Title: “Funeral Procession”, folio 35r from Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds) 

Calligrapher: Sultan ‘Ali al-Mashhadi

Author: Farid al-Dinn ` Attar 

Date: approximately 1487 CE

Medium: Opaque watercolor with silver and gold on paper 

Credit Line: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 63.210.35

This manuscript folio depicts what a funeral procession looks like in Islamic culture. It shows the preparation of the burial site as well as the coffin being transported to the site. This illustration is associated with a story presented through a bird’s perspective on the fear of what death would look like. According to the story, the son is grieving the death of his father and the Sufi soothes his grief in front of the coffin. He explains to him that his father experienced more pain on this earth and that no one can avoid death. This folio shows how death is interpreted in the Islamic community by showing how it was handled in their culture.