A Little Inspiration

NUN WA AL-QALAM

Analysis

This work was made in response to the reading “Calligraphy and Islamic Culture” by A. Schimmel. Specifically, the work was inspired by the section of the reading that deals with the relation of calligraphy and mysticism. The response has been done in soft pastel, and depicts a deep blue background on which a tablet of sandstone floats mystically. Next to the tablet is the letter Nun, which acts as a holder for a scribe’s pen. The work is a visual representation of the mythical origins of the written word, the scripture and divine predestination and decree. Schimmel explores a side of the Islamic origin myth that tries to explain not just human existence, but the more essential idea of primordial existence itself. Sura 68 begins with the verse “Nun, and the pen…” The meaning of this beginning, as Schimmel points out (78), has never been clear. According to a prominent tradition of the Prophet that Schimmel quotes, however, the pen (al-qalam) was the first thing that God created. It was capable of writing on the Lauh-e-Mahfooz, the well preserved tablet. According to one tradition, the pen has already dried up and therefore man can do nothing to change his fate or destiny. It is this notion of a pre-written fate that is depicted in the work, where the words “Al Naseeb”, “Al Maktub”, “Al Qismah”, and “Al Qudra” are written, each of them pertaining to the idea of predestination and fate. Specifically, “Al Maktub” means “that which is written”, and as such, cannot be changed.

The Nun serves a great symbolic purpose in the work. Ibn Arabi related one tradition according to which the Nun is associated with an angel, An-Nuni, who is the representation of the First Intellect, and is distinctive in its ability to “contain” knowledge. As Schimmel points out so accurately, the shape of the letter recommends its use as the ‘primordial inkpot’ (79) and it is this notion that is represented in the work. The two tradtions have been mixed together in the work: the Nun, representing the inkpot, is shown as being empty, and so the pen has dried up.