The Opening Design
‘Surat al-Fatiha’ (The Opening), also known as ‘Ummul Qur’an’ and ‘Ummul Kitab’ meaning the ‘Mother of Qur’an’ and ‘Mother of the Book’ respectively, is the introductory chapter of the Quran. Believed to be the first completed chapter of the Qur’an revealed to the Holy prophet (PBUH), Muslims across the world recite this chapter on a daily basis for prayer. While there are so many things that are interesting about the fatiha, one of my favorite things about it was that in the Quran it is always decorated and adorned in a way that the other chapters of the Quran are not. Ranging from floral patterns to abstract designs and texturing the Fatiha page in the Quran is a consistent trademark of most Qurans. While most Qurans have designs for background of the opening chapter, each one is unique in its own way. Each fatiha design seems to evoke a different reaction and each one represents something different. In lecture we learned that aesthetics is a sign of divinity and most fatiha design certainly inspire a divine feeling. The designs also promote the theme in Islam that God loves beauty. To celebrate the beauty that is in these fatiha designs, I created a collage of different fatiha design pages from Qurans.