Creative Exploration

Hello everyone, thanks for visiting my blog, Creative Exploration! I created this blog for the final project assignment for the class, For the Love of God and His Prophet: Religion, Literature, and the Arts in Muslim Cultures. This class is under the Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding general education department at Harvard College, and it views the religion, Islam, through the lenses of literature, arts, and culture.

This is my first religion class, ever. I am not a religious person, and I have only been minimally exposed to Buddhism and Christianity through my family and friends. So, I was nervous going into this class, and worried that I would have a hard time connecting to the course material. At the beginning, I did have a hard time. The reason why I had not taken up a religion of my own was because I had trouble accepting the fact that one person, God, created everything and is better than any human or creature would ever be. I thought that was very selfish of him to put that in the Bible, and I was finding similar themes of greatness and awe in our readings of the Qur’an (the Islamic religious text). I struggled to understand the course material because I was very skeptical of religion and the idea of God. However, after meeting with Professor Asani, I came out with a better understanding of the course structure and material. He suggested that I look at the material as a cultural exploration where I am trying to understand a way of life, rather than approaching this as a course about religion. This bit of advice is what I have stuck with for the semester and I have come off better educated about Muslim culture. This blog is the culmination of my studies of the Muslim culture, and as a result, my cultural interpretation of the religion of Islam.

From the beginning of the course, Professor Asani had been very clear about using literature and art to contextualize Islam in various cultures, to humanize a religion that has been so dehumanized by current events. I had never before thought about studying religion through an artistic lens before, and I thought it was a fun way to begin my religious studies. Art and literature can be interpreted and appreciated on its own, and when added to the context of a culture, it add meaning to the first impression of an unreligious scholar like me. Art expression is also a safe way to express criticism/skepticism in an ambiguous way, as well as a safe way to explore culture. I believe that it allows the use of everyday objects to introduce an abstract or complicated topic to an audience. I hoped to do the same in my art projects, not only to introduce my interpretation of the course materials to others, but also to better understand the concepts myself. In my blog, Creative Expressions, I have a total of 6 creative art pieces where I try to grapple with understanding the basics of Islamic expression from a nonreligious point of view.

Throughout the course I had been especially fascinated by the ideas of spirituality and mysticism because I had not experienced spirituality in the context of religion. Lucky for me, a lot of the art work and literature we first explored described and expressed the feeling of spirituality. My first blog post is about the influence of Islam in a person’s life from childhood through adulthood, entitled “The Quran and Me” (medium: poetry). Islam, and religion in general, is a very personal affair that develops with the individual as the individual become older. This blog post serves as an outsider’s view (me) on an insider’s view of his own religion. This first post also reflects the importance of the Qur’an in everyday life, and how much devotional time it takes to understanding its meaning. In addition, the sound of the words can have such a strong sentimental meaning to the study of Islam no matter the culture. This is also reflective of how the practice of religion changes with the circumstances in the local context and how growing older will also change your interaction with religion. Islam has been interpreted from various points in history, and that context influences the interpretation. Even in today’s Muslim society, people are trying to reinterpret the Qur’an to include women’s rights and modern twists.

My second blog post continues to explore the Qur’an, but looking at the soundscape it creates rather than just as a religious text. In Muslim cultures, Quranic verses can be heard throughout cities and towns throughout the day. They are often played from buildings as a reminder of the presence of Islam in everyday life. The Qur’an itself is a piece of artwork that was first orally transmitted then transcribed into text. The oral Qur’an, when recited correctly, elicits an emotional response from the reciter and audience. This theme was hard for me to grasp because I did not understand Arabic, so I tried to understand the rules of recitation in the way kids could try to. I created cartoon drawings of suggested rules to follow while reciting the Qur’an, so that I could also easily follow them. This cartoon drawing is also in a sense poking fun of the fact that I couldn’t really comprehend the idea of an oral religion, or the spirituality achieved through hearing and reading the words in a particular manner. However, I hope that after viewing my blog post, viewers would have a better sense on how to build the foundations to incorporating the importance of correct Qur’an recitation into Muslim culture.

