Ramadan

By Saeed Kargar

During the blessed month of Ramadan, Muslims all over the world abstain from all food, drink, and other physical needs during the daylight hours (such as smoking or sex). Ramadan is much more than just not eating and drinking; it is a time to purify the soul, refocus attention on God, and practice self-discipline and sacrifice.

Fasting during the month of Ramadan is considered one of the 5 Pillars of Islam-- five activities that shape a Muslim's life. Prayer occurs on a daily basis; pilgrimage is done once in a lifetime; charity and professing one's faith are both ongoing. Fasting the month of Ramadan is an annual observance; every year, Muslims take an entire month out of their lives to observe this strict fast and rededicate themselves to worship and faith.

Muslims are called upon to use this month to re-evaluate their lives in light of Islamic guidance.

And how Ramandan is related to peace?

We are to make peace with those who have wronged us, strengthen ties with family and friends, do away with bad habits -- essentially to clean up our lives, our thoughts, and our feelings. The Arabic word for "fasting" (sawm literally means "to refrain" - and it means not only refraining from food and drink, but from evil actions, thoughts, and words.

The physical effects of the fast are felt by Muslims as a reminder of those who suffer throughout the year -- those who are poor, homeless, refugees -- and who cannot meet their basic needs. It reminds Muslims not to be wasteful and to feel empathy for those who face hunger on a daily basis. We should feel gratitude for the bounties of Allah: clean water, sufficient healthy food, comfort of a home, health of our family members. There are so many in the world who must survive without these basic needs, and Ramadan is a time for us to give thanks and reaffirm our commitment to helping those in need.

سَلَامٌ قَوْلًا مِن رَّبٍّ رَّحِيمٍ

By Nouran Abdelrahman

سَلَامٌ قَوْلًا مِن رَّبٍّ رَّحِيمٍ “Peace, a word from a Merciful Lord”, one of the most soothing and harmonious phrases in the Quran. It has no intention but to transmit the main message of Islam: Peace and Love. And when I read this verse the first thing that came into my head was enlightenment, light, white, and pure.

Through the thought of these words, an image of what could express these beautiful terms within Islamic context appeared. The product of this image was a combination of ‘Islamic architecture’ features, and lighting effects. One of the most prominent contemporary artists, who influenced this art project, and also used lighting, was Julien Breton. Julien Breton is known for creating marvelous art pieces through a mix of light, photography, choreography and calligraphy. Breton, even though influenced by the Islamic calligraphy, implemented this technique to produce latin phrases. Similarly, I have decided to approach this art piece the same way. It was a mix of arabesque pattern, lighting adjustment, and mashrabiyya effect.

First, I drew the pattern and the verse digitally so that it would be later on cut. Second, after it was cut and stuck, I created a small raised platform in order to insert the light source properly. Third, the cube was mounted on the platform, and a black background was at the back that reflects the light, which is an image of the patterns. The room in which the pictures in was darkened in order to get the maximum amount of light and dark contrast.

  

The end result of this project displayed my portrayal of the Islam and peace symbolism. I chose the shape of the cube, because it is pure and clean. It also represents the most important worship place for Muslims, the Kaaba. The arabesque pattern played a great role in the light reflection. This penetration of light to the blunt and eminent darkness of humanity (outside) is saved by the pure and beautiful light if Islam. The verse also glimmers through dark and enlightens the hearts and paths of those who need to be guided through god’s path. The verse is a tranquil message that shows how beautiful, peaceful and artistic Islam is.

The purpose of this art production is mainly to spread and elaborate on a message that has been on and on repeated. Islam is neither terrorizing nor discriminating, in fact, no religion is. However, this false consensus that Islam is no peace religion has been reemphasized by the Western world. No religion is ever harmful; in fact, it’s a way to guide you to peace, love, respect and, of course, life. Hence, those who harm in the name of religion do not belong to it.  As a person that experienced multicultural societies throughout the years, people are not virtuous from their religion but because of whom they are.

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My name is Nouran Yehia, and I am Egyptian. I am a third year architecture student and currently 19 of age. I have lived in Dubai for nearly 16 years, and I absolutely love it.

References:

·         "Julien Breton – Kaalam | Art of Calligraphy Calligraphie, Light Painting, Calligraphe, Graff, Graffiti, Performance, Live." Julien Breton – Kaalam | Art of Calligraphy Calligraphie, Light Painting, Calligraphe, Graff, Graffiti, Performance, Live. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.

·         "Stunning Arabic Light Calligraphy by Julien Breton." Colossal. N.p., 23 July 2015. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

In the eyes of Muslims

By Ghazal Salah

Biography

My name is Ghazal Salah, majoring in Journalism at the American University in Dubai. I love art because I can get the chance to share ideas and information through it. Furthermore, I love art because it is a universal language and there is no barrier when it comes to it.

