The Hamzanama, or 'Book of Hamza' was commissioned by the great Mughal emperor Akbar in the mid-16th century. The epic story of a character based very loosely on the life of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad chronicles the fantastic adventures of Hamza as he and his band of heroes fight against the enemies of Islam. The stories, from a long-established oral tradition, were written down in Persian, the language of the court, in multiple volumes. These originally had 1400 illustrations, of which fewer than 200 survive today. Work probably began in about 1562 and took 15 years to complete.

This illustration depicts Hamza's spy, Basu, at bottom left, reading a letter he has taken from the body of Namadpush, the enemy he has just beheaded. Donning the dead man's clothes, Basu pretends to be Namadpush and is shown a second time in the same painting, standing outside Acre Castle. The dark blue, starry sky and sleeping shepherds indicate this takes place in the middle of the night.