Muslims are not terrorists

By Maria Charbel

My short video is entitled “Muslims are not terrorists” I have decided to call it that because that’s the truth; Islam is a religion that preaches peace not terrorism. My video is 1 minute 45 seconds long; it starts with a phrase we are all hearing it lately which is “Muslim are terrorists” then I added some pictures of mosques and the picture of Al Kaaba to symbolize Islam. To illustrate what I was talking about, I took some parts of videos I found on Youtube were Westerns call Muslims terrorists but after that I decided to prove them wrong and show them the opposite, show them what Islam is all about. So, I shot 2 small scenes were a Muslim girl comes to visit a Christian girl on Easter; and this scene shows how tolerant, accepting and caring they are. Then, I decided to ask some Muslims girls to complete this sentence “I’m Muslim but I’m not...” after that I ended my video with a small message that came from me, wishing people would stop this racism and stop being judgemental.

This video allowed me to show to everybody that Islam isn’t a religion of terrorism, as many people attack it; Islam is a religion that worships peace. Many people claim that Islam teaches people to be aggressive, selfish and does not accept other religions. However, the main approaches of Islam are generosity and forgiveness that are considered the main principles of peace. The message that I want to deliver through this video was a shout out to the entire world, and especially a shout out from Muslims. We are all tired of Muslims being judged by actions they didn’t even have to do with it. People are becoming so ignorant nowadays; they are becoming so fanatic and intolerant. So, this video was a shout out for all the people to stop judging other religions and stop the racism, it was also an opportunity for Muslims to express their feelings towards their religion. Muslims got the chance to explain and to tell people that they aren’t aggressive nor angry and most importantly they are not Terrorists.  In addition, Islam is a religion that preaches peace, it’s a religion that teaches people how to love and respect others. We all have to stop this and try to think about the future, we have to stop judging other religions and learn how to be united because whether you were Muslim, Christian or even Buddhist at the end we are all human beings.

I personally got the idea of doing this video after the incident of Ahmed Mohamed, the Muslim American kid that built a Clock and brought it to school and then the teacher thought it was a bomb. Since that time, I decided that I had to do something to show the opposite of what most of the people are thinking, I was so shocked by this movement that I kept thinking about it until I got the chance to realise it in this course. In addition, a lot of other videos that we see on the news of how people and especially western accuse Muslims of being terrorists. As a non-Muslim girl, all these videos got me so angry when I watched them, that’s why I decided to react and this final project was a chance for me to express my opinion towards this big issue.

My name is Maria Charbel, I am 19 years old and I come from Lebanon. I have studied in a French school called “Lycee Louis Massignon” and now I am currently studying at the American university in Dubai majoring in Journalism and minoring in DPST. I love to play Basketball and dance and after taking this course I became interested in studying more about calligraphy especially after watching El Seed’s art.

Finally, Muslims are definitely not Terrorists; people should start differentiating between real terrorists and Islam. Islam is a religion that worships peace; it’s about generosity, tolerance and caring. This should come to an end; we can all stop this racism only if we stand all together, united.

References:

Videos: https://youtu.be/wVhZcPl9qNA

             https://youtu.be/PRpiwa3so8U

             https://youtu.be/wZVqUU_R9Vc

Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim

By Laurdy El Ghorayeb

My artwork is basically Calligraphy. My main idea was to apply a technique that I have learned through out this semester, and one of my favorite topics that I was taught in Islamic Art and Architecture was ‘ Introduction to Islam and Calligraphy’. I’ve always loved calligraphy, and since I’m majoring in interior design, I’m glad that I’m being able to apply the art of calligraphy in my designs and also in some courses that are not related to Interior Design. Calligraphy is found in many languages like Chinese and Japanese but since I’m Lebanese my favorite type of calligraphy is the Arabic Calligraphy. The Arabic language, and subsequently the art of calligraphy, is held in great esteem by Muslims because Arabic was the language in which the Qu’ran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. For Muslim calligraphers, the act of writing – particularly the act of writing the Qur’an or any portion of it – was (and still is for many) primarily a religious experience rather than an aesthetic one.

Arabic Calligraphers usually use the art of calligraphy to write a Quran quotation or a religious text and that’s why I chose to write the sentence ’ Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim’ using the calligraphy technique. Calligraphy is found in all sizes, from colossal to minute, and in all media. But the most important examples are those produced on paper with a simple reed pen. In my artwork I used A3 paper, I wrote ‘Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim’ with a black marker and colored the background of my paper with grey color using pastel. My topic is ‘The Art of Calligraphy in Islam’. I want it to be simple and straight to the point, this topic best describes my artwork and the message behind it.