The description

The title of my project is “In The Eyes of Muslims”.  It is an eye that has the 99 names of God in order to show how God is seen by Muslims as Ghafoor, Raheem, Kareem, Al Salam, Al Mumin, and many other names that reflect God’s traits. I drew it on a PowerPoint and printed it on a big poster. I made sure that the names look like a whirlpool and the eye is three dimensional. Furthermore, I chose the words to be in green since it symbolizes safety and paradise, and the word Allah in red since it symbolizes love.

The message:

Zain Bhikha once said:

Give thanks to Allah,

For the moon and the stars

Praise Him all day

For what is and what was.

Take hold of your Eeman

Don't give in to Shaitan

O you who believe please give thanks to Allah.

Allah is Ghafoor,

Allah is Raheem,

Allah is the one who loves the Mohsineen,

He is a creator,

He is a sustainer,

and He is the one who has power over all.

 

The 99 names of God show and prove that Islam is not the way it is perceived as a religion of terrorism. However, when people look deeply at the meaning of each and every name, he or she will realize that it is a religion of peace. All names come together to form one meaning that is the core of Islam is peace. Moreover, the root of the word Islam means peace.  The world has come to a time where Muslims are the first suspected to cause terrorist acts, and this has converged the thoughts of communities towards despising Muslims and having the desire to band them from living in their own society. These societies are missing the bigger picture and are not familiar with the true meaning of Islam. From these names we can understand Islam more. Islam teaches us to forgive each other, to be generous, to help each other, to be merciful, and many other lessons. Islam aims to build a society full of peace, serenity, justice, and friendship.

When we think deeply of the each and every meaning of the 99 names of Allah, we find that there is no one name that stands for force and violence. Rahman and Rahim are the first two names of Allah that are compassionate and merciful. These two primary names of Allah specifically deal with Mercy. These two names frequently occur together in the Qur’an. Furthermore, they signify a flood of mercy that covers us and that is endless. They are both derived from the same root word rahmah which means mercy and also has elements of sympathy, kindness, gentleness, compassion and love intertwined with it. The mercy we see in this world which Allah has put among His Creation is just a hundredth of all His Mercy. Therefore, Allah manifests these qualities to the most perfect level with His Creation.

Some other Names of Allah that are related to His Mercy are Al-Karim (the Generous), Al-Halim (the Forbearing), Al-Barr (the Generous), Al-Jawwad (the Bestower of Good), Al-Rauf (the Kind) and Al-Wahhab (the Bestower). Examples of mercy that we see in His creation includes the love a mother has for her child (or love towards each other), the eyes with which we are able to see, the food which we are provided to consume, the generosity and kindness we show to others.

The artist who influenced me

I was influenced by a Libyan student at the American University in Dubai, Mowada Arifi. Her painting had a sentence which is “Allah Kareem yohebo al karam”. Her message was to show God’s trait which is generosity, and to show that generosity and Islam lead to peace. As for my artwork, I did not want to specify one trait. Therefore, I included the 99 names of God that reflect his traits.

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References

http://www.justmuslim.org/articles/5-pillars/75-the-names-and-attributes-of-allah

http://peaceartdubai.blogspot.ae

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/z/zain+bhikha/give+thanks+to+allah_20756525.html

http://www.whyislam.org/god/names-and-attributes-of-allah/

Al Salam

By Jessica Khawam  

  "He who desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he/she will be among the losers." (Quran 3:85). As described in this quote Islam is a religion in which he/she has to believe in Allah or else they will be among the losers. Now a day a lot of people worldwide think that all Arabs and especially Muslims have a confusing opinion about how the Arabs have violence in them and have no peace against each other. But the word Islam means the religion of the Muslims, and “Submission” to Allah and his will. It comes from the word “Salam” meaning peace and purity. The word Islam teaches us that in order to achieve the truth and peace of mind, we must submit to Allah and live according to his Delightfully revealed law. In the Quran, Allah defines that “the only purpose for which he created mankind was to worship him”. Islam is a religion with different backgrounds morals, beliefs, respect and agreement as well as “is a religious system that begun in the 7^th century by Muhammad. Muslims follow the teachings of the Qur’an and strive to keep the 5 pillars”. Some People Refer to Islam as just a religion for Arabs and not more but by looking at the amount of converts in every corner of the world especially in England and States, one can clearly see that Muslims come from many various races, groups and nationalities. Islam is known to be the quickest rising religion in the whole planet. It was a religion that came from Allah that people back then and today have to follow and respect. Also as shown in some of the researches that actually “more than 80% of Muslims are not Arabs”. It is proven that anyone who prays the 5 prayers of Islam and Worships Allah is known to be a Muslim.

