{"id":27,"date":"2014-03-19T00:49:16","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T04:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/?p=27"},"modified":"2014-03-19T00:58:50","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T04:58:50","slug":"the-seven-spheres-of-heaven-and-the-colors-of-the-prophets-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/2014\/03\/19\/the-seven-spheres-of-heaven-and-the-colors-of-the-prophets-week-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The seven spheres of Heaven and the colors of the Prophets (Week 6)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This clay tablet is meant to represent the seven levels of heaven, and each of the prophets Muhammad encountered in the respective levels.\u00a0 As even this little piece represents some form of \u201cIslamic art\u201d we will approach its significance as such, through the lens of Prof. Nasr\u2019s appreciation of art, piecing apart the significance of each aspect (and hopefully ignore the context of a unskilled college student trying to produce meaningful art). \u00a0The respective layers are explained as follows:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First sphere<\/strong>: Adam<\/em>\u2014Dusty white: He was the first of the prophets chronologically, made from the dust of the earth, and so, as the first of a line of prophets, he is a dusty reflection of the inner, white circle wherein lies God.\u00a0 The lack of other markings is another mark of his purity or proximity to God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Second sphere<\/strong>: Isa and Yahya (Jesus and John the Baptist)<\/em>\u2014Blue with a cross: Jesus was a healer, and thus, associated with the healing power of water, around which many of his miracles occurred.\u00a0 In addition John the Baptist\u2019s profession centered around water.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Third sphere<\/strong>: Yusuf (Joseph)<\/em>\u2014Purple with ten stars:\u00a0 On account of his nobility of character and ever-praised beauty, his color is purple.\u00a0 The ten stars call to mind one of his earliest dreams, where he foretold that his ten brothers, seen as ten stars in the dream would bow before him.\u00a0 This was later fulfilled when he was second in command in Egypt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fourth sphere<\/strong>: Idris (debatably Enoch)<\/em>\u2014Tan with black markings: \u00a0Comparatively little is said about this prophet, and his correspondence with the Biblical Enoch is still debated, but he supposedly ascended to heaven before his death, as referenced in when the Qur\u2019an says that he was \u201cexalted to a high station\u201d(19, 57).\u00a0 He was exceedingly pure, and devout, and according to Leila Azzam, in \u201cLives of the Prophets,\u201d was \u201cone of the first men to use the pen.\u201d Thus, he is represented by a color that mimicked the pure white of the center, but whose only difference was a shading that made it resemble a skin tone, marking his humanity.\u00a0\u00a0 Along with that, one may make out the faint markings, meant to represent writing for the \u201cprophet of the philosophers.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fifth sphere<\/strong>: Aaron<\/em>\u2014Red with small tablets: \u00a0As he is of the same blood as Moses, though more passionate, he mirrors Moses’ circle to a degree, though, he was father of his own lineage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sixth sphere<\/strong>: Musa (Moses)<\/em>: Grey\/Dark Silver with tablets and five green dots:\u00a0 Here, the color of stone and the golden slabs are meant to bring to mind the tablets containing the commandments, and more abstractly, the law itself. \u00a0As Moses is so closely associated with the law, this only seems fitting.\u00a0 The five green dots are meant to call to mind the famous story where Moses insisted that the Prophet continue to ask God to reduce the required number of daily prayers until the Prophet (represented by green), would not reduce past five daily prayers.\u00a0 The silver, is meant to mark the proximity to the precious center that is God\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Seventh sphere<\/strong>: Ibrahim (Abraham)<\/em>\u2014Gold \u00a0with black Kaaba: The gold here serves the dual purpose of marking the splendor of last stop before God\u2019s residence and the characteristics that come with the Prophet who is its denizen.\u00a0 The later meaning should be conveyed as he was the father of a rich and full tradition, and so close to God, he was willing to sacrifice his own son. The Kaaba is a direct reference to his legacy, and central position in Islam.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Green trimming<\/strong>: Muhammad<\/em>: as the completion of the prophets, is not a normal sphere, but may be seen as the innermost of the prophets, their completion, and the closest of them to God.\u00a0 In reference to his actual ascent, some green may be seen in the innermost circle, as he was the only one to have ever entered this realm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Center<\/strong>: White with God’s name and a tree: The white signifies the absolute purity of this realm, the Name is to prevent any doubt about who\/what the center represents, and the tree references Sidrat al-Muntaha, the tree seen just before or in the actual ascent at this point.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This piece , and its explication, is meant to be reflective of \u00a0Nasr’s interpretation of Islamic art, as it takes the simplicity of spheres,dots, and so forth, and draws forth deep meaning from them as, in this context, they are more representative. \u00a0Drawing on the symbolism of the colors, and the numerology accounting for their number and appearance, these additions are meant to be reminders only. \u00a0They, and the artwork they are embedded within, are meant to be mediators to a Divine ideal, and to point to something beyond themselves. \u00a0Thus, this simplistic piece, which, from a pragmatic point of view, cannot be seen as more than an amalgamation of colorful circles, portrays something far more significant.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For further reading on the significance of color in Islam, see:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.iranicaonline.org\/articles\/color-pers-rang<\/wbr><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
http:\/\/henrycorbinproject.blogspot.com\/2012\/04\/color-symbolism-and-mystic-quest.html<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For some better artwork on the Mi’raj, see below:<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This clay tablet is meant to represent the seven levels of heaven, and each of the prophets Muhammad encountered in the respective levels.\u00a0 As even this little piece represents some form of \u201cIslamic art\u201d we will approach its significance as such, through the lens of Prof. Nasr\u2019s appreciation of art, piecing apart the significance of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}