Archive for Arts
And among His signs…
The following video is from the 2008 launch of the Scottish-Islamic Foundation, of which I was a director at the time. After the introduction by the chair is a recitation from the Qur’an delivered by yours truly, of a passage I selected due to the universal significance of its meanings.
Here is the A. Yusuf Ali translation of the verses recited:
{ So (give) glory to God, when ye reach eventide and when ye rise in the morning;
Yea, to Him be praise, in the heavens and on earth; and in the late afternoon and when the day begins to decline.
It is He Who brings out the living from the dead, and brings out the dead from the living, and Who gives life to the earth after it is dead: and thus shall ye be brought out (from the dead).
Among His Signs in this, that He created you from dust; and then,- behold, ye are men scattered (far and wide)!
And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.
And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colours: verily in that are Signs for those who know.
And among His Signs is the sleep that ye take by night and by day, and the quest that ye (make for livelihood) out of His Bounty: verily in that are signs for those who hearken. }
[Ar-Rum 30:17-23]
Heroes with super-values
There’s been a buzz around “The 99″ for some time, but the latest news is that these Islam-inspired superheroes will soon be making their debut on British TV.
They have proved a hit from Morocco to Indonesia and were recently named as one of the top 20 trends sweeping the world by Forbes magazine. Now they are being brought to British television by Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother, with a mission to instill Islamic values in children across all faiths. [...]
They were created by Dr Naif al-Mutawa, a clinical psychologist from Kuwait, who felt Muslim children needed a new set of heroes to look up to, to counter jihadist role models. [...]
Dr al-Mutawa hopes the cartoons will have a universal appeal. He said: “It is based on attributes such as generosity and mercy. These are not things that Islam has a monopoly over.”
One rather strange point in the Independent’s report was the claim that “there will never be a full cast of 99 superheroes since it is forbidden to depict all Allah’s attributes.” I can’t see what this statement is based on, and there are two further problems with it: (1) God’s attributes cannot truly be portrayed in the first place, but these are characters just reflecting some aspect of the “99 Names”; (2) Although it’s not commonly known, God has more than 99 names, as evidenced in a supplication taught by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), in which we say:
“O Allah, I am your servant, son of Your servant, son of Your maidservant. My forelock is in Your hand; Your command over me is forever executed; Your decree over me is just. I ask You by every name belonging to You which You named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the unseen with You, that You make the Qur’an the springtime of my heart and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow and release from my anxiety.”
Buried Treasures
Sometimes I think
I’ll be on the brink
Searching for deeds
And finding these seeds
I planted in haste
But not gone to waste
As God made them grow
While I didn’t know
I hope and I pray
I’ll find them that Day
—
Sohaib Saeed, 2009
“Your own personal Jesus”
I received this by e-mail and shared my responses. It looks an interesting way to gather diverse perspectives, so do take part if interested.
The National Portrait Gallery of Scotland will be hosting an exhibition later this year entitled Rough Cut Nation.
This unique multimedia project draws together a group of young artists from around Scotland to create a dramatic collaborative installation. For the Edinburgh Festival they will construct a remixed version of Scottish history as informed by street art and graffiti culture, painted, pasted and projected directly onto the walls of the Portrait Gallery.
The project updates William Hole’s original decorative mural scheme of 1889-1898, depicting important events from Scotland’s past. This new installation exploits the empty space produced by the Gallery’s current closure for redevelopment.
The original mural by William Hole portrays elements of Scottish history with strong religious and at times Protestant overtones.
As one of the artist duos involved, we are interested in exploring religious iconography and the use of Jesus as a moral or social catalyst within both Scottish history and contemporary culture.
With that in mind we would like to ask you three questions:
1. In one word, describe who was/is Jesus?
2. In one word, what does Jesus have to do with Scottish History?
3. What impact has Jesus had on Scotland past, present and future?The answers that we collect from these questions will potentially form part of the final artwork, but will not be attributed to any one individual.
To take part: http://dufi-art.blogspot.com/2009/06/who-do-you-say-i-am.html
Islam, arts and boundaries
Below is an interview with me which forms part of a longer article by Joe Horton, back in 2007 when I was manager of the Islam Festival Edinburgh (running again this August).
—————————-
Sohaib Saeed, manager of the Islam Festival at the Edinburgh Central Mosque, steeples his fingers carefully as he speaks. His voice, though soft, carries quite a distance in this silent library directly underneath the main prayer room of the mosque. It’s early afternoon, between the noon and afternoon prayers, so the mosque is quiet.
“For sure artists can be provocative. But in sensitive times, you have to think, will this raise up our society or just encourage bigots?” he says. “To be ignorant of one’s own ignorance is the worst. It’s narcissistic — there’s no effort to ascertain what’s the truth.”
The Discover Islam Exhibition, now an official part of the Fringe Festival welcoming 20,000 visitors per season, is in many ways the watchdog of artistic representations of Islam at the Festival. The primary purpose and goal of the exhibition, Saeed explains, is to educate festival visitors as to the true teachings of Islam and to provide a factual background to the artistic and dramatic representations of Islam and Muslims that have become increasingly common at the festival in recent years.
To that end, members of the mosque are available to answer questions for five minutes or five hours on any subject, no matter how polarizing or politically taboo. The exhibition also offers recitations of the Qur’an and workshops in Arabic calligraphy that also contribute artistically to the festival.