       The word Salam means peace but also used as a general greeting above all in Arabian countries, by Muslims, and used in other countries as well. “As-Salaam-Alaikum,” the Arabic greeting meaning "Peace be unto you," it was a routinely greeting used by everyone whenever and wherever Muslims or might say Arabs gather and interact with one another. As well as they used the reply for “Salaam-Alaikum” which was “Wa-Alaikum-Salaam,” meaning “And unto you peace,” The reason this word was chosen by me was because it was one of the 99 words that Allah listed and because it also brings peace to a person.  It is a very simply word but yet very meaningful to one another it’s the word that really if a person thinks of it, it’s the only word that represents what all religions are truly about and what brings all of us together today. This word really means a lot to me “PEACE” when thinking about it, we need peace in life we are all equal, Peace stands for happiness, things we have to cherish as well as opportunities that people would want rather than judging one another because of their religion or even society. In this life we need everyone to have peace with one another in order for people to understand each other and that’s how the stereotype of every person would come to an end and everyone would live the happiness the way they want to.

         My artwork is a base of design which was created by four equal white squares, then a carved laser cut into a calligraphic shape, in addition the edges was shaped into a puzzle  to have an easy fit and better stability, then I used Two extra plain wood which was bought and cut the same equal size of the box. I drew on the first plain wood the word Al-Salam then I marked the word with the blade. After that I kept carving the blade through the path while applying more pressure till I reached the bottom of the wood. Since the wood had no color on I had to spray paint the wood with white color. As for the second plain of wood I had to make a whole for the lamp, so I drew a circle in the center of the wood, after I was done I spray painted the wood with white color to match the whole project. I connected the lamp by attaching the ending with a plug and got a base for the lamp to be stable at the center of the box. I finally attached the lamp from the back of the box with four nails each one on every edge, and the word Al-Salam was inverted and also attached by four nails in front of the box. When you turn on the light, the word Al-Salam will be shown on the wall with the calligraphic design shown, the reason why I chose the white color is because it is the color of peace and purity as well as I chose the yellow lamp to give the design a strong and rich look, it also gives a natural look like the sunlight. The idea of this project is because I thought of it that each specific part of this lamp represents or symbolizes something very specific the light box symbolizes the Kaaba, which is a cubic building at the center of Islam’s most sacred mosque, Al Masjid al Haram in Mecca, considered as the “House of Allah”, The yellow light that is chose represent joy and happiness. And last but not least the Engraved Calligraphy represents all the Islamic cultures as well as countries.

The Tree of Life

Ishita Bansal

I’m currently studying in American University in Dubai, majoring in Management. MEST is a part of my course requirement. I take personal interest in exploring different religions especially Islam since its been more than 2 years of me living in Dubai. In these years I have change a lot of misconceptions about Islam and Muslims community, which inspired me to learn more about it in college. 

Our workshop about Arabesque was something that quite interested me. After the workshop I did few research on Arabesque. Author, Marina Alin inspired me to study more about biomorphic pattern. The author has wide knowledge about this type of art style in relation to the Islamic civilization. In her piece of work on Islamic art and architecture website, she provides extensive information about Arabesques, its history and art works made in the history. Amongst the 16 art works she talked about Tree of life was something I could relate to todays world and Islamic civilization very well.   

Wooden carving is the medium used in the making of Tree of life. Style used is biomorphic patterns, focusing on Arabesque. There are three major Arabesque styles used in the Islamic world, but the one used in this art piece is the ‘Tree of Life.’ This symbolizes connection between paradise and earth. I will be deconstructing this artwork by painting it golden and silver symbolizing, power and wealth. Black color will be chipping off in the background symbolizing death. I will be sticking cut outs of the pattern made on the art work on a hollow coconut. That hollow coconut is symbolizing the destruction done to planet earth through human activities.  The stereotype in the Islamic civilization, that praying 5 times a day and going to mosque will get a person closer to paradise. This stereotype came into my attention when I read, “Your position in paradise is determined by the amount of quran you memorize in this life!” by Aboo Daawood. 

In my opinion ones action will be determined if they are getting closer to paradise or not. The piece of work, which I choose, is depicting the living of nomads where animals and plants were the most crucial for survival. But in today’s world people are destroying this environmentally through their activities and by being materialistic. The new artwork, which I am constructing, is actually depicting the living of today.  The stereotype that I’m trying to break is that being religious doesn’t make you closer to paradise rather your actions do. Islam is world’s most growing religion in the world but this does not mean that the world is getting better or people are getting closer to paradise. Rather people are being more selfish and greedy for power and wealth. This has caused the tree of life to shrink and people moving towards a deceptive direction in life.