SALAT

By Riya Berri

The title of my artwork is "Salat" which means "Prayer". I chose this title because it represents my painting as there is a silhouette of man shown praying in front of a mosque. This title is also very symbolic as it is the first pillar of Islam. The style I used is free hand drawing and painted it with oil paints. I used the “stroking” method in which I used a thin brush and kept stroking it to give a strong impact for the blue sky. I also used “knife painting” to show the rusty beige effect for the mosque with a pink base to add color.  The knife used has a pointed tip, and a lowered trowel which suited my painting on canvas. The blade can be of different lengths and shapes: triangular, rectangular or more diamond like. I also tried to give the floor a marble impression by painting it grey and using a sponge to make it realistic. I intentionally used the blue sky as “blue” is depicted as peace for me. I did not give my figure an expressions or facial features as I wanted my audience to concentrate on the bigger picture rather than the smaller details.

 

My statement:

 

We were asked to draw anything related to 'Peace and Islam" which actually mean the same thing. The first thing that came to my mind was praying because that’s the first thing you do to devote yourself to God. The importance of the prayer in Islam cannot be understated.  The importance of the prayers lies in the fact that no matter what actions one performs in his life, the most important aspect is one’s relationship to God, that is, one’s faith (imaan), God-consciousness (taqwa), sincerity (ikhlas) and worship of God (ibaadah).  This relationship with God is demonstrated and put into practice, as well as improved and increased, by the prayer.  Therefore, if the prayers are sound and proper, the rest of the deeds will be sound and proper; and if the prayers are not sound and proper, then the rest of the deeds will not be sound and proper, as the Prophet himself stated.

Praying makes me feel at peace, it makes me feel at ease. It helps me talk to someone and let out all my feelings. It helps me realize that there is a greater being in this world that is looking out for us and that is God.

The artist who influenced me:

Vancouver-based artist Mohamed Somani is an artist that inspired me to paint this piece. Somani finds inspiration in the Qur'an and Muslim history, and evokes some of these stories on canvas.  I loved the simplicity of each of Somani’s paintings; it has a powerful message even though it’s quite simple. That’s what I look for in an artist, someone to inspire you to draw and paint better in the most beautiful ways. I looked at a few artists who drew the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal would be significant as I tried to replicate the tarnished look for my mosque in the painting. A few artists had mastered “knife painting” really brilliantly and I was truly inspired to try it out.

My biography:

My name is Riya Berry and I am originally from India but born and brought up in Dubai. I’ve grown up and evolved with Dubai itself, I have seen it change drastically and become bigger and better each year. Being such a multicultural society, Dubai has taught me how to respect each one’s culture. Being in this class reminded me of how much I love the culture here and how much it has influenced me as a person. Since I am Indian, I do not know much about Islam and neither so much about art but being here and actually drawing and painting about “Peace and Islam” really brought the best out of me.

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References:

http://www.lacma.org/islamic_art/intro.htm

http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/introduction-islamic-art

http://www.theismaili.org/heritage-expressions/artists-draw-inspiration-their-muslim-faith-and-culture

Tawheed

By Nadine Kassab

The artwork that I have produced is a drawing of a mosque using Kufic calligraphy.  I engraved my drawing on an A3 wooden board that is 42cm x 29.7 cm.

Nowadays the perception of Islam has diverged from being a religion of love and peace into being viewed as a religion that encourages hate and ignorance. This change might have been caused by either the way media broadcasts the news or the emphasis on terrorist attacks done mostly by the Muslim extremists.

 I believe that one of our missions in life is to spread love and peace. Regardless of our origins, beliefs or religion, we should all spread love and care. Our morals and the anticipated humane acts do not belong to any certain religion. A human is expected to help a friend in need, donate money to the unfortunate and make the world a better place. You do not have to be religious person to be a good person. However, in order to be a good person decisions should be based conscious and a person’s own judgement.

Moreover, these morals are further emphasized in the religions we belong to. Religions that we have inherited, chosen or denied. Thinking about it, the teaching of all religions basically state the same things; don’t kill, don’t steal and don’t hurt a soul. However, these teachings have been categorized in many ways and this has later on further developed into religions. The main reason behind religions was to organize human life and to acknowledge people of a divine power that has created them and all the marvelous creations in their surroundings. Religions have long been accepted by people and were followed as a mean to comfort oneself and protect the soul from being lost in this wild and mysterious universe.

