Aliya's response blog

I made this piece by cutting out the Arabic for Nur Muhammad using a photo I took at a market in Istanbul. Nur Muhammad or Light of Muhammad is an important concept for Muslims. I have used this picture to represent it, because, often the lamp is used as a metaphor for the Prophet. Muslims think of Muhammad as a guiding lamp that shows the correct path in life, or sunnah. By cutting the words out of the page I create a way of seeing through the page, which evokes the way the Prophet gave Muslims a lens through which to see past obscurity and become enlightened. By using the Arabic text I also allude to the Qur’an, the Prophet’s greatest gift to the Muslim people.

Light is associated with creation. It is light that brings beings into existence out of nothingness. It is the creative act of Allah. In one worldview, every light in the universe is but a reflection of God’s light and his power, and knowledge. “Allah created His creation in darkness,” said the Prophet,”then He sprayed them with His light. Those whom this light reached became rightly guided, while those it did not went astray.”

The importance of light is not just in being, and non-being but also in believing and not believing. Light is God’s gift to the believer. It is knowledge handed from above. The light of the Prophet is the source of the light of all believers. 

In the Miracles of Muhammad, part of J. Knappert’s Myths and Legends of the Swahili, which we read for class these two significances are linked in a discussion about the conception of Muhammad, “…the almighty created the seed of the prophets out of a handful of His light… God decided that he would send one of these sparks to earth from time to time, and with it he would reveal the Light of His Wisdom…. the largest and brightest of these fiery sparks He picked out first and set it apart. That would become the essence of Muhammad’s soul.”

I was particularly attracted by the use of light as a metaphor for knowledge, and faith. I find the idea particularly beautiful. With this concept in mind, I looked at the photo in a new light. Not just as a beautiful collection of objects in a market, but also as a testament to the values of the culture which created them. They are symbolic of a powerful world vision.