The Tree of Islam

By Aisha Buhari Abdullahi

My artwork or idea was not inspired by any artist or public figure. I looked at the project theme and asked myself what I think are the major problem with the world and Islam. I asked myself many questions like: what did we do to non-Muslims? What is it that makes us different? Do we fit to be on this planet? Are we less of humans in others’ eyes? But then I realized my mum always said, “Fix the monster in you before you start pointing at other monsters”.

Whatever unrest between Muslims and non-Muslims cannot be fixed until we fix what is within our walls.  This theory inspired my project. I inclusive, we tend to think one Muslim is better than another or the ways of one Muslim is wrong just because it is not like ours or an Arabian Muslim is better than the African Muslim and many other absurd beliefs.

            I also went forward to ask myself, “On a normal circumstance, can a mango grow on apple tree? Obviously not, we would wait eternally to see it grow.” The tree I drew represents Islam as a religion. The flags represent the countries in the world from a random selection as the fruits of Islam. We can never see ourselves as the same until we start to view every Muslim as a part of tree trying to wait for destiny or end reward. One person has no right to criticize or judge another’s lifestyle unless it directly affects him or her.

            Islam does not accommodate racism or stereotyping or gender maltreatment or maltreatment of any being so why should we adopt it as a lifestyle and call it Islam? We can only fix our issues when we practice the religion the way it was brought from Allah and the way Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). After all, the Prophets mentioned the Qur’an all came from different parts of the world, which proves equality. Other people cannot see the religion as a beautiful religion that promotes peace if we don’t show them through our actions and attitudes.

            Children have to be educated from a young age that we are all humans and the same. They also need to be told that people have little insignificant differences due to cultural and geographical differences and only Allah knows why he made us all that way.

Rumi and Peace

By Ahmet Kaan Akkaya

In my artwork, I chose to focus on calligraphy and 

 Rumi also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī Mawlānā is a very popular person in the history of Islam. He was a 13^th century Sufi mystic, poet and an Islamic scholar. His works have been largely studied by many people throughout centuries all over the world. His spirituality has influenced many nations among which are the Turks, Greeks, Iranians and Muslims of South Asia. His works of poems have been studied and translated into various languages across the globe. He has originally written mostly in Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Greek. His works have also influenced the literature in many cultures such has the Persian, Turkish, the Ottoman, Punjabi, Azerbaijani, Hindi and Urdu.

I chose to include in my artwork, the symbols of Sufi Dervishes which are practicing the active meditation commonly known as Sufi whirling. Sufi whirling is a form of meditation which is active or Sama that the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order still practice today. It is a part of a worship ceremony in which, the dervishes also known as the semazens, aim to reach perfection. During their ceremony they aim to get in touch by god and the music to let go of ones ego or selfish desires. It is done by spinning the body by going round and round in circles, imitating the movements of the planets and how they orbit the sun in our solar system. The semazens practice many different rituals and the most important and main one out of all of them is called the Dhikr. Dhikr means the remembering of Allah. In this practice the semazens recite some devotional Islamic prayers and some physical movements are then added to the practice. Mainly it’s the dancing and the whirling that takes part of the physical aspect of Dhikr to what is believed to be the ascension towards the meditative trance state of the Sufi Dervishes.

            

This practice has originated around the 12^th century by the Sufi fraternities. It was a leadership in which every member would follow a specific discipline in service of a leader. These members were called Persian Dervishes. They were responsible for the organization of Islamic expression of life of religion. It is believed that the Prophet was the original creator of Sufism by whom the study of Sufism has been passed down from.

            

I had a wide range of colors to pick from in the beginning of my project. I chose to go by the color blue because of its appealing meaning to me. Blue is used in the Islamic tradition and history in many ways. It is a color that is mainly used in mosques. There are Blue Mosques in many countries in the Middle East, one of them being in my country, Turkey. The color blue gives the observer a feeling of freedom, hope and heavenly paradise. It is also a commonly used for protection purposes. In my country it is commonly used against what is called the “evil eye”. It is common belief that wearing at least one piece of blue item will keep the “evil eyes” away from a person. For these reasons I chose to include the color blue in my artwork as it adds to the meaning behind my artwork of Peace in Islam.

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.