A Fatimid or Zirid carved marble stele, Tunisia or Egypt, dated 1 Safar 430 (2 November 1038)

inscription

‘In the name of God, The Compassionate, The Merciful.  Blessing of God be upon The Prophet Muhammad and his family and grant [them] salvation.  ‘Say : He is God, The One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him’ (Qur’an, surat al-ikhlas (CXII)).  ‘Say : That is a message supreme (above all) from which ye do turn away’ (Qur’an, surah sad (XXXVIII), 67-8).  This is the tomb of ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali, the bazaar administrator (?), son of Hisham, who died on Monday first of Safar of the year four hundred and thirty (2nd November 1038).  And he bears witness that there is no God, but God, and that Muhammad is The Messenger of God.  And verily Paradise, Hell and Resurrection are truth.  ‘And verily the hour will come.  There can be no doubt about it, or about (the fact) that God will raise up all who are in the grave’ (Qur’an, surat al-hajj, (XXII), 7)’

A similar example, dated A.H. 444 / A.D. 1052 and attributed to Kairouan, is in the Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Oceanie, Paris, inv. MNAA 94.3.2 (Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Oceanie, Paris, 1999, p.20)