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Nothing is comparable to love. Nothing is comparable to the love of wisdom. Arabic calligraphy was originated to crown the divine word, the Qur’an. It is an artistic expression for the love of wisdom. The immediate impressions that capture the receiver—with the eyes, mind, heart, and soul—inside of them are, no doubt, a moment of infinity. That moment of receiving is not just related to the artistic labor. In itself, it is a product of the experience itself: the primal experience of dealing with the divine word and reaching beyond it. Arabic calligraphy is an artistic medium with which the Muslim artist was equally vanished and overwhelmed, exterminated and flooded, fashioned and ended in dealing with the scripture.
The monumental calligraphic works that we see are artistic, spiritual, and—above all—sentimental testimonies of transcendence. The state in which such works were carried, states of dhikr, of carrying out an act of worship into an artistic medium (or is it the other way?), of exemplifying the transcendental through the temporal, of expressing the awe of the divine through the marks of ink and hand strokes—just shows one unmistakable idea.
The heart of Arabic calligraphy—just as any other authentic work that stems from the soul—is a pressing out of something, something essential. What is it? Our entire being is based on it, revolving around it or breaking away from it. It is a basic unfulfilled need. It is the fulfillment of our existential nostalgia and spiritual craving for our Creator that ache our hearts.
In trying to represent and preserve our tradition, Contemporary Issues is pleased to present to you an introduction to Arabic calligraphy by Ahmed Ebeed, with samples of new calligraphic works from the Second Youth Arabic Calligraphy Exhibition, which was held under the title “Echo of Tradition,” by many professional art masters who studied and teach in the classical calligraphy schools. We have also added few samples by the most distinguished calligraphy master, Muhammad Haddad, who wrote out the Qur’an six times.
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