A Comparative Study of the Miracles of Ulu-l-Azm Prophets in the Qur'an and Commentary Texts with the Text and Illustrations of the Rouzah al-Safa Manuscript (Volume 1) Preserved in the National Library of France

One of the illustrated historical manuscripts is the book "Rouzah al-Safa fi­ Sirat al-Anbiya wa­al-Muluk wa al-Khilafa". This manuscript contains the history of the world, which was written in Herat by Mirkhand and is in the National Museum of France maintained under the number Persian. 1567. This manuscript was written during the Timurid period and illustrated during the Safavid period. Many consider Rouzah al-Safa as an authentic historical source and parallel to Tabari's history. This book is a historical book in the field of the history of prophets, caliphs and kings, which has received less attention in the field of art than other historical books. Part of the text of this book is dedicated to the story of the miracle of Ulu-l-Azm prophets. Therefore, five paintings on the subject of the miracles of Ulu-l-Azm prophets are depicted in this manuscript. The purpose of this research is to identify the degree of conformity of the paintings of the miracles of Ulu-l-Azm Prophets and the text of the Rouzah al-Safa manuscripts with the narrations of the Qur'an and explanatory texts in order to determine to what extent these painters have remained faithful to the original source of the Qur'an. The main question of the current research is: to what extent do the text and pictures of the miracles of Ulu-l-Azm Prophets in Rouzah al-Safa correspond with the Qur'anic narrations and interpretations? This research looks for their image and content characteristics by descriptive, comparative and analytical method. The study samples and data collection method of this research were done using internet and library sources.

From the results of this study, it can be seen that the main source of writing the book of Rouzah al-Safa is a book with historical, religious and Qur'anic themes. Nevertheless, there are differences and similarities between the narration of the text and the image of this book and the narration of the miracles of Ulu-l-Azm Prophets in the (Shia and Sunni) interpretations and verses of the Qur'an. By matching and comparing the details of the picture with the examined texts, the status of each picture with the texts (Qur'an’s verses, interpretations and the text of Rouzah al-Safa) is determined: the picture of Noah's storm is different from the verses of the Qur'an, interpretations and the text of Rouzah al-Safa. Although Mirkhand cited interpretations in dealing with the event of Noah's storm (the text of the book), the artist did not pay attention to the cases of animals being paired, the drowning of unbelievers, and big waves. In fact, the image does not reflect the key details of this event that are stated in the verses of the Qur'an, interpretations and the text of Rouzah al-Safa. The depiction of the coldness and healing of the fire for Ibrahim has differences with the interpretations and is depicted very close to the text of Rouzah al-Safa; Meanwhile, Mirkhand has written the text of Rouzah al-Safa in explaining the miracle of Ibrahim, close to the interpretations. The picture of the mountain being placed above the heads of the people of Israel is drawn very close to the Shia interpretation and the text of Rouzah al-Safa. In fact, like the text of Rouzah al-Safa, which is about the miracle of Moses, the painter has remained faithful to the narration of the text of the book, which is taken from the Shia commentary texts. The image of resurrecting the dead has been drawn according to the text of Rouzah al-Safa. Of course, this painting has adhered to the Shia narrative to a large extent. As in describing the miracle of resurrecting the dead, Mirkhand has acted very close to the Shia interpretation. The image of heavenly victuals is not drawn in accordance with the verses of the Qur'an, the interpretations and the text of Rouzah al-Safa, and considering that Mirkhand has used interpretations in the text of the book and in expressing this issue. However, the illustration has differences in the visual representation of this issue with the interpretations and text of Rouzah al-Safa. Though Mirkhand was a Sunni, he has used (Shia and Sunni) interpretations, especially Shia interpretation, and the artist has remained more faithful to the text of Rouzah al-Safa and the Shia interpretation in depicting the miracles of Ulu-l-Azm Prophets in the book Rouzah al-Safa. In most of the examined pictures, the author and artist were closer to Shia thoughts. In addition, the illustrations in this manuscript are illustrated and referred to as the miracle of the healing of the blind and sick by Jesus, while according to what will be said in this research, this painting is related to the miracle of resurrecting the dead by Jesus, which has the highest degree of conformity with the text of Rouzah al-Safa and is very close to the Shia interpretation.