{"id":227,"date":"2012-05-07T09:12:10","date_gmt":"2012-05-07T09:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/?p=227"},"modified":"2012-05-07T20:42:39","modified_gmt":"2012-05-07T20:42:39","slug":"the-light-of-muhammad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/the-light-of-muhammad\/","title":{"rendered":"The Light of Muhammad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style>\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-227 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/the-light-of-muhammad\/img_2080\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2080-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/the-light-of-muhammad\/img_2086-3\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2086-3-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/the-light-of-muhammad\/img_2088-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2088-2-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/the-light-of-muhammad\/img_2096\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2096-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/the-light-of-muhammad\/img_2092-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_2092-2-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/2012\/05\/07\/the-light-of-muhammad\/img_2080-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/files\/2012\/05\/IMG_20801-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>For this project, entitled <em>Muhammad\u2019s Light<\/em>, I was inspired by several of Professor Asani\u2019s discussions as well as readings on the prophet Muhammad throughout the course\u2014particularly those in Week 4, including Marie-Rose Seguy\u2019s \u201cThe Miraculous Journey of Mahomet\u201d and Zeren Tanindi and Siyer-i Nebi\u2019s \u201cAn Illustrated Life Cycle of the Life of Muhammad and its Place in Islamic Art.\u201d Specifically, I look at the role of Muhammad as being a guiding force\u2014a light, or noor, for the Islamic community.\u00a0 A mystical concept, \u2018The Light of Muhammad\u2019 suggests that Muhammad, as a reflection of the light of God, created and inspired humanity: \u201cthere has come to you a Light from Allah, and a Manifest Book\u201d (Quran 5:15).<\/p>\n<p>While there are many interpretations of the precise meaning of this phrase\u2014for example, some claim that the Prophet is the light, while others claim that &#8220;By Light He means Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), through whom Allah has illuminated the truth, manifested Islam, and obliterated polytheism; since he is a light for whoever seeks illumination from him, which makes plain the truth&#8221; (Jami&#8217; al-bayan, 6.161)\u2014Muhammad is a guiding force for most Muslims around the world, and the feature which most saliently separates Islam from other religions (that is, the acknowledgement of Muhammad as the last and final prophet sent by God).\u00a0 Every follower of Islam proclaims in the Shahadah, the basic tenet of Islam, that \u201cI testify that there is none worthy of worship except God, and I testify that Muhammad is a Messenger of God.\u201d\u00a0 To his followers, he is the greatest of all prophets and provides guidance toward the pure belief in One God.\u00a0 As such, he is \u201cthe supreme example for all [Muslim] people\u201d and his life provides spiritual direction for the faithful (Seguy, 87).<\/p>\n<p>To create this sense of guidance, or light, that Muhammad emanates, I used a collection of tea candle lights with which I spelled out his name in Arabic.\u00a0 I was careful to do so, however, in a rather abstract fashion\u2014to represent the sometimes ambiguous, infinite ways in which we understand Muhammad and his role in the teachings of everyday Muslim life.\u00a0 To emphasize the role of Muhammad as a personal leader for the spiritual and the various meanings he represents, I took photographs of the candle arrangement from diverse angles.\u00a0 This allows us to remember Muhammad as a core part of the Islamic faith, yet one which we can understand individually depending on the particular \u2018angle\u2019 of Islam that we take.\u00a0 Lit, the flame of the candles is a reminder of the powerful and eternal light of Muhammad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For this project, entitled Muhammad\u2019s Light, I was inspired by several of Professor Asani\u2019s discussions as well as readings on the prophet Muhammad throughout the course\u2014particularly those in Week 4, including Marie-Rose Seguy\u2019s \u201cThe Miraculous Journey of Mahomet\u201d and Zeren Tanindi and Siyer-i Nebi\u2019s \u201cAn Illustrated Life Cycle of the Life of Muhammad and its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4532,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4532"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sabinaceric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}