By Mariam Ghanawi

The idea is to represent the reality of how some Muslim people represent their religion in a aggressive way. Although the base of Islam  is to treat people not depending on the religion they practice but depending on their personality. The idea of Islam and other religions is  how to behave as a human, The aim of religion is to have  rules in order to apply justice for people to reach peace, but people unfortunately think that whoever oppose their beliefs is an enemy.

People don’t understand that diversity is what makes the world a better place.  God is the most Merciful. God encourages people to be understandable, humble, and  respectful.

The Religion of Peace

By Hind Janahi

“Indeed, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to others; and giving like kindred; and forbids indecency, and manifest evil, and wrongful transgression. He admonished you that you may take heed.” (Al Quran 16:91)

            Islam and peace meet in the provision of serenity and tranquility, it is not surprising that the word Islam is the same “islam" and “al-salam" letters gathered , and it reflects the proportionality principle and the curriculum God has made “greeting" a Muslim ,so a Muslim should not speak with another before the start of the “salam” where he said Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, « al-salam before the speech ».

            Islam is mostly viewed as hostile. When I searched for “Islam is a peaceful religion” the first thing that popped up was “No, Muslims are savages”. It upsets me how much people view Muslims as terrorists. Islam means peace,  the  holy Qur'an teaches that too. There is no doubt that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, came with peace and mercy for mankind and saved them and removed them from darkness to light, so that people are all up to the highest levels of human morality in all their dealings in life. 

            The idea of islam is formed of ​​peace and safety and established to become the idea of ​​authentic and deep, covering all aspects, both in the universe and man and nature and so on, so that meets the doctrine and laws of Islam. Peace is an integral part of Islam and entrench this act be in the form of behavior and not verbal only. 2:190. “Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah love not transgressors.” War is only permissible in self-defense, and under well-defined limits. When

undertaken, it must be pushed with vigor, but not relentlessly, but only to restore peace and freedom for the worship of God. In any case strict limits must not be transgressed: women, children, old and infirm men should not be molested, nor trees and crops cut down, nor peace withheld when the enemy comes to terms.

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My name is Hind Janahi. I’m a business student studying in the American University in Dubai. My parents raised me to stick to my religion no matter how much the world is changing around us. I love photography. I love capturing beautiful moments. I went to Makkah a week ago and it was packed. I was amazed by how many people were there. I’ve been to Makkah a lot of times but this time it was super crowded.

Drawing with Peace

By Hamad Saleh

My name is Hamad Saleh, I am half Emirati and half Iranian. I am a student in the American University in Dubai and study Digital production and storytelling. My interest in art is usually observing and appreciating the beauty of it. However, I am not capable of making art although I appreciate the hard work put into it.

For my artwork, although I did not have any good experience with drawing, I decided at first that I wanted to draw it in the traditional way because I wanted to experience the ways that people used to draw calligraphy with, but due to many failed attempts, it was very hard to make it look organized and well proportioned. However, at some point I realized that if I added some modernity into it, it would be easier for a beginner.

I used an IPad and a drawing application to draw the calligraphy, I want to show people that even though calligraphers usually draw with paper and pen, there is no harm in trying the modern method to draw calligraphy, because it can help us learn doing it in an easier way.

            The process of doing this calligraphy was very long and hard, I had to draw it at first and it was really messy so I had to repeat it several times until I got the form that I want, but in the end I managed to get the proper form and spent hours on just defining it properly. However, during the whole process of this, including the messing up part, was all very peaceful for me because while drawing it, I found it to be very peaceful because it felt like I was taking a journey with myself, the journey made me feel so relaxed and stress-free, I felt a huge inner peace in which I did not even realize that I spent at least 3-5 hours in just drawing it now.

He is with you wherever you are

By Basant Khairallah

The title for my artwork is “He is with you wherever you are” and I have it printed on an A3, and I used AutoCAD to trace the writing of calligraphy and added a photo that I took of the Sheikh Zayed mosque as the background and using Photoshop I put them together.

The statement I used is related to hope and how it gives a person a peace of mind knowing that no matter what there is someone looking out for them. I used calligraphy writing to relate it to Islam and the main aim of Islam is peace. I used the mosque in the background as well to portray peace. And the image was taken by and I tried capturing the ambiance of peace.

The person that inspired the concept behind my work is calligraphist El SEED. He is a French-Tunisian street artist whose works incorporate traditional Arabic calligraphy. His art was born on the streets of Paris, and now adorns walls across every continent. Incorporating elements of both the graffiti and Arabic calligraphic traditions, EL Seed is known for his unique style of calligraphy, which uses intricate composition to call not only on the words and their meaning, but also on their movement, to lure the viewer into a different state of mind. His work gives people hope and he does a lot of awareness project. In his new project ‘perception’ which he did in the neighborhood of Manshiyat Nasr In Cairo, the community of Zaraeeb Collects the trash of the city for decades and it developed the most efficient and highly profitable recycling system on a global level Still, the place is perceived as dirty, marginalized and segregated.  With the help of his team he managed to bring light to the place by bringing light on this community the peace that he worked on he uses the words of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, a Coptic Bishop from the 3rd century, that said: ‘Anyone who wants to see the sunlight clearly needs to wipe his eye first.

I am an Arab girl born in the UAE but Egyptian by blood I study interior design at the American university in Dubai, I always had an interest in calligraphy.

Bismillah Al Rahman al Rahim

By Abdulaziz Al Noori

Kufic style calligraphy

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

This is the phrase recited before each Qur'anic Sura. It is used by Muslims in various contexts such as during daily prayers. When I think of Islam and peace, this is what comes to my mind.

Peace and Islam: a tale of a digital artwork

By HAGAR AHMED

For the final project I am working on two things. First thing is a part of a verse from the Qur'an  , it talks about how people come from different places and ethnic identities and the purpose is for them to meet. Wherever you come from, it does not really matter, in the end we are all the same and we all can be together despite any difference. For example, if I came from Egypt and another person came from Iraq, we can easily interact peacefully and have a friendship or work together. My interpretation of the verse is the following: Allah is telling us 'I made you this way to connect with others'.

         

I am going to use a program while writing this verse - Adobe Illustrator. I had to learn how to use it for the purpose of this project and I found it interesting, and I like that I gained a new skill out of the project. Using this program to write the verse in Kufi works with a grid page and filling every square, is similar to what we have done in class while using a paper grid.  

The second thing I am going to work on is the calligraphy design. I am going to design the printed verse from the Qur'an with random calligraphy letters. It is my first time I draw free-style letters but I really like how they look like. I am going to use a pencil in the beginning and then I am going to use a red marker. I will put these letters in a border surrounding the verse from the Qur'an. 

Calligraphy is a visual art in a form of writing; usually a brush is used to paint the letters but here I am using a pencil and markers.   The letters I chose were randomly picked.