Heaven الجنة

SHAMSA BIN HINDI

All muslims want to attain the pleasure of Allah SWT and enter His Jannah.

"O soul who is at rest, return to thy Lord, well-pleased with Him, well-pleasing Him. So enter among My servants, and enter My garden." (89:27-30) 

The Arabic word Jannah is a shortened version meaning simply “Garden" 

This artwork is inspired by eL Seed the ‘calligraffiti’ artist. He has blend of the historic art of Arabic calligraphy and  the modern art of graffiti, mixing street  culture  from  Paris  and Arabic  history to poetic effect. El Seed  uses  intricate  composition  in  his  work  to  call not only on the words and their meaning, but also on their movement, which ultimately lures the viewer into a different state of mind. EL Seed’s art reflects the reality of mankind and the world we live in today.

  

I used The Ruqʿah style of handwriting which is the most common type of handwriting. It is known for its clipped letters composed of short, straight lines and simple curves, as well as its straight and even lines of text. 

This piece is 42cmx30cm, medium grain moyen A3. I used graphite pencil “2H” to outline the calligraphy, went over it with the black charcoal to get a smooth surface. I used sanguine powder to cover the background, I wanted to obtain a bright color to lift the word “jannah” in the center. I then coloured the calligraphy with a black topic marker to make it stand out.  

Beards

Saeed Al Hefaiti

      My artwork project is an art piece for humanity and for all people in the world whether they are Muslims or non Muslims. It's a piece for all religions and nationalities. It's an artwork that represent peace and against racism. I called it " Just Hair" . Just Hair as shown in the picture above; the picture above is a clip art represent just a beard and mustache. My artwork will be something similar to this. It will be a long beard and mustache without a round face that is abstracted . What I mean with abstract is that this round face will not show any face features like " eye, nose, or mouth" . It will be a plain face with  just a beard and mustache . In the middle of the face will be a question mark. This question mark will gives a space for the audience to think and choose what kind of man will be in that face. Then, depend on this decision , they will judge the beard. The point from the artwork is racism. Recently, for the past ten years , Muslims have been criticized for their beards . And each person who had a beard has been criticized and called terrorist. This started to be a signature for terrorism when an Arab man had it. Each person had a long beard from the Middle East called terrorist from western perspective. Even in western movies when they view Arabs , they viewed them with long ugly beards. In addition, this is not the case only in west. In the Middle East after Arab Spring people started to be scared from beards. A lot of people shaved their beards especially who are in the levant because they are afraid to be caught or considered as a part of ISIS " Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" . And on the other side there are some people who were afraid to shave their beards in Syria and Iraq , so ISIS do not accused him that they are not religious . Thus, beards was a crucial point in the recent years . But surprisingly last year , the beard was the trend and the style of the year for all people in the east and the west. Most of the men were having beards and not any beard. They keep their beards to grow longer and longer. Most of models and celebrities went with the beard trend. Maybe this started in the middle east after the Turkish series released " Hareem Sultan" , men started to imitate Sultan Sulaiman. And also there is another Arabic series " Saraya Abdeen" where Qusai Khoule " a Syrian actor did a big role and men started to imitate him. And maybe this trend extended to the west. The point from the name "Just Hair" that it's just hair that did not represent any terrorist action that's why people took it as a style later . It's like a hairstyle that varied each season. It's just a hair growing on the face nevertheless associated with racism.

        "Just Hair" will be done on A3 carton paper and the paint is water colors and markers. The technique is drawing. 

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          There is a drawing which is a cover book called " The Gigantic Beard That was Evil" by Stephen Collins. This book showed that even if you grow a beard you will not change your personality. The man in the book when he grew a beard , people thought that he is evil. But the author stated that the beard has never has links with any evil actions as well as terrorism. In the drawing the beard man sits behind a desk, he is posing holding a pen preparing himself to write. The whole painting drawn with pencil by Collins. The man's face features almost are not shown because of his giant beard that it reach the ground. I chose this picture as a reference because it sent the same message that I wanted to send through my artwork project. Racism has not been mention in any religion or culture, and it should not be existed.

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        My name is Saeed Al Hefaiti. I started university in 2011, my major was business but I change it to international studies. My interests are Football. I like playing and watching Football, and watching movies. 

Smile !