I continued to explore mysticism and spirituality in my next two blog posts as well. My third blog post, “Islamic Mosque Décor” is a marker drawing on paper. The symbol of Muslim spirituality is the mosque. All mosque have a set layout with a qibla wall that faces Mecca, a mihrab, and mimbar. However, their designs set them apart. Mosques can be beautifully decorated buildings that have varying Islamic motifs, or they can be simple buildings with no decorations. In designing the mosque and creating the artwork to go in it, the artist finds a connection with God. They also include into their design art that would remind others of God, or simply images that were only meant for God. What is considered to be Islamic art is highly debated, and the argument is whether or not something can be categorized as Islamic art based on cultural contexts or with spirituality alone. This was a really fun coloring exercise for me, and I came away from this understanding that I could appreciate what someone tells me is Islamic art, but as far as understanding how this are evokes spiritual intimacy with God is something I am currently not able to understand.

I finished off my mystical and spiritual exploration by creating “The Seven Hearts” drawing (media: marker on paper). This drawing is based off “The Conference of the Birds,” a poem written by Farid al-Din Attar as a spiritual allegory for the journey Muslims take to get to know God to the fullest. As most poems are, this poem also had ambiguous references, so I focused on the story of the Seven Valleys. The Seven Valleys are hurdles that each Muslim must overcome to reach a level of spirituality where you are able to meet God. I made depictions of what each valley’s challenge was and what the lesson I interpreted each valley concluded with. It helped me visually the journey that each bird took. I chose the shape of a heart because God is seen as the beloved in Muslim piety and spirituality. As a non-religious scholar, the idea that something other than a physical human is the ultimate beloved in life was different for me to comprehend. In general, Muslim spirituality involves weeping for the Beloved, longing for the Beloved, and always seeking to be with the Beloved.

For my last two blog posts I decided to flip from learning about the spirituality of Islam, and focus on the current issues present in the Middle East and Islamic nations. I felt like it was important for me to understand what was going on and how to be a better educated person about my opinions and the media’s opinions. My blog posts are titled “Hidden Resistance” (media: collage) and “Dimensions vs Dichotomies” (media: charcoal). It was mentioned during that class that it would be difficult to understand Muslim culture today without understanding the conflicts that impact the societies. This goes back to the idea that changes with time will affect how people interact with religion. From my personal view, I think that people should be allowed to choose how they live their lives because everyone has many dimensions to their identity. In “Hidden Resistance” I show that although the outer surface may not show it, underneath a given identity is a unique person that should be allowed to express themselves. In “Dimensions vs Dichotomies” I reflect a similar idea, that each person has many dimensions and should not be forced to be categorized into one or two. I feel that more people should think this way more often and be more open minded. These categories that Muslims are now being put in, both in their home countries and in foreign countries, detract from the spirituality of the practice of Islam. I certainly felt this as these last two posts were very different from the first four, and there was little mention of religion in either.

I am really thankful for the opportunity to take this course my last semester in college for a few reasons. 1. I was finally able to explore and gain a better understanding of Islam and religion. 2. I was able to explore religion through art, and be creative this semester. 3. I am coming away from the class, better equipped to make sense of the media and current events. I had a lot of fun making the art for these blog posts, and I hope you enjoy them too.

For my last blog post, I decided to focus on “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, both the novel and the movie. Week 13, we read about contemporary Muslim expression using hip-hop and jazz music. We also saw the youtube video #IMPSTERZ about a contemporary twist to wearing hijabs. All these reflect a modern twist to an old religion. The Reluctant Fundamentalist also explored the life of a modern man who had been influenced by western ideals, then returned to Pakistan. The movie and the book were very different, but both highlighted the fact that people are traditionally divided into two sides. I am exploring this as categorization that is imposed upon you. In the book, the story of a conversation between the Changez and a stranger is told to us by Changez, the narrator, and the reader only knows what is happening through Changez’s interpretations and narration. This presents a very one sided story, and I felt this reflected the current state of affairs in Islamic countries. Muslims are forced to identify with one way of life, and that has caused a lot of civil unrest. The movie is very different in the fact that it shows more dynamic scenes, and stories from the two parties in the conversation. Not only do we get to see the two sides, we also get some background information of the two main characters. I thought this was interesting because it recognizes that although people are currently forced to abide by a certain way of life, there are variations in personalities.