The human mind, no matter how advanced or unlimited it can think, no one ever has been able to interpret the world we live in. It is such a beautiful and enigmatic world. Humans are either blessed or cursed to have such a curious mind, a mind that nourishes on thinking, exploring, discovering and expanding. This mind can never be limited with boundaries nor restrictions that will only hinder its thinking process. Any person is free to think the way they want to and accept or deny what they have concluded.

According to my own interpretation of peace, reaching the stage of being content with yourself, your beliefs and lifestyle is happiness itself. This happiness escorts you to the highest level of peace. Peace with oneself, with the others and the surroundings in general.

In order to produce such an artwork or to reach such an idea, I had to review the work of many artists. I was particularly interested in mixing media. I did not want to write a plain Kufic script nor just produce a painting. Therefore, I combined calligraphy with geometry to produce such a piece that is visually interesting.

Kufic calligraphy has a deep symbolism in Islam. This is because it is a beautiful font to write the Quran script with. Kufic calligraphy usually gives the vibe or feel of geometry, lines and edges. This gives the viewer a sense of organization and order.

Mosques are said and have long been believed to be the “houses of God”. In mosques, Quran is recited the whole time, prayers are called for five times a day and Islamic gatherings are held frequently to keep the people connected with their creator. All of this created within the mosque boundries a comfort zone or a peaceful environment for the Muslims. Thus, according to Muslims at least, mosques are directly linked with peace and inner happiness.

Calligraphy was initially developed as a way to beautify Qur’anic scripts, that’s why calligraphy was mostly seen in mosques and prayer areas. It was and still is used as a way to decorate mosque walls.

Therefore, combing calligraphy, Kufic calligraphy in specific with the mosque drawing seemed to be a very interesting and exciting idea.  

El Seed was my main inspiration. Although his work is not as geometric as the one I have produced, I was inspired by him. El Seed took calligraphy to a whole new level and this is why I like him. He did not restrict calligraphy to Islamic scripts but has rather expanded it to Arabic sayings and phrases. Also, El Seed always tried to deliver a message through his work and this makes the art piece even more worthy and deep. In my project I tried to include his colorful spirit and vibe into my shapes. I also, like him, tried to mix media and not stick to one type only.

I called my artwork “tawheed.” Tawheed is what Muslims say when they want to seek God and look for comfort. Tawhid is the religion's most fundamental concept and holds that God (Allah), is One and Single and that Mohamad( Peace be upon him) is his prophet. These words are mostly glorified by Muslims and Muslims have to admit this belief every day in their prayers. These words can also be called “Shahada,” and they are recited by Muslims during every prayer.

About the artist:

I am an interior design student. I am particularly interested in Arabic language and Calligraphy. I am on a life time mission that aims to deconstruct all the stereotypes built by non-Muslims about Islam and Muslims. I also try to revive the Arabic and middle eastern culture that tends to be forgotten by many youth people my age. 

The mosque and the Qur'an

By Mohmed Said Hussen

Islam is and forever will be a monotheistic, moral religion. I concur with this declaration and with the training of the young and the world; others will see that Islam is not insidious. The two pictures that I will be discussing belong to the two most important things in Islam; the first one being the Masjid, where Muslims come to pray and the second one is the Quran which is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. Quran is the Holy Book that the Muslim follows for guidance and spirituality. The first picture is of the front entrance of the ‘Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque’ taken from my IPad camera in a very peaceful environment at sunset. The Mosque is located in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The mosque was constructed from 1996 to 2007 and is able to accommodate over 40,000 worshipers making it the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates. The design of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque has been inspired by Persian Mughal and Moorish mosque architecture.

One of the mainstays of Islam pronouncements that Muslims implore towards Mecca five times each day, an action that does not as a matter of course request an assigned space, but rather is surely helped both by security from the components and a perpetual and solid sign of the heading of Mecca. Friday afternoon prayers, as built up in the Quran, were to occur in a mosque in organization with different Muslims, so that the dependable could profit by an imam's sermon on good, political, or social topics. The picture of the masjid looks empty as no one is surrounding it but it depicts the peacefulness and beauty of the nature and the place. There is a beautiful lake by the masjid with a place surrounded by trees. The weather itself looks pleasant showcasing the masjid in good light. All these imageries present how calm the prayer place is even when there is not a soul around. The masjid imagery is clearly the main proof that Islam is a religion of peace as the peace is depicted in the peacefulness of nature and place where it is built around.