My statement is simple, I wanted to spread and show that art is not forbidden in Islam and there is so many artistic techniques used in Islam and calligraphy is my favorite. The way that I followed to spread my message is by writing an Islamic statement using calligraphy, since it has something to do with both Islam and calligraphy. Art of calligraphy is applied in several ways; it can be carved, on stained glass, textiles, metal work, light etc.

There are many famous calligraphers that inspire me with their work and talent like Nja Mahdaoui, Julien Breton, but the one that influenced me most in my artwork is Al Kabeer. I loved one of his artwork that was ‘Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim’ statement. Therefore, I chose to write it and design using my own artistic touch.

This is my artwork, which was done by me being inspired by Al KABEER. A lot of artists wrote this statement in several ways, using their own artistic way but since we’ve discussed about Al Kabeer in class, he was my inspiration. This is one of the most famous statements repeated in art of calligraphy because it represents the Islamic religion.

References:

http://islamic-art-and-quotes.tumblr.com/post/44058728956/al-kabir-the-great-calligraphy-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1-the-great

https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?0=arabic%7Cautocomplete%7C1&1=calligraphy%7Cautocomplete%7C1&2=art%7Cautocomplete%7C1&q=arabic%20calligraphy%20art&rs=ac&len=2

When you are angry, be silent

By Dana Kachlan

Hello, meet Dana Kachlan. A Lebanese girl who is always up for a little adventure and experiencing the new. And that is one of the reasons why she chose to major in Creative Advertising at the American University in Dubai. She saw that through her projects, she’d never fall into a routine since one idea is completely different than the other. Dana has two principles that she follows in her work and life practice. First, she credits that details are the foundation of everything. She believes that we are a detail in society, and based on that, she created an entire campaign called “Al Tafseel Al Fasel” or “The Defining Detail.” Second, she believes that the filtering of words could save lives. When angry, she stays silent, revises her thoughts and words, and then speaks. Those two principles helped her stay focused, organized, and sane at all times. Who knew it was that easy? Since Dana is always up to try new activities, over the years she grasped a couple of interests such as: Law, Calculus, Philosophy, Psychology, and Event planning. Interesting fact about Dana: In school, Dana would always excel in Calculus but failed to impress in Geometry. Weird right? As for her hobbies, she enjoys photography, basketball, fitness, drawing, and music.

"When you are angry, be silent,” a Hadith said by Prophet Mohammed PBUH. We create war and blame the consequences on each other. We live our lives in constant fear of not knowing when the next war is about to happen. Or even sadder, we live in war zones or even hear about them over the news on a daily basis. War happens to be the norm now a day, as peace comes once every now and then. If only people knew how to communicate, maybe we could be living in a better world today and everyday. It is

said that humans have it in them to promote war but if only we read and searched more we would know that the Prophet himself asked us not to hurt each other, not only through weapons but not even with words. Then we have Jesus who promotes peace and love through the bible and his sayings. If our religions tell us to make peace, love one another, and understand each other, then where are we going wrong? What is it that is making us fall back to war repeatedly. To bring the attention to the topic of War and peace, I thought the hadith "When you are angry, be silent" said by the Prophet Mohammed PBUH best illustrates the matter. This Hadith inspires me to be a better person today and everyday. It makes me think twice before I communicate. It teaches me how to be a nicer person. What really made me want to bring attention to this Hadith are two factors. The first is the fact that I am a great believer of the filtering of words. During an argument, I usually practice revising my words before throwing them out to avoid making a mountain out of a molehill or even to avoid hurting the other person. Both ways, we end up feeling guilt when having said something unkind or despicable so why not take the time to amend and filter the words before saying them? I also realized that the whole process of modifying the words said help a person become more tolerant, patient, and in control. I truly think any relationship would be better if barely anything mean was to come out of anyone's mouth. If we revise our words, we get to explain them in a sensible and an understandable way, which would lead to a mature conversation rather than an argument or a fight. The second factor is that the entire Hadith is not meant to spread peace in Islam only but it is also meant to be shared among all religions and races around the world. We aren't put in this world to fight each other. We aren't meant to despise each other. The least we can do is be at peace if we don't want to love one another.