For the art component of the blog post, I decided to do a charcoal drawing to reflect the differences between the book and the film. The cube on a checkered background represents dimensionalism while the square on a striped background represents dichotomy. The movie was dynamic and showed the story line from multiple character’s points of view, while the book was flat and one-sided. I hoped that the dimensionality would be taken away from the object (person) with the representation of the square. In terms of modern day Muslim culture, I think that practices and policies should take on more of a cubed perspective instead of the 2D square perspective it is currently in. A cube has six sides, while my cube only has three sides, each side represents a different character of the cube. I shaded each side a different color to represent that. The cube cannot exist without one side, and each side adds to the cube. This is a metaphor for people as well, since people are influenced in life by many experiences, and shouldn’t be categorized into one category. With western influences and modern ideas, these should be reflected in the way Muslims live their lives today in Islamic countries.

For this blog post, I chose to reflect on Week 12’s theme, literature and art as critique and resistance, with a collage inspired by Persepolis. In one frame, Marjane is depicted with half of her in front of a “modern and avant-garde” background and the other half wearing a veil in front of an Arabesque background. This shows a struggle with her family’s life style and the changes occurring with society. This struggle grows throughout the book as war breaks out between Iran and Iraq, as well as a civil war between those for the Islamic Republic and those who did not conform. As time went on and as Marjane got older, she witnessed more and more war and experienced more and more push back from society against her family’s modern and avant-garde life style. While she continued to wear her veil in public, her home and apartment hid all the prohibited joys that made life bearable and kept her sane. Those objects include, cassette tapes, Michael Jackson, denim, nail polish, cigarettes, board games, parties, and alcohol. I assembled them on the collage to resemble the shape of the veil Marjane had to wear. In the background, I pasted pictures of the repressors, bombs, broken glass, and causes of turmoil. The oil rig is present because Marjane’s dad had said “as long as there is oil in the Middle East we will never have peace.” This collage is a piece of work that highlights Marjane’s use of self-expression to resist the wrong beliefs of those in power. She wears these characteristics like a veil that protects her from the hardships in the background. She uses the art of the west to critique the current regime and resist it.

I really enjoyed reading The Conference of the Birds. In addition, the art piece I had seen on our fieldtrip to the MET in NYC about The Conference of the Birds prompted me to create an art piece about it. The Conference of the Birds is an expression of Sufi piety in the form of a mathnawi, a narrative epic. It is an epic poem composed of rhyming couplets, telling the story of the journey of the birds to find their king. They are led on this journey by the hoopoe bird across the seven valleys of yearning, love, knowledge, detachment, unity, bewilderment, and poverty/nothingness to learn that the king they were looking for were themselves. Thousands of birds has set off on this journey, but only 30 birds made it. The journey was representative of a physical and spiritual journey each person has to make to understand the true nature of God. Each bird had begun with vices that prevented them from being with God, and these vices also exist in humans.

This epic poem was also used to reflect the belief that God is the beloved, God is the totality of existence, and that God is discoverable within each person. In my art work, I depicted this journey to find the beloved as a layered heart with the light at the middle. Each layer of the heart depicts a different scene from a different valley. The first task is to yearn for God and the journey, which I depicted as a bird flying toward the heart. The next layer is love, which is depicted by the fire that is above reason. The second valley is depicted by many different paths that individuals must embark to get to God. “Here every pilgrim takes a different way, And different spirits different rules obey.” The third valley is depicted with clouds in the sky because everything is contradictory and painful with love, but you can look up, forget everything and feel happy by loving God. In the valley of Unity, you discover that everything that God created is “locked in singularity,” and everything in nature has an essence of God. Next layer in is the Valley of Bewilderment, where you’re blindly following your love for God, uncertain of the present state of things. The last layer is the Valley of Poverty and Nothingness, and though you have nothing, you are able to reach the light that is shed by God. The different layers of the heart is the self-journey to discover God at the center of your universe.

For this post, I chose to focus on the theme of arts in mosques discussed in week 6. I chose to color in a design I found on online that resembled what I thought could be considered Islamic art from Frishmann and Khan’s, The Mosque, and the film, Islamic Art: Mirror of an Invisible World. The piece that I found had elements of “arabesque” with the overall flower and leaves design. It also had elements of geometry as the piece is symmetric along multiple axes and the pattern was created with multiple repeating shapes. As my hand got tired while coloring these shapes, I realized that this geometry can go on for infinity just like the reach of God. I chose to color with marker because the color comes out brighter with marker than color pencils or crayons, and I thought that a piece that would be in a mosque should be decorated in vibrant and attractive colors considering that Islamic art is viewed as highly decorative.

