Image of fainted Bayād

Bayāḍ, son of a rich merchant from Damascus, and Riyāḍ, favorite slave of the ḥāŷib (secretary of the caliph), fall in love with each other. The «Ḥadīṯ Bayāḍ wa-Riyāḍ» manuscript tells, in rhymed prose, the love story of these young people. The ḥājib's daughter imprisoned Riyāḍ to separate her from Bayāḍ. The young man suffers from lovesickness and, as shown in the chosen image, lies dejected next to the river. The end of the story is unknown because the last pages of the manuscript are missing.
Love is one of the favorite themes in medieval Arabic literature. Illustrated with 14 miniatures, in which gardens and water occupy a prominent place. During the 13th century the publication of illuminated manuscripts proliferated. The main industry supplying the paper necessary for its production was in the city of Xátiva.

The chosen image shows Bayāḍ who, appearing dead, on his back, with one hand and part of his turban stuck in the water, lies dejected next to the river. The excellent drawing of a water wheel stands out, in the center of which the Córdoba caliphal star stands out and it has 16 “buckets” or arks to remove water from the river. Although the story could evoke others whose origin centers around the Tigris River, the architecture of the turrets and the Andalusian atmosphere allow it to be placed in Seville in the Almohad period.

Brought from Syria by the Umayyads, according to the Andalusian writer al-Saqundi (Secunda, Córdoba,? -Seville, 1231 or 1232), five thousand norias were counted on the banks of the Guadalquivir and, referring to Granada, he said that "they were distinguished due to the peculiarity of its river, which flows through its houses, baths, mills and gardens.” Professor Bosque Maurel, in Urban Geography of Granada, maintains that “in Granada, Muslim domination created the first drinking water supply network, for entire centuries without equal anywhere in the world.”

The Generalife, an almunia built between the 12th and 14th centuries next to the walled enclosure of the Alhambra, was the resting place of the sultans of the Kingdom of Granada. Their orchards - "Colorada", "Grande", "Fuente Peña" and "Mercería" - had abundant water for irrigation. The conduction of water to the highest area of ​​the farm required a diversion of water from the Acequia Real that irrigated the orchards, building an underground gallery perpendicular to it, a very deep well and a waterwheel that poured the water into a large pool. the Ladies' Albercón. Because it was extracted using a “blood” waterwheel, some eyes could say that the color of that water could be blood red and, others, intoxicated with love, would compare it to the red passion nuanced by the musicality of its buckets. Be that as it may, the color of this water is also Alhambra.