The Footprint of the Prophet at the Gate to Mecca: Mediating Empire, Pilgrimage, and Prophetic Piety in Mughal Gujarat

Abstract

This article unpacks the connections between empire, piety, and pilgrimage in the early modern western Indian Ocean world by examining the history of a reliquary shrine dedicated to a qadam, or footprint relic of the Prophet Muḥammad located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Classified by the Archeological Survey of India as the ‘Tomb of Mir Abu Turab’ (ASI Monument no. N-GJ-44), the site was a qadamgāh in the Mughal period and from the late-sixteenth to the early-eighteenth centuries functioned as a place of visitation (mazār) for pilgrims eager to see the naqsh-i qadam-i sharīf (the impression of the noble foot), whose white appearance stood in stark contrast against the black stone. By examining Persian historical narratives, including one authored by the man responsible for the relic’s arrival to South Asia, this article demonstrates how relics mediated Mughal imperium, devotion to the Prophet Muḥammad, and sayyid identity in early modern Gujarat.