Franciscan reflects on Spirituality of the Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal. Photo by Koushik Chowdavarapu on Unsplash

Professor Michael Calabria OFM unveiled the spiritual dimension of the Taj Mahal by reading the monument as a 'holy text' in a webinar organized by Islamic Studies Association on 8 January 2024. He told listeners that Taj Mahal is not only a monument of love but also a spiritual testament of Emperor Shah Jahan, an elegant expression of his Islamic faith that he approached sincerely but lived out imperfectly. Taj Mahal, he emphasized, is a spiritual text that awakens human conscience, and teaches that obedience of God cannot exclude care for the poor.

Fr Michael is a Franciscan, serving the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies as its director at St Bonaventure University, NY, USA. He holds a Ph D in Islamic Studies from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, UK. He speaks widely on various aspects of Islam and Islamic culture including the Qur'an, Islamic spirituality, art and architecture, and Christian-Muslim relations.

Calabria studied the Qur'anic inscriptions carefully and closely and published his findings in a book titled: The Language of the Taj Mahal - Islam, Prayer and the Religion of Shah Jahan ( IB Tauris, 2021). He shared the fruits of his research as presented in the book at the webinar. He informed the listeners that Shah Jahan chose 14 complete chapters from the Holy Qur'an (249 verses) for calligraphic inscription on the monument. His aide Amanat Khan decorated the monument with those verses selected by the emperor in exquisite calligraphy and made the Taj one of the most beautiful Muslim monuments.

The Davwaza-i-rauza, the gateway to the Garden where the Taj stands majestically, invites the visitor to pause and prepare to enter garden complex. On the gateway the verses from the chapter of al-Fajr ('the Daybreak') is inscribed. The verses of Al-Fajr are intriguing, multivalent, and rich in theological and spiritual meaning. The name of the chapter reminds the visitor of the start of a new day (a new life symbolically) following the long dark night of fear and struggles.

The entire Taj Complex is marked by this 'rising and setting' of human lives that come from God and return to God. While being pilgrims in this world, God speaks to the hearers (through the verses of al-Fajr) and reminds them 'care for the poor and needy' make their spirituality authentic.

Within the Taj Mahal, the context for this reminder from the Almighty is the time of Emperor Shah Jahan whose reign faced terrible famine in which millions perished. Shah Jahan fed the hungry people with great generosity.

This reminder continue to be relevant even today. It is said 16.3% of Indians are undernourished and India ranks 107 out of 121 nations in the global hunger index. Though India has registered impressive economic growth in recent decades it fares poorly on UN human development indices (cf. Global Hunger Index). One is reminded of what the Bible says with regard to the care for the poor: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead (James 2:14-17).

The 'gate' appeals to us 'not to forget the poor'. Recently Pope Francis in a letter to a major archbishop in India wrote: "I urge you especially to remember the poor, and those in most need".

Those who obey God have nothing to fear as God assures that he brings the dead back to life. (Q. 36. 12) and welcomes the worthy ones to 'enter paradise' (Q. 36. 26). Who are the 'worthy ones'? Those who cared for the poor are worthy people who would enter the garden of eternal life. The Qur'an accuses those who turned their face away from the poor as ungrateful people and they are unworthy of entering into the paradise. Ingratitude is giving devotion to someone else not to God and to his commands. Similarly, in the Bible we read about the final judgment. The King says:

Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Then, Calabria drew the attention of the listeners to the inscriptions on the central dome of the mausoleum. Shah Jahan chose three chapters (nos. 67, 48 and 36) that proclaim the sovereignty of God. God has power over everything. The Qur'anic verse on the cenotaph reminds the visitor that God forgives our sins. We must be humble and seek his forgiveness. The cenotaph indicates that the bodies of the queen and the emperor were interred in the floor below. The queen's cenotaph reminds the visitor all must one day rest in the great silence of the grave where we wait in patience for God's mercy who forgives our sins and gives us everlasting life.

When the visitor comes gets out of the monument in the gate way through the verses from chapters 93 and 95 the visitor is once again reminded of the dawn of his/her life with a warning do not turn your face away from the poor (Tobit 4. 8).

Michael Calabria's presentation on Taj Mahal beautifully highlighted spiritual and religious significance of the monument for the emperor Shah Jahan but also for a devout visitor who has time to dwell deep into the meaning of the life and to develop sincere solidarity with the poor. Taj Mahal while as a monument of love enrapture the heart as a holy text it invites the visitor for a personal examination of conscience reminding them 'not to forget the poor' while being a pilgrim in this world preparing oneself to stand before God. With awareness for greater solidarity with the poor one enters into the garden where the Taj Mahal stands.