The second imagery is of a ‘Quran’ that is shown with calligraphy words written on it. It too has been taken from the same camera but instead of the masjid, it shows the calligraphy and the wordings of the Holy Quran which is the Holy Book of Muslims. In this picture, we can see the careful attention given to the words written in different style. It is no normal pen or writing but it is calligraphy, the writing of the Quran, written in the most beautiful and smooth form. The artwork in this calligraphy is an intense, powerful, pervasive and enduring apparatus. Furthermore, the work is done in detailing, neat and clear manner that we can spot not a single dot or cursive writing failing. Everything in this page looks beautiful and neat especially with the white background. It attracts the readers automatically through it. The calligraphic work is such work that even a Non-Muslim would be attracted towards reading such a beautiful style. Quran is known to be giving the Muslims peace and solution when they read the verses and the beauty of the Quran and its writing makes people read and abide to it.

While doing my research on Islamic Art, the Islamic artwork of the Fatmid period has really influenced and inspired me. They had the particular luxurious work that was enameled with glass and metal work. The artwork detailing is pure and high quality, one you’d find in Paris or France. As a student, I believe that the above two pictures of the Masjid and the Quran give the message of Islam at Peace. Looking carefully at both the pictures, the imageries do not show the sign of any kind of violence but peace even with the quietness and simplicity. There are no imageries that would depict anything related to war, terrorism or blood. Instead, they show the peaceful nature of Islam and how it invites its people to live and abide by peace. As someone who has really read into religions and Islam, I believe that Islam like every religion has its true meaning and message which is peace. It is the people who twist the name of such religion. Even the other imageries that relate to Islam would show the same beautiful and simplicity in different manners that would related to Peace.

 Referenceshttp://www.peaceandislam.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/prayer/mosque.shtml

Al Mo'men Mosque

By Lama Al-Kharbouch

Since this art project about peace, I decided to design my own mosque because it is already a peaceful thing, and I thought that I can add more things to show these peacefulness. Actually, my concept for this project is to have some name of God that represent peace such as, Al-Rahman, Al-Raheem, Al-Ghafour, Al-Afou, Al-Ra'ouf, Al-Salam, Al-Haq, and Allah. At the same time, I knew that peace is related to light, so I came up with the shadow’s effect. It is basically about doing windows that have the shape of God’s names and these names (shadows) appear to the mosque in a beautiful way. Since most of people when they pray and talk to God, they look upward, so for this reason, I decided to have these shadows on the top (the ceiling).

Furthermore, since my whole project is about shadow which means sun, I had to think about a specific site that could give me the sun rays to where I exactly want. I had to choose a place where the sun rays at least appear through the four sides.  I did my research and I found a good place where the sun rays could somehow goes through the north side too. So the site is located in the Yunb’a beach, Yunb’a, Saudi Arabia. And this site is also perfect because two stories buildings are not allowed, so nothing will affect the sun rays that I need.

The name of this mosque is Al Mo'men Mosque. I chose this name since peace means Salam in Arabic, and Islam comes from the word Salam, and Muslim people are Mo'men (Belief) in God. So, it is related to peace in somehow. Moreover, Al-Moa'men is one of the God's names.

Regarding the Floor Plan, I did a huge entrance works as a waiting area and seating area. And from the left and the right side I have the w.c for males and females. In addition, I made a huge outdoor praying space (courtyard) and I applied an Islamic texture on the floor, and six water feature on the same space to warm up the outdoor area. Moreover, I did a two pathways from both side and closed them with glass to make it indoor and apply electricity, instead of using the outdoor (praying) space, for people who want to go to the main (mosque) place which has the largest dome. I did the Islamic arches on the inner side of each pathway, which located after the glass. For the entrances, I did three entrances to the mosque, the first one which is the biggest one and two from the main (mosque) place. No entrances from the fourth side (north façade) due to AL-Qiblah.

For the main (mosque) place, at the beginning I made the height of it about 10 meters, but when I did the openings (Names of God) I realized that my concept would not work in this case due to the direction of the shadow. So, since I did not want the shadow to shows or goes to the floor, I came up with the mirror idea. In this case I had to extend the ceiling about 10 meters more, so, the first 10 meter for people and the rest for the effect of the shadows. To do this I had to do a slap under each opening (name) (5 by 7 meters) and its materials are concrete from the bottom (where people can see it) and mirror from the top (which is not visible for them). How this works? Basically, when the sun hits the window and create the shadow, the shadow will goes to the mirror and the mirror will reflect the letters on the ceiling. Since some of the shadow would not appear due to the void of the biggest dome, I also had to make the width larger to let all of the letters appear on the ceiling.

