Calligrphy project – Ya Allah!
Description of Calligraphic Art
One of the very basic ideas of Islam is that Allah has created the world “It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth.” (2:29) and “And it is He who created the heavens and earth in truth” (6:73) So the mountains, oceans, cloud and sun are there to express this idea they are all God’s creation; They are also ayat from Allah, or signs from God to help us reach him… the idea that God’s beauty is manifested in his creation and Muslims have to appreciate the beauty and elegance with witch God created the world. This is expressed many times in the Qu’ran: “On their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], “Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly” All of this is also مسخر for humans, so that they could worship God correctly and use all these resources to spread the words of god.
Even though humans are surrounded with various signs from Gods, they are often in a continuous search to find the true meaning of life… a purer understanding perhaps! And that is why God = “Noor ala noor”. Allah has illuminated the truth through the Ku’ran and his light guided humans and obliterated polytheism. In the verse of light “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.”
The reason the equal sign is grey is because I don’t think the idea of light is a very concrete or clear one…. The idea of light implies infallibility – which is a very important notion for shi’i muslims and the one of the most important reasons they believe that the prophet’s successor has to be a descendent of the prophet. Many Muslims believe that the light of God is reflecting in the prophet and is reflecting in other prophets … and it is this light that guides muslims to the true path in life. But I felt that there was so much confusion regarding the nature of this light… and the metaphorical use of it that I felt it would make sense to say that God is “like” light… but doesn’t not directly equal it.
In the clouds, there is a jigsaw puzzle… to refer to muslims (and even any humans) continuous questions about the universe… where we came from… how can they worship God the right way… and even questions regarding themselves and their relationship to God… and I feel that from an islamic viewpoint, the answer to all this confusion lies in true yaken and true faith in God… and that is why the word Allah has all these different dots from different colors, to imply that no matter what one’s question is… the answer lies in approaching god and his light.
The word Allah has various dots from many different colors to imply that all the guidance is to be found in god. Everyone one of these dots is an answer to one of the question oen can have about the world. Muslims find truth, comfort and refuge in their God.