Through coloring this design, I also tried to engage with the debate between Necipoglu and Nasr on Islamic art. I certainly felt that even though this piece was purely geometric, it felt like I was creating art and being artistic. Through this experience I would have to agree with Nasr’s view on Islamic art. Nasr argues that there is an Islamic soul and spirituality behind the art is what makes it Islamic art. There is an inner meaning associated with Islamic art that would not be understood if one were not Islamic. Through this week’s project, though I felt like I was creating art, I did not feel like my art was Islamic. I did not have the divine driving force that overwhelmed me to make it seem like I was creating an artwork that made it distinctive from any other patterned design. Thus, while I feel like it is important to recognize the reflection of changes in Islamic cultures and societies over time influences the art produced by Muslims at that time period, as argued by Necipoglu, I think what makes art Islamic is the spiritual guidance one obtains when making the art.

I chose to reflect on the theme of Quran as God’s sacred sounds and the importance of recitation in Islamic culture in week 3. Particularly, I chose to focus on the reading from Ghazali, “External Rules of Qur’an Recitation.” Ghazali looks at Quran recitation through a legalistic lens rather than a mystic lens, which is different from the other readings for this week. For example, in “The Sound of the Divine in Daily Life,” Nelson explains that the Quran is “the miracle of Muhammad’s prophethood,” its sounds transcend the words, and it reflects the divine “moment of revelation”. These descriptions are similar to other author’s portrayals of the feelings one gets while listening to the Quran. Ghazali on the other hand systematically broke down the exact posture, the pace of reading, the state of the reciter, and more, rather than focus on the mystic powers of the Quran. Because it was so different, Ghazali’s text stood out to me.

For my artistic creation, I made a cartoon for each of the ten rules Ghazali proposed in his work, and switched the audience from adults to children. I got the idea to make it a guide for kids from his ranking system of what was the best, praiseworthy, or just okay. This seemed like it could be used to teach a lesson to a child. The cartoons were meant to be simple and easy to understand by looking at them. They could be put together in a booklet to be given to a child who is starting to read the Quran.

The Quran and Me (Haikus)

On my mother’s lap

I repeat the sounds Bismil

I was five years old

Her warmth was traded

For the cold madrasa, whack

I was nine years old

A deep connection

Formed for the text out of love

For god and his words

I begin to ponder

But others passively read

As adolescence

Be patient and read

With discontent in present

I was now older

With time the meaning

Changes, a timeless book with

A meaning in time

For week 2, I was really attracted to Reading the Qur’an by Ziauddin Sardar because it gave me a personal perspective of what it meant to be a Muslim and read the Quran. Author explains his process of learning the Quran from when he was little to him as an academic, and I try to reflect his thoughts with haikus. Each stanza represents a different time period in his life. From the beginning he has a deep love for the sacred text from the experience with his mother, though he does not completely understand the meaning of the words. This love for the text is still present even though he begins to go to religious schools, where the madrasas are not as personable. He also states that as people get older they read the Quran passively just to perform the act of devotion, but that’s not understanding. He says that a “complex text such as the Quran requires patience, and reveals and unfolds itself with multiple readings, diligent scrutiny and continuous and constant contemplation.” Thus with time, his views and understandings of the passages of the Quran change. Different life experiences that cause discontent with the present will also influence the how someone interprets the verses, and that is why the book has meaning in time.

This was a great read for me as this is the first time I’ve had engagement with religion. I really love that something you’ve been around since you were young can develop with you as you grow and change. Even though the relationship you have to the meaning changes, the deep connection and love that blossomed from childhood can still underlying the study of your religion. I can’t think of anything else that can transcend through time and the life of a person other than religion. From this week, it seems that the construction of Islam and Muslim culture begins from a time when someone is very young and it persist throughout adulthood. The Quran was designed to grow with the person and be more complicated in layers as the person learns more of the verses. It is really interesting that this was built into the structure of the Quran.

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