And I applied the praying carpet on the floor, and Islamic texture on the walls. But for the ceiling i had to apply dark color to make the shadows show on it. I also placed the Mihrab and the Minbar and they are shown in the interior render very clearly

Regarding the colors, since mosques are very unique and I wanted to take people's attention to the mosque,  I chose the white concrete color for the walls, and gold color for the domes and some part of the minarets. I think these two colors are really valuable and make any building very especial from a far distance.

For this project, I used five tools (programs) to make it completely done. First of all, I used AutoCad to draw the outlines and the whole floor plan of the mosque. Then I exported to Revit to make the 3D Shape of the mosque, which include walls, columns, minarets, doors, window, and arches. Furthermore, it was so difficult to make the domes in Revit, so I made the dome by using 3Dmax then exported to Revit. After that, I used Lumion to apply materials for walls, doors, roof, and floors, and to render the mosque from outside and inside. Finally, I used Photoshop to edit my renders, to make the shadows, and to make my poster.

Al Salam

By Israa Darwish

In this painting, the two men have two completely different situations. The first man is simply praying and trying to get closer to God for maintaining his inner peace. The second is an old man whose life is one of those poor and exhaustive lives. This man is terribly in need of a shelter that can embrace and free him from all of the discomforting ideas and worries, and it seems to be found already. The two men are of different skin tones but this is completely neglected because Islam is a religion of equality and fairness. I used verses "ayat" from the holy Qur'an that mentioned peace to stabilize our thoughts about peace in Islam. The first aya is about the different names of God and one of these names is "AL SALAM" which is "THE PEACE''. The second is asking believers to come in with peace, while the third reveals the source of peace which is heaven.

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.

Mosques and Peace

By Ahmad Jabbour

When we hear about Islam today, we think of scary looking bearded men dressed in black, carrying shot guns and screaming “Allaho Akbar” as they burn down churches or behead people. Mosques are thought to be places where terrorist fanatics join to discuss their next bombing. We can say that the orientalist view point has ruined the reputation of the true Islam. However, we cannot blame orientalism without first analysing the other factors for this popular reputation of Islam. The emerging of terrorist fanatic Islamist groups such as ISIL, AlQaeda, and Jabhet Al Nasra has played a vital role in creating a tag on Muslims as terrorists. However, the truth is that such groups—although seemingly abundant—are a minority, and the kind of Islam that they represent is indeed a false one. The corruption of the international system of knowledge and orientalism print on media and scholarly work in the west only magnify the false belief.

The truth is that Islam comes from the Arabic root Salam which could mean two things. The first is that a muslim should “yosallem” or surrender himself to the will of God. The other meaning, and the more important one is from the word “Salam” meaning peace. So we can see that Islam’s meaning is peace. The teachings of prophet Mohammad and the Quraan all serve to prove this point. A Muslim is ordered by God and the prophet to be good to others of all religions. He is ordered to give money to the poor, help the weak, and be selfless at all times. Mosques are places of worship, peace, of learning the true teachings of Islam, and of serenity.

I chose to do an art piece inspired by Mosques and peace as the two terms go hand in hand. I hope that by my humble project I can, at least, set one person straight on what Islam truly means and of what purpose mosques truly serve.

Historically, the first mosque that was ever created in Islam as we know it is the Nabawi Mosque in Al Madina. It is the first of the three holy sites of Islam. It was right around the time when Muslims had escaped from the horrors and terrors of Mecca tribes and into Madina’s newly converted Muslims. The migrant Muslims had left their homes, money, and lives back and ran into a new life in Madina—filled with hope. Even the prophet Mohammad did not have a home in Madina. But the people there were generous and hospitable that each person from Madina offered his home to a person from Mecca. After a while, however, it was time for the prophet to build a home of his own. It was also the time to find a place for Muslims to meet, pray, and gather around when something related to the Islamic Ummah comes up. So, hand in hand, Muslims built the mosque brick over brick. It was a simple mosque without any extravagant design. It was the house of Prophet Mohammad and a mosque that holds all the daily prayers. Each of its walls witnessed pious prayers, political meetings, round circles where the prophet would teach Muslims about their religion, and even a place to host visitors asking about this new religion.

