Duldul (mule)

The Battle of Nahrawan between Ali and the Kharijites. Ali, mounted on Duldul, is wielding his double-bladed sword, Zulfiqar. A miniature painting from a manuscript of Maktel-i Ali Resul, a mesnevi poem on the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali. Created in Ottoman Turkey, late 16th or early 17th century

Duldul was a mule owned by the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[1][2]

[Duldul was the] name of the white mule of the Prophet, which had been given to him by the Muḳawḳis [q.v.], at the same time as the ass called Yaʿfūr/ʿUfayr. After serving as his mount during his campaigns, she survived him and died at Yanbuʿ so old and toothless that in order to feed her the barley had to be put into her mouth. According to the S̲h̲īʿī tradition, ʿAlī rode upon her at the battle of the Camel and at Ṣiffīn.[3]

She is an Alid symbol in Shia Islam. The first Safavid Emperor, Ismail I, rose to power as the leader of Kizilbash, antinomian Sufi warriors who were fervently Alid. Ismail, a noted poet under the pen name Hatayi, justified his own divine role as leader by variously writing that he himself is Ali's offspring; he is Ali himself; he possesses Zulfiqar, Duldul and ‘Ali’s hat.[4]

See also

• Buraq
• Ya`fūr
• al-Muqawqis
• Zuljanah

References

1. Bashear, Suliman (1991). "Riding Beasts on Divine Missions: An Examination of the Ass and Camel Traditions". Journal of Semitic Studies. XXXVI (1): 37–75. doi:10.1093/jss/XXXVI.1.37.
2. Yardim, Alı; Uzun, Mustafa İsmet (1994). DÜLDÜL- An article published in Turkish Encyclopedia of Islam (in Turkish). Vol. 10. Istanbul: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
3. "Duldul". The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition (12 vols.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1960–2005.
4. Karamustafa, Ahmet T (2016). "In His Own Voice: What Hatayi Tells Us about Şah İsmail's Religious Views". In Amir-Moezzi, Mohammad Ali; De Cillis, Maria; De Smet, Daniel; Mir-Kasimov, Orkhan (eds.). Ésotérisme Shi'ite, Ses Racines Et Ses Prolongements. Paris and London: Bibliothèque De l'École Des Hautes Études and The Institute of Ismaili Studies. pp. 601–611. ISBN 978-2503568744.