Shi’a Muslim community, but also share concerns for broader themes such as agency, silence, beauty, pleasure, and love. is a film script that tells a story in three parts, intertwining memoir and (هــــــــــم) I. Hum fiction. The story comprises of three interconnected vignettes that each focus on a different member of the same family: Rabia, Hayam, and Yusuf. In the first chapter, Rabia, a young female beekeeper grapples with her new home in Hong Kong, and with her new role as a mother. In the second part, Hayam, a mother-less girl, after undergoing the Dawoodi Bohra practice of khatna, searches to reclaim her innocent wildness through the intimate bond she forms with a young girl from the neighbourhood. And in the third chapter, Yusuf, a middle- aged, single father, while providing company to his dying friend during the hospital’s visitation hours, is forced to confront his choices of the past. II. After the Cut: A Close Looking Into Seventeenth-century Mughal painting, Zulaykha’s Guests Distracted by Yusuf’s Beauty is a critical essay that looks closely at a painting that illustrates a scene from a well-known Sufi love poem, Yusuf and Zulaikha, based on the Qur’anic chapter, sura Yusuf. The painting depicts a group of women cutting their fingers, instead of fruit, at the sight of God’s most beautiful creation, the Prophet Yusuf. Examining historical religious texts, their interpretations, poetic narratives and images of sexual and divine love, I challenge the historically popular interpretation attached to this scene: that it is proof of a woman’s violent and dangerous sexual nature. Turning to the tradition of Islamic painting in which female figures are depicted uniformly, I re-read iterations of historical, religious and visual interpretation that have constructed a singular idea of woman and her sexuality. I read Zulaykha’s Guests Distracted by Yusuf’s Beauty as an allegory for khatna among the Dawoodi Bohra community––a practice largely justified by the idea of a woman’s uncontrollable sexual desire, and which treats a woman’s sexual sensation as a singular experience––and give expression to a tradition that has otherwise no historical visual or written representation. Using a multiplicity of writing voices––autobiographical, political, historical, art historical, and theoretical––this thesis considers the practice of khatna, its politics, history, religion and representation reparatively, and encompasses the complex nuances that are inherent to such a practice; nuances that are so often overlooked when spoken with just one type of voice. The shift of writing tones in this thesis, which entangles personal story, religious interpretation and history, and the pleasure of looking closely at artwork, also expresses the desire to expand what the study of art can do. The study of Zulaykha’s Guests Distracted by Yusuf’s Beauty is not to discover origins or new meaning linked to the painting; instead, my interest is to look towards the artwork as a guide for broadening new ways of looking into, understanding (and questioning) pleasure—the central theme illuminated by the image. 4 DECLARATION No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification from this or any other university or other institute of learning. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=24420), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/regulations/) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisors, Carol Mavor and John McAuliffe, for their guidance and support from start to finish of this project. My first encounter with Carol Mavor’s words inspired me to begin this journey. Carol’s curiosity, questions, encouragement, generosity and, most of all, friendship, has sparked my looking, reading, and writing anew. I am grateful for the time we spent together in Copenhagen, in which her, and Kevin Parker’s, warmth enabled me to experience ‘home’ in a new way. John McAuliffe has helped nurture the core of this project with his dedication as a reader, always offering honest and engaged insight, from which I have learned so much. He has been incredibly gracious with his time and presence in helping me bring this work to completion. I am grateful to my third supervisor, Anastasia Valassopoulos, for her careful reading, sharp insight and enthusiasm for both my research and film script; and to Ed Wouk for his constant encouragement towards my work.