Of Art and Literature

 
Learning about the spiritual aspect of Islam has been my favourite part of the seminar. The idea of spiritual uplifting involves a lessening of the self and distancing the self from the material world. However, many a times, as we saw in the Beggar’s Strike, this spirituality was misused for material gains. Again, we saw this in the Suns of Independence. However, we also had examples such as Haneen from the Wedding of Zein and Arafah, to some extent, from the Children of the Alley. Their spirituality was validated by their removedness from worldly things. Here, in my art, I have used a dervish because I love their message of give and take as represented by their hands and I have shown that the dervish has found an exit from the world by ways of his spiritual journey. And, indeed, it is a beautiful thing to remove yourself from a world that will otherwise consume you.