Sufi Zikr - inspiration for a painting
This is a painting that I revisited and converted its earlier abstract form into a calligraphic experiment. Now the challenge was that in addition to the lack of training in oil painting, I was also a novice in calligraphy. Anyway, the image inside Rumi’s tomb that I posted on this blog earlier as well as the three attributes of the Almighty helped me in putting this together. The letters in the centre are Hu (affirmation of the Divine presence and a Sufi chant) and its mirror image. In Rumi’s words:
“Eternity is the mirror of the temporal, the temporal the mirror of pre-eternity - in this mirror those
two are twisted together like his tresses..” (translated by Arberry).
This was truly inspirational as I remembered the lines with a brush in my hand. Another little flash was the three words that I have remembered abundantly thanks to a guide. Alas, I am out of touch with him.
The three words, familiar and lyrical, on the right side of the painting represent the key attributes of Allah : Ar-Rahman(the Beneficient), Ar-Raheem (the Merciful), Al-Kareem (the Generous).
Muslim mystics have chanted these names since centuries in the quest to attain inner peace and closeness to Divine consciousness.
With this little feat, I am sort of feeling peaceful myself.
July 16th, 2007 at 3:37 am
[…] View entry >> This entry is filed under Personal, Religion, Rumi, Arts & Culture, All My Posts, Sufi poetry, Pakistani Art, My paintings, Sufism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 7 Responses to “Sufi Zikr - inspiration for a painting” 1 Indscribe says: July 9th, 2007 at 9:34 am bohat umda…kyaa baat hai! great to see such art…it’s rare to see such a painting. Calligraphy looks good…I think it it were done perfectly it wouldn’t have created this kind of impact… 2 Indscribe says: July 9th, 2007 at 9:35 am ….some mistake….not it it…but ‘if’ it 3 I Me My says: July 9th, 2007 at 3:24 pm Beautiful! That explanation brings to mind a poem of Eliot’s; perhaps he borrowed this from Sufi poetry… “Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past.” 4 RR says: July 9th, 2007 at 4:17 pm Adnan and IMM: great feedback - but I have a long journey ahead …alas Am touched by your comments 5 MysticSaint says: July 9th, 2007 at 4:59 pm beautiful indeed! 6 Shueyb Gandapur says: July 10th, 2007 at 1:50 pm The choice of colours for the background is beautiful. 7 Irving says: July 13th, 2007 at 1:13 am This painting came into being as an abstraction, now the calligraphy of inspiration has transformed it into a love poem in color for Him. […]
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:10 am
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