Iskandar Meets the Angel Israfil and Khizr Finds the Water of Life (painting, recto; text, verso), folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi

In his existential quests and search for the Water of Life, Iskandar went with his men to explore the western regions. Entering the Land of Darkness, the king asked a local leader and mystic, Khizr, to be their guide, but, taking a wrong turn, they became separated from him and had to continue on their own in the gloom. Alone, Khizr found the magical spring, whose waters he bathed in and drank. Meanwhile, Iskandar came to a mountain; at its summit was Israfil, the Angel of Death, holding a trumpet and awaiting God’s orders to blow it. Upon seeing Iskandar, the angel warned him to be less concerned for crown and throne, since the ruler himself would someday hear the trumpet call. The painting depicts three separate occurrences in the story. An enormous Israfil, holding a seven-belled horn, dominates the upper left corner of the composition, dwarfing Iskandar, with whom the angel converses. Behind and below Iskandar, members of his army struggle through the rocky landscape, their torches lighting the winding route; they turn to one another and gesture with their hands, enlivening the composition. In the lower left corner, Khizr and a second man, Ilyas, have found the Water of Life. According to tradition, these two prophets never died; hence they are shown drinking from the spring of immortality while all others seek their way in the dark.