The story of the prophet Zakariya (a conflation of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and the Old Testament prophet Zachariah), who according to Muslim legend died a martyr's death. Escaping his pursuers by hiding in a tree that miraculously opened to admit him, Zakariya was betrayed by Iblis, the devil, who pointed out the hem of the prophet's cloak protruding from the trunk. The devil's forces sawed the tree apart and with it Zakariya, whose saintly aura is shown as flames bursting among the leaves.
Year: 1550-1560
From: from a dispersed copy of the Falnama (Book of Omens)
Location: Worcester Art Museum
External link: worcester.emuseum.com
Edited by: Chiara Petrolini
Related Documents:
Martyrdom of Zakariya (XVI)
from: ishâq nishâbûrî, qisas-i qur'ân. [Qazvin, Iran]
Paris, BnF, Persan 54, fol. 144v
The Martyrdom of Zakarîyâ (Zacharias), the father of John the Baptist, who is killed when the tree in which he is hiding is sawn in two (c. 1580)
from: Nīsābūrī, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Manṣūr, Qisas al-Anbiyâ [Qazvin?]
The New York Public Library, Spencer Coll. Persian MS. 46, fol. 144
Ibrâhîm [Abraham] holding a knife is about to sacrifice his son Ismâ'îl (Ishmael) who kneels before him (1580)
from: Qisas al-Anbiyâ [Qazvin?]
The New York Public Library, Spencer Coll. Persian MS. 46
Zacharias sawn in half in a tree (1570-1580)
from: Qazwin, Iran
Dallas Museum of Art (Keir Collection), Dallas K.1.2014.1166 (III.278) folio: 231r
The Sacrifice of Isaac [1581]
from: Ishâq al-Nishâpûrî, Histoire du Coran ou Histoires des prophètes et des rois du passé. Qesas al-anbiyâ [Persan 54, fol. 32v]
Paris, BnF, ms Persan 54 fol. 32v