Other important mosques around that period were the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Palestine which is said to be the place from which the Prophet’s Miraaj was from and the second of the three most sacred mosques. And the third most holy mosque is the Ummayad Mosque in Syria.  More and more mosques were starting to be built around the Islamic world and with each new mosque and each call for prayer, more and more people were joining the Islamic ummah. After the death of prophet Mohammad and with the following caliphates, Islam spread widely and more money was coming into the Muslim state as new conquests were done. This meant that there was room for extravagant designs in Mosques. Now, mosques were not only places for worship and gathering. They were also forms of art. They have calligraphy on the walls and huge and beautiful insides decorated with the most beautiful tiles and stones. They sometimes have calligraphy drawn in gold. As the Islamic state spread, Muslims were showing off their mosques to the world. The more beautiful the mosques, the more powerful the state is.

The Peaceful Mosque

By YOUSEF LASHIN

The peaceful mosque is influenced my many modern architects and modern ideas related to peace. There are three main aspects that are taken into consideration to form this concept of a peaceful mosque. These aspects are the influential elements, the elements used to create the mosque and lastly the form of the mosque.

            To begin with one of the influential elements were a video in which Khalid a Muslim man asks non-Muslim strangers in Leicester City Centre, England to listen to a part of the Quran. Most of the reaction was that the voice was peaceful, relaxing and the words have a deep meaning even though they don’t speech the language of the Quran or understand the words. This aspect is what effected the façade of the building, it brought up an idea of making the façade of the mosque with words of the Quran that relates to peace in Islam and that would reflect shadows on the ground inside the mosque. That effect would make the people be able to read these words with great meanings and could affect their lives in order to make the world a more peaceful place. Another influential element would be the modern architects that build modern mosques or futuristic mosques. For example, the Gothenburg Mosque designed by Björn Sahlqvist that is built in Sweden and funded by Saudi Arabia. It had a modern minaret that suits today’s environment which is the people curiosity of finding out what is inside the building which makes architects use glass and openings and of course for many other reasons.  

            Secondly, the elements that are used to create the peaceful mosque. These elements are the main element that any contemporary mosque should incorporate within a mosque. Which are the minaret which is used for acoustic purposes in which the voice of the imam calling for prayer should be heard by the neighbors, the dome in which used also for acoustic purposes in the old times before the invention of speakers and also is as a symbolic representation of the vault of heaven, the mihrab which is also called the Qibla wall usually highly decorated and it is the wall in which points toward the Qaba and it is the direction of prayer and lastly the Minbar in which the imam says his speech in a Friday prayer. Moreover, the peaceful mosques incorporates a garden that is inspired from the garden in Cordoba Mosque that has a symbolic meaning related to paradise. 

            Last but not least, the form of the peaceful mosque that is mainly cubism since it has a symbolic meaning in Islam and also relates to modernism. The symbolic meaning is related to the Qaba which is the house of god that is symmetrical and equal in four sides quoted from boundless.com “Islamic decorations and architectural motifs rely heavily on repeated square, octagonal, and star motifs, symbolizing the infinite and conveying a spirituality without the iconography of other religions.” In addition, cubism relates also to the modern world and it is the first truly modern movement emerge in art by and later on developed in architecture in the 20th century. It evolved during a period of heroic and rapid innovation between Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.

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References:

The influential video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSh5yZdEZ24

"Gothenburg Mosque." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2015

"Introduction to Mosque Architecture | A Beginner's Guide to the Arts of the Islamic World |Khan Academy." Khan Academy. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.

"Elements of Traditional Islamic Gardens." People - Opposing Views. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.

"Geometric Symbolism." Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.

"Cubism Movement, Artists and Major Works." The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.

New Age Mosque

Sterlin Sebastian

A typical mosque in today's world consists of a Dome, Minaret, prayers halls, etc..

One might even say Domes and Minarets are the most important structures in a mosque. My project is to disagree with such a stereotype that rises so often. I believe that these two structures are not useful to a mosque. I have designed a minimalistic mosque sticking to the simple concept of a mosque: non ornamentation and simplicity.

I have completely removed the dome and minaret from the mosque. In today's technologically high developed world, speakers can be easily used instead of a minaret; minarets main purpose is to announce and call for the prayer. Now days, minarets are just a wasteful piece of construction without a use. We use speakers for that purpose now. Domes are adding to the ornamentation look in a mosque. Without the dome, the flat structure gives a more simple approach to the mosque. Without big chandeliers and extra ornamentation, I have made use of daylight to give more spiritual feeling inside the mosque; helps people focus on prying and give a spiritual feeling/religious feeling. I have induced natural night using strip openings on the ceiling to give a sense of calmness. The over all building is intentional extra simple in order to maintain the Islamic culture. 

ART WORK: I have made the drawings using Revit software. Every element in the picture was custom made from scratch in the software. Everything is my own interpretation and design.

The animation video was also made using Revit walkthrough.