Hadiths: Embodiment of Moral Teachings On Kawkabī Tiles of Ali bin Ja far's Tomb in Qom

The philosophy behind human’s existence is verily remembering and worshiping God. Muslims skilful artists have used their talent in introducing the principles of Islamic knowledge by creating a spiritual atmosphere in Islamic society in various forms and themes. For example, the walls of the holy shrine of Ali bin Ja’far in Qom (built in early years of eighth century) has been decorated by eight-pointed stars that have inscriptions in Naskh calligraphy in their margins. The large number and small size of the tiles as well as inscriptions with literary and religious contents in Naskh calligraphy in two- centimeter-margins of the stars has made reading the valuable inscriptions difficult. The inscriptions contain a variety of themes such as Quranic verses, the Prophet’s sayings, and Persian poems. This study aims at investigating the themes of hadiths inscribed on those tiles with an approach of transferring messages of individual, social and legal morality to Muslim society. Besides, slight differences between those hadiths and their sources were investigated. The reasons for using such contents on the walls of that shrine seem to be the importance of their educative effect, compensating the scantiness of textual sources and enough copies available for ordinary people, and creating a spiritual atmosphere.