Futuh al-Haramayn (Description of the Holy Cities). Author: Muhi al-Din Lari. Dimensions: 9 7/16 x 6 1/2 in. (24 x 16.5 cm). Date: 16th century.The Futuh al-Haramayn explains the rituals of the pilgrimage (hajj) all Muslims must complete once during their lifetime and describes the holy sites they can visit in the cities of Mecca and Medina. The text was written by Muhi al-Din Lari, completed in India in 1505-6, and copied many times afterward with a standard set of illustrations--bird's-eye views of the monuments and sites with labels for the reader. Most known copies were made in Mecca during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the book was also popular in Turkey and India. This is the first copy thought to have been made in Bukhara.All copies of the Futuh al-Haramayn include a painting of the Kaaba, the monument at Mecca to which all Muslims pray, shown here as the black-shrouded rectangular structure at the center of the domed arcade representing the sacred enclosure cal