{"id":25,"date":"2016-03-22T08:26:02","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T08:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/?p=25"},"modified":"2016-05-04T15:47:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T15:47:07","slug":"infidel-of-love-exploring-muslim-understandings-of-islam-chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/2016\/03\/22\/infidel-of-love-exploring-muslim-understandings-of-islam-chapter-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beloved Light: Prophet Muhammad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_3295\" \"IMG_3296\" \"IMG_3297\"<\/p>\n

Reading:\u00a0Infidel of Love: Exploring Muslim Understandings of Islam\u00a0<\/em>Chapter Three<\/p>\n

I decided to \u00a0illustrate in my\u00a0art project the different roles the Prophet Muhammad plays in various Islamic communities. Professor Asani focuses in his book on 4\u00a0ways Muhammad is perceived in Islamic cultures: as a Prophet and messenger from God, as a role model, as an intercessor and finally as God\u2019s beloved.<\/p>\n

First of all, Muhammad is seen as God\u2019s prophet: he plays a key role in defining the boundaries of faith in the Islamic tradition. Indeed, in the profession of faith, the shahadah<\/em>, the first part is inclusive and is common to all monotheist religions (There is no God but God) whereas the second part of the shahadah<\/em>, \u201cmuhammadur rasulu Ilah\u201d (Muhammad is the Messenger of God) is exclusive and thus differentiates Islam from other religions. Muhammad is thus an important marker of Muslims\u2019 identity, as reflected by the shahadah<\/em>. On my project, you can see Muhammad standing at the center of the picture, under a yellow light (symbol of God) and inside with his followers of a circle made of the second sentence \u201cmuhammadur rasulu Ilah\u201d.<\/p>\n

Muhammad is also perceived as God\u2019s messenger. Professor Asani writes that some Muslims consider Muhammad not to be the author of the Qur\u2019an but rather \u201cits transmitter\u201d , like a \u201ctransistor radio\u201d. This idea is reflected in the picture by a line made out of verses of the Qur\u2019an which goes directly from the light at the top (which represent God who possesses the Holy Scriptures) to the Prophet\u2019s ears and then from his mouth to the written Qur\u2019an given to his followers, the Muslims.<\/p>\n

In Chapter three, we can also read that Aisha, one of the Prophet\u2019s wife, described him as being the \u201cWalking Qur\u2019an\u201d. For a lot of Muslims, Muhammad represents a model, \u201cuswa hasana\u201d<\/em>, and example to follow in order to access God and Heaven; he incarnates the right \u201cpath\u201d. For this reason, a lot of Muslims believe in the importance of living as the Prophet did, according to his customs. I tried to represent these ideas by filling the body of the Prophet with verses of the Qur\u2019an (he embodies the sacred text (\u201cwalking Qur\u2019an\u201d). I also draw \u00a0flowing out from his hands Muslim customs such as the salat<\/em>, the musulmani<\/em>\u00a0(act of circumcision\u00a0for boys in South Asia, which means becoming a Muslim) or the Sunnah<\/em> that are presented by Professor Asani as examples of rituals \u201cdetermined by Muhammad\u2019s reported practices\u201d.<\/p>\n

On top of being a role model, Muhammad is also\u00a0a beloved intercessor between God and the rest of the believers (as reflected on the art project). Professor Asani describes that Muslims sometimes perceive Muhammad as both a \u201crevered eleder in the family\u201d, the one to turn to in times of \u201cgrief and difficulty\u201d, and a prophet with the \u201cability to seek God\u2019s mercy\u201d for their sins. Thus, it is also a common custom for pious Muslims to pray for \u201cGod\u2019s blessing upon Muhammad\u201d by reciting the \u201ctasliya\u201d (prayer for the Prophet).<\/p>\n

Finally, Muhammad became with time a mystic and was hold by Muslims as God\u2019s beloved. For instance, Professor Asani talks about the association of Muhammad to a \u201cform of light mysticism\u201d, supported by the Light verse from which derives the idea of \u201cNur Muhammad\u201d (the Muhammadan\/Shining Light), of a Prophetic and Divine Light which was passed down from prophet to prophet since Adam up to Muhammad in who it found its ultimate completion. On the project, I decided to represent this Prophetic Light by a rope linking \u00a0him to the the Lamp which then became one of the Prophet\u2019s symbols.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading:\u00a0Infidel of Love: Exploring Muslim Understandings of Islam\u00a0Chapter Three I decided to \u00a0illustrate in my\u00a0art project the different roles the Prophet Muhammad plays in various Islamic communities. Professor Asani focuses in his book on 4\u00a0ways Muhammad is perceived in Islamic cultures: as a Prophet and messenger from God, as a role model, as an intercessor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7970,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7970"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/aesthcamille\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}