 As for the artwork itself, I created an A2 sized canvas that has the Hadith mentioned above written on it using both styles of pop art and Kufic calligraphy. The entire artwork is drawn by the use of basics such as a black marker for the words outlines, colored markers to fill in the words, and paper, which is wrinkled to get the message across. So I wouldn’t call the artwork a painting, instead, it is a drawing that encounters specific styles to help get the message of War and peace across. Each and every stylistic choice will be explained in the next few lines. So first, let’s begin by discussing the Kufic script. I decided to choose it not only because I was inspired by it after the MEST class workshop and wanted to explore it further more, but also I thought it emphasized how long ago the quote has been there for the people to acknowledge and be inspired by. The Kufic style is one of the earliest forms of calligraphy and hence I thought writing the Hadith in that style would estimate the age of its existence.

Second, as for the aesthetic choice of wrinkling the paper, it was not an option that I thought of first, but as I was mounting the paper onto the board, I saw that it would make far more sense if the paper was wrinkled since it conveyed destruction which meant war while the Hadith itself spoke peace. That way we have war and peace conveyed through one artwork yet peace wins since it comes on top of the war (Hadith over the wrinkled paper.) Every stylistic style has a reason behind it, which makes the entire artwork have representations that are both realistic and a metaphorical. Third, stylistically I wanted to bring out a style that I very much admire and usually apply to most of my art, which is pop art. First, I wouldn't say an artist influenced me, but rather by the entire movement, which helped me create this artwork along with many that, I have previously done. I realized whenever the subject is very dear to me, I tend to use pop art as my style and hence since this topic is something I truly follow I wanted to manage and make it work with the pop art style. I thought the use of colors brings life to any topic, turning a sad subject into something less harsh or at least gets a message across in a more subtle way. Second, usually each color on its own represents an emotion. But for this project I wanted to unite all emotions on one canvas to portray the idea of peace. In a way that turns peace into an emotion. The unification of almost all the colors on one canvas could also mean the emergence of all religions and all races. Whether it was the Kufic style that was used to emphasize how long the hadith has been around for, or the wrinkly paper to show that peace dominates war, or the use of vibrant, happy colors to bring joy to the idea of unification, all aspects were meant to lead to the idea of peace and that nothing but peace has the power to make us all live in a better world. Now that I introduced myself, the artwork title, description, media, technique, style, influence, why I chose it, and what it means to me along with my statement, time to remind you of one thing: Always filter and revise your words before saying them. An argument could turn into a conversation through reasoning. Communicate peace always.

Islam is Peace

By Carine Ezzedine

Dimensions: 297x420mm (WxH) / Resolution: 300 pixels/inch

Media: Digital (Adobe Illustrator)

Technique and style: Calligraphy and illustration portrait

The concept I illustrated in the art piece came from the inspiration I got from a video I watched recently. It talks about how Islam in general is not a part of any negative territory or a bad thing in the society like other disbelievers view it or makes it this way. Islam is all about faith, peace, positivity, and optimism. Islam is a medicine. It’s a cure for all your problems,“fal deen yosr wa laysa 3osr” and that is فالدين يسر و ليس عسر"”, meaning “Islam is ease and not Hardship.” Islam shares many religious figures and historical events with Judaism and Christianity, which indicates that Islam wants or proves itself in the societies that it is a peaceful religion and doesn’t want any conflicts within each person and the other.  

What I did through the illustration is that I used Adobe Illustration one of the programs that I use and illustrated like a gate to implement something like an entrance to peace and ease of life through Islam with some of the Arabian patterns/style. Then the person is made from phrases and ayat from the Quran that can meditate and give us hope and relaxation. I wanted to show how reading one word or sentence and how just praying can give you a connection with god. Not only in Islam, but other religions too. A prayer can give you motivation and lead you to become a better person and have a relationship with God; a personal one, especially when you are struggling in big things or even small things. Moreover, I added, “Islam is Peace” in Arabic and wrote it in a way that it looks like one word; “الاسلام” I made the word peace in Arabic bold so we can see that the word Islam in Arabic has the word peace in it. Islam means surrender of one’s will to the true will of God in the effort to achieve peace and Salam, which means peace, is the root word of "Islam".This can literally summarize everything and solve everything you are going through internally and externally, or even the whole society we live in. Islam is a complete way of life that governs all facets of life such as, social, economical, physical, spiritual, moral, etc…

