fvafa

For my design, I chose to represent Allah through the medium of traditional calligraphy.  I elongated the letters and shaped them so that in the abstract sense, they resemble a vase containing flowers, which remind us of life and beauty.  The flowers, growing upward from the ground and seemingly out of nothing, reference the “Clot” verse in the Qur’an, where it states that humans were created from a clot of dust.  The asymmetry of my design makes it unique, which is a reflection of God’s uniqueness.

I also decided to incorporate extra calligraphy.  On the alif, I wrote the first verse of Persian poet Saadi’s Golestan in Farsi.  Since golestan in Farsi means a garden, it again references the flower theme explained above.   I chose poetry as a medium because it is concise and simple yet very deep in meaning.  There is a lot of power contained in a few words of poetry.  That is what I think about when I think about Allah.  The word itself is very short, written very simply, yet it is very powerful.  In my portrayal of Allah, I hoped to convey this same duality of simplicity and complexity through the medium of poetry.

I chose the Golestan verse because it is dedicated to God.  In the verse, Saadi describes why we should be thankful to God.  For each breath, we should be thankful for two reasons.  The first reason is that by inhaling, we continue to live.  The second reason is that when we exhale, the air, having passed through our body, has invigorated and nourished us.  Again, this verse references the flower theme, and thus one of the many roles of Allah as the Creator and Nurturer.