Waiting for Muhammad: Creative Response for Week 4
Medium: colored pencil on paper
As evidenced by the Shahadah, in which Muslims must proclaim not only their admission of one God, but also the fact that Muhammad is His prophet, clearly, veneration of Prophet Muhammad is a core element of Islam. Art and literature are used profusely to express the love that Muslims feel for their foremost prophet. Afterall, Muhammad has many roles and titles in Islam, some of which are shared with Allah himself, such as the idea of Nur Muhammad, or the “light of Muhammad.” Respect for Muhammad and emulation of his lifestyle, which is seen by Muslims as a form of worship in itself. Whether or not we are dealing with art or literature, however, the mode of reverence for Muhammad is highly tied to one’s cultural context, so that one’s surroundings (in both time and place) highly influence the ways in which one understands and expresses his or her relationship to Muhammad.
In particular, I was highly captivated reading Prof. Asani’s piece, “In Praise of Muhammad: Sindhi and Urdu Poems” in Religions of India in Practice. What was particularly fascinating for me was the Sindhi poems, which are from a region that is now Pakistan (Asani 160). Their poems illustrate the important role that local traditions play in Islamic artistic expression. As such, I have decided to illustrate my own interpretation of a scene from a Sindhi poem, in particular, that of the virahini. The virahini is a particularly significant symbol in Sindhi poetry venerating Muhammad. Virahini is a young woman who has been separated from her lover or husband, and is a widely used literary symbol used in South Asian literature, so that viraha means “longing in separation” (Asani 161).
Just as a young woman would wait for her lover (as Juliet would wait for Romeo, for example), here, the virahini, portrayed in South Asian garb of salwar kameez, leans on her balcony, staring out at the night sky. The night sky is filled with stars and the moon, which have become symbolic of Islam. However, similar to the heroine in the Sindhi poem who greatly desires to be reunited to Prophet Muhammad, the woman here longs for Muhammad, and staring out into the sky, she thinks of him and his many qualities, including his role as the guide and intercessor, and of course, as her “beloved.” As such, in my drawing, in the sky, I have not only drawn in stars, but alongside them, the names used to refer to Prophet Muhammad in the Sindhi poems, including “Prince,” “Bridegroom,” and “Master.” In the top center of the drawing, I have written out Muhammad in Arabic. The variety of names and titles referring to Muhammad interspersed in the sky are a testament to the diverse ways in which Muslims attempt to comprehend Muhammad and his role.
References
A. Asani, “In Praise of Muhammad: Sindhi and Urdu Poems,” Religions of India in Practice, 159-186.