On the other hand, the person in the middle raising his hand to the light on the top right corner praying to rest his mind or for harmony and amity to the world or for any spiritual help. Moreover, the man is made up of phrases and words in Islam starting with the Basmala, which is right under the hands of the person. The Basmala “Bismillah Alrahman Al Rahim” “

"بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم"

The Basmala is usually written and said before every surah in the Quran and when some one wants to do something. The phrase means In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Then I started adding ayat that I like and make me feel blissful and have the sense of serenity, peace, and power. So I started with “Give us victory over the disbelieving people, أنت مولانا فانصرنا على القوم الكافرين”. It’s from surat al baqarah, and it’s asking God for help and power over the terrorists and the disbelievers to show them that they are right and don’t have any judgment towards any other religions or beliefs. Moreover another thing that influenced me to write was “O You who believe! Enter absolutely into peace (Islam). Do not follow in the footsteps of Satan. He is an outright enemy to you.” (Holy Quran: 2, 208) Additionally, I wrote one of the five pillars in Islam, which is the declaration of faith and hope.

The reason I used calligraphy and text in my art piece is because I also got inspired from the Arabic posters and paintings that pass by me everyday on pinterest such as, Mahmoud Fathy and Tarek atrissi. Their artworks grab my attention a lot since they combine text or calligraphy with other objects or even writing them in the same look or shape of this specific object or even animals and people. There is one that grabbed my attention, which was using calligraphy and drawing it as a sufi; it’s very beautiful and eye catching. 

To conclude, the word “Islam” is derived from the word meaning “peace” in Arabic. Islam is a religion revealed to mankind with the intention of presenting a peaceful life where the infinite compassion and mercy of God manifests on earth. God calls all people to live by the moral values. He sets so that compassion, mercy, peace and love can be experienced all over the world, since Islam essentially calls for peace and fosters a life in absolute sincerity and honesty before God. Therefore it is vitally important for an individual to believe in God with his own will and aspiration, and observe God’s commands and advice through personal conscientious contentment.

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Carine Ezzeddine, analogue at birth, digital by design. A Lebanese panda-loving designer and a coffee-drinker, born and raised in her second home United Arab Emirates. She speaks about her work and life, striving to become great at her job. Besides, she wants bigger things in life, loves when inner kid takes command, finds passion in creating visual stuff, and prefers on always trying new adventures.

References:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/489766528202617771/

http://www.atrissi.com/music-artist-posters-promotion/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/445434219364561522/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/161777811590453024/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/454722893605052409/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/59250551326101149/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/524176844101217515/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/296533956691965919/

Hope In A Divided World

Alex Yacoubian

The title of my work is “Hope In A Divided World”. I used a digital photo editing program to design a collage of digital photographs then adjusted the lighting features to bring the viewer’s focus to one area in particular. The purpose of my work is to demonstrate how misconceptions and misinterpretations of Islam common in Western society vary from what the religion truly represents. In order to show this, I found images that represent common stereotypes associated with Islam. These images represent certain themes that have unfortunately led to a sense of “islamophobia” in the Western world. Such stereotypes develop by associating Islam with certain events, figures, groups, and ideas that portray the religion in a negative light. Moreover, on the opposite side of the collage, I included images which represent what I believe to be the true nature Islam. These images come from what I have learned about the religion through years of studies and interactions with Muslims. I believe that they portray the true identity of 99% of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. 

I was greatly influenced by the brilliant use of digital photography that I saw at Art Dubai. Two artists in particular stood out to me: Tiffany Chung and Abdullah Al Othman. They both used photography to reveal a more natural and authentic message regarding Muslim society. After I decided that I wanted to use digital images in my art project, I was influenced by my experiences as an American studying Islam in the Middle East. Coming from the West, I feel that I have a good understanding of common misinterpretations of the religion that I can weigh against the truths I have learned in studying Islam. My goal is to demonstrate that, although the West and the Muslim world often do not see eye-to-eye, there is always hope for a better future through greater understanding. Coexistence is what we should all strive for. That is the reason the focus of the collage is on that particular word and image. I wanted this idea to shine brighter than everything else. 

I am an American student interested in global politics and Middle Eastern studies. I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana but my dad’s side of the family is from Lebanon. I have been inspired by my roots to learn more about the Middle East and its people.