Shi' ite Protective Prayer Cloth, Afghanistan

Shi'ite protective prayer cloth from Afghanistan, late 20th century. Shi'ite protective prayer cloth from Afghanistan, late 20th century. Courtesy Textile Research Centre, Leiden, TRC 2007.1132.

The Textile Research Centre in Leiden has a protective prayer cloth from Afghanistan (TRC 2007.1132). It measures 29.5 x 29 cm. It is made of cotton with silk thread embroidery. The techniques used are satin stitch and double running stitch. 

Such prayer cloths (dastmal-i mohr in Persian) are used by Shi'ite muslims to protect the turbah (also called mohr) clay tablet, which they use when praying. It probably belonged to the (Shi'ite) Hazara population of the country. They often have a white space or a rectangle in the centre for putting the tablet when praying.

This prayer cloth may be compared to another example, housed in the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin.

See also the TRC online exhibition Dressing the Stans: Textiles, Dress and Jewellery from Central Asia (TRC, Leiden, 2017) and Gillian Vogelsng and Willem Vogelsang, Encyclopedia of Embroidery from Central Asia, the Iranian Plateau and the Indian Subcontinent. 2021. London: Bloomsbury Publishers, pp. 209-210.

TRC online catalogue (retrieved 17 May 2021).

WV

Last modified on Monday, 17 May 2021 15:01
Published in Religious vestments and other textiles
More in this category: « Gold Embroidered Mitre Reliquary of St. Florian »
back to top