Diba
Mohebzadeh
We live in a
world where we are labeled according to our looks and race and this
stereotypical thinking has been taking place in many forms, from the national
television to someone’s everyday life. This problem has been mostly happening
to Muslims. A Muslim is a follower of a monotheistic religion called Islam- in
other words “Peace”. Both words, Muslim and Islam come from the same 3 letter
roof of S,L and M in Arabic. In fact, Islam did begin by the Arab speaking
population, this is why our Holy book, the Quran was written in Arabic. Quran
is said to be one of the most complete religious books, and personally when I
first read the Holy book, I realized how rhythmical it is. However,
there seems to be the another side of the story.
Orientalism
began, when the Western Scholars began to interpose their thinking of the
“Middle East” or the “Far East” according to their perspective without
understanding the concept of Surrendering to the only God and sacrificing
yourself for him and your country- Jihad. This issue has always been a main
concern to many Muslims around the world. They have been bordered and zoned out
from most of the facilities in which any free person can enjoy in their lives.
We were all created from the same ground, and we should be able to walk on this
ground freely without being labeled. Unfortunately, this misunderstanding of
Muslims being terrorists has began by the 9-11 issue in the United States, followed by other attempts to take us away from our lands due to
misunderstandings.
Using the
Zodiac sign of “Libra”, the balance of mood swings, in this case, ideas, was
the main concept behind this project. The purpose of this art piece is to show
the true meaning of Islam, using an equalizer- The balancing element in life. According to Taoism, the Equalizer displays the main balance
between heaven and hell and only a single sin can destroy the balance of this
world. The Equalizer is made form 5 different components. The Base, which holds
the rest of the project to one another, acting as the human, with “Ya Latif”
engraved on it. The Expression “Ya Latif” is said in Iran as a reminder of
“God” or another way of saying “ Ya Allah” meaning I will start every move I
make I am reminded of God.
Moving towards the lower part of the base, it
contains a simple yet important aspect, of a semi-circled curve, explaining the
cycle of life, where according to Zen religion, life is a circle divided
into two parts. One semi-circle in the Earth life we are living right now, and
the other in the after life. The second part is the basic shoulder element.
According to the stories I have been told as a child, every human has two angels. One on the right shoulder and the other on the left. The right angel will
write our good deeds while the left one will write our bad deeds. Moving
towards the two circles, our good and bad deeds or in the other words, the
portraying of the right and biased Islam.
This project consists of two main
circles, including an 8 petalled flower. The two sections are divided into
the True Face of Islam, which is about friendship, equal rights, understanding
women, respecting our elderlies and etc. and the other part about the Wrong
image of Islam, the Terrorists, Bombing and Isis.
Number 8 is a holy number in
Islam, which resembles the beauty of a Garden especially in the Persian
culture. Within this 8 petalled flower, there are 6 Arabic words calligraphied
and engraved using Autocad and the Laser Cutting machine provided by the
university. These words are summarized by, family, unity, love, friendship,
honesty and peace representing the true vision and image of Islam. While the
left circle is a counter-argument using words such as war, bombarding, racism, terrorism,
violence and being caged.
Since the
chosen material is Bass wood, the project will not be stable enough to be
standing on a single wooden cane, therefore using the Golden Triangle rule, a
base is produced to hold the art piece to one another. The circle, which
consists of the True face of Islam, will have a lower landing level compared to
the misunderstood part of Islam, due to the amount of moral values we have in
this religion. According to an Iranian quote, “Something which is humble, will
have a heavier weight because of the amount of values it is given by the
people” and this is what Islam is, a valuable religion for all.
About the
Student
Diba
Mohebzadeh is an Iranian Architecture student in the American University in Dubai.