By Roudha Bin Desmal

Islam is more than just a religion of worship; Islam is a way of life. Islam teaches Muslims how to behave in their daily lives, and those rules are basic and easy that they become part of the Muslim’s life naturally. Islam focuses on the tiny details that make a drastic difference, for example smiling. A smile has the capability to free the load a person has, and make him or feel actually feel better and brighter. The prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him advised Muslims to smile at each other, and he said that a smile in the face of your brother is considered charity. The theme of the art project is the relation between Islam and peace, and since smiles bring happiness to people, it also brings peace. Through smiling inner peace can be achieved, it is a silent dialogue between people that brings them to a state of happiness and peace.

            My art project was inspired by positivity, and hence the smile. I believe that in today’s world, there are so many wars and so many depressing events that are going on. We are showered with news of bombings, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and many more. People are exposed to such negativity, and this is disregarding what each individual is facing in his or her own life. The accumulation of negativity on a person or in a society can be dangerous or damaging, so we need to find a way to make ourselves and each other feel better. I believe that smiling is the simplest thing a person can so to spread positive vibes to the person who himself or herself who is smiling, because he or she will feel the negativity leaving his or her body, and the person that is receiving that smile, is not only receiving positive energy, but also he or she will be receiving happy vibes. It is like the positivity is being transferred from one person to the other. To demonstrate, my painting involved the word “smile” in Arabic Kufic font. I used three colors to paint the word smile, and they are a mixture of orange, yellow, and white. When a person sees the painting her or she will feel confused if the color is yellow or orange, and that is my aim because I want to say that positivity is a result of different emotions and thoughts that sometimes cannot be differentiated or separated, or even understood. The color black to represent negativity or the negative vibes dominates the background color. The background also includes dark shades brown, green, and blue again to symbolize that darkness or negativity is not uniform. From the word “smile” that I wrote in the Kufic script, it seems that there is an explosion of yellow radiance coming out of the word, I also used gold paint at the very inner part. Some of the implications of the gold color are success, achievement, and triumph; these are things that cannot be accomplished without having a positive view on things. I personally do not believe that prosperity and success can be attained in the darkness, because we cannot see well in the dark; therefore, we will not be able to function properly. Lastly, the explosion of positivity that is being emitted from the letters into the darkness is actually a struggle between positivity and negativity. It looks like the blackness and they yellow are fighting each other to gain dominance. The majority of the painting is black, because I want to say that it is easy to let darkness and negativity consume a person, and it is challenging to overcome the darkness, but it is worth it because your life will be filed with light and positivity.

            There has been scientific research that proves that smiling is actually good for the person smiling and the people around him or her. According to the British Dental Health Foundation, “A smile really can make you feel better, and make others respond more positively to you. With a smile you are more likely to succeed in what we do, from relationships to careers.  We can use a smile to show our positive feelings or mask our more negative ones. A smile really is one of man’s greatest gifts!” Islam is all about peace, and this is why it told Muslims to smile, because it helps to transport harmony between people, and bring internal peace to the people. 

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.

Peace

 Rashid Bin Haider

A3 (29.7 x 42.0 cm) 
Calligraphy; ink on paper

One of the many misconceptions about Islam, and one of the most common misconceptions, is the belief that Islam is a religion of violence and terrorism, that it is in no way a religion of peace. This particular misconception is created and strengthened by the violent acts perpetrated by men and women in various acts of terrorism and bloodshed, who perverted Islam with radical ideologies. This misconception is also reinforced through people’s cultural ignorance, people who don’t try to understand what Islam truly is about.. 

My art piece is a reiteration of the fact that Islam is a religion of peace. The piece uses a freestyle method of Arabic calligraphy. The strokes of the Arabic letters draw inspiration from the works of Hassan Massoudy and Julien Breton, artists who are well known calligraphers who use freestyle calligraphy in their artworks. The calligraphy is written on a sheet of glossy paper to help achieve those long and large ink strokes. 

To create the calligraphy I mainly use an unorthodox manner of using Styrofoam board to write as well as paint brushes. I’ve used the color blue to give the calligraphy a heavenly feeling, as it is the same color as the sky where heaven and God dwell, as well as emphasizing that the written word is the word of God. Alongside the calligraphy is a specific verse from the Qur'an (Al Ma’idah, verse 16) that specifically emphasizes that as Muslims, once we’ve taken up Islam, we must follow God’s direction as a peaceful people and community.
   
I am Emirati born, however I grew up in an English-speaking environment. I am currently a student in AUD. I enjoy art. I have a love of popular culture (comics, films, animation) and admire the art done my artists in the entertainment industry that help to create these products of pop culture.