The Relationship between Veiling the Prophet's Face in Iranian Painting of Safavid Era and Hurufism Beliefs

The Safavid era in Iran's history of the Islamic period is of paramount importance in terms of socio-political and religious developments. By investigating the artworks of this era, this importance is doubled, especially because a "visual revolution" occurred with regard to the importance of religious paintings and the Prophet's illustration i.e., covering his face with a white cloth for the first time. Researchers have focused more on the theological and jurisprudential influences in this visual revolution, and the influence of some schools of thought has not been paid attention to. Can the intellectual ideas of Hurufism be considered effective and related to this visual revolution? Hurufism, which was founded by Fazlollah Estrabadi (740-796 A.H.) in the 8th century and continued to exist until the reign of Shah Abbas, had a special reverence for the letters of the alphabet. They believed that divine names and attributes are manifested in the form of letters on the human face. Their guidelines can be seen in the poems of Shah Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid dynasty. Considering the importance of the face in the thought of Hurufism and its relationship with divine names and attributes, especially the Prophet (S) as the manifestation of divine attributes, it seems that there is an effective connection between their thought and covering the Prophet's (S) face in the paintings of the Safavid period. Therefore, in this research, the connection between the thoughts of Hurufism and covering the Prophet's (S) face in the paintings of the schools of Tabriz, Qazvin, and Mashhad has been investigated using a descriptive-analytical method. There are definitely other reasons that played a role in this type of illustration, which are not discussed in this article.