Arabic Calligraphy

Culture Entry #2
Will Orman

The origins of Arabic calligraphy lie in the desire of Islamic leaders to avoid using images to represent God or his creations, as this practice might have led to idolatry. Calligraphy is also considered to be inherently imbued with religious significance because the Qur’an was written in Arabic. For these reasons calligraphy is used in almost all forms of Islamic religious expression to this day.

There are various types of scripts with particular characteristics that distinguish them. Kufic writing, which is more commonly found in mosques in the western Arab world and also on ancient coins, can be identified by a somewhat geometric style and a focus on horizontal lines. It is now primarily used for decoration, usually with less readability.

Cursive styles, which are more legible and easier to write than Kufic, were first developed in the 10^th century in a movement spearheaded by Ibn Muqla Shirazi, a Persian official in the Abbasid Caliphate. There were originally six different scripts, though some of them are more difficult to distinguish between for lack of examples in ancient texts. The most common was Naskh, which was eventually used for the Qur’an and is the basis of modern print.

Thuluth, which means one third, can be identified by the sloping style of each letter, and it is named for the principle that one third of each letter must slope. 

Other scripts include Tawqi’ and Muhaqqaq, each of which have miniature versions, Riqaa’ and Rihani respectively. Tawqi was used primarily to sign official acts, and Muhaqqaq was often used to duplicate loose sheets of the Qur’an. The word muhaqqaq means consummate or clear, and was originally used to describe particularly well-executed calligraphy.

Tawqi:

Muhaqqaq:

To circumvent the issue of visual representation, some calligraphers produced calligrams, which could be human-like figures using written words like Allah and Muhammad woven into each other, as well as animals with religious significance and various man-made objects such as boats and mosques. This practice is connected to Muslim mysticism and is found in many other countries surrounding the Arab world, such as Turkey, old Persia, and India.

Professional calligraphers generally do not acknowledge calligrams as appropriate usage of calligraphy, but this form of expression continues to be very popular. A graduate from my high school in Nashville, Everitte Barbee, moved to Beirut and makes calligrams on commission, focusing on such projects as representing the entire Qur’an with different images and occasionally on social commentary about the Arab world. 

http://everitte.org/

Sources:

http://www.arabiccalligraphy.com/classic-types/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_calligraphy

http://islamicart.com/main/calligraphy/index.html

http://everitte.org/

Emily Caccam: Culture Portfolio

Culture Entry #2: Five Broken Cameras

Emily Caccam

While sifting through the Netflix documentary section, I came across Five Broken Cameras, a 2012 documentary film that shows the first-hand accounts of Palestinian resistance movements from the perspective Emad Burnat, a Palestinian farmer living in the West Bank village of Bil’in.

Burnat bought his first camera in 2005 originally for family videos. However, that same year, Israeli settlements began spreading onto Bil’in farmland, extending beyond the borders established in the 1967 Peace Agreement with Egypt. When Bil’in villagers responded with non-violent protests, Burnat began documenting the evolution of the movement. Over the course of about five years, Burnat cycles through five cameras, each of which is broken in conflict during the protests (and thus inspiring the title behind the film title). Structured around the first five years of Burnat’s youngest son, Gibreel, the film highlights how integral violence and conflict is in these bordering villages.

One of the most memorable parts of the film was when Gibreel says some of his first words: wall, cartridge, and army. While I was excited when I recognized the term “al-jeysh”, I was also saddened that this precious little child’s first memories of the world were those of war.

I was also fascinated to learn that the co-director of the film is Guy Davidi, an Israeli filmmaker. In fact, Davidi wrote the script for Burnat’s narration and did the majority of the editing. I was surprised to see that an Israeli was so vocal about a very anti-Israeli issue. This fact highlights that many different cultures – not just Palestinians – want Israel to return to the 1967 boundaries.

Overall, I found the film to be extremely interesting and well executed. It is definitely a personal favorite and I suggest that anyone interested in the Israeli-Palestine conflict to watch it. While it is obviously a one-sided film considering that it is made by a Palestinian protester, it offers a unique perspective to an important international issue that too many people are uniformed about. I suggest that people interested in learning more about the conflict should watch this film and a pro-Israel film shortly after to get a well-rounded understanding.

Julia Schryver: Mounir Fatmi, Redefining Contemporary Arab Art

Mounir Fatmi

Mounir Fatmi is a Moroccan artist who works with multi-media designs. Though he is currently working in paris, his works are closely related to his life in Morocco, The Middle East, Islam, and the Arabic language.  Mounir has been able to create masterpieces that start a conversation between modernity and tradition and how religion has changed over the passage of time.  His work had been shown all over the world and he is one of the most famous Moroccan artists working today.  

Fatmi is famous for the global quality of his work, where he discusses worldly themes dealing with themes of terrorism, religion, acceptance, and nationalism.  A controversial but respected artist in the Middle East and North Africa, Fatmi is quickly becoming an extremely important figure in the Arab Contemporary Art scene.  

Though the meanings behind his works are not always so clear, the ambiguity of his works aid in the starting of conversations.  Fatmi's work called the Paradox, shows verses from the Quran cut out of the saw of a steel cutter. The juxtaposition between religion and machine create an interesting discussion of modernity while demonstrating the artists own qualms about his faith. Fatmi's most recent pieces reflect his interest in continuing this discussion.

Another example of Fatmi continuine the conversation between tradition and modernity can be seen in his work Maximum Sensation where the artsist covered skateboards with traditional prayer rugs.

Mounir Fatmi is still in the early stages of his artistic career but he is already proving to be a top contender in the art world. He has the potential to help bring attention to more North African and Middle Eastern artists that deserve to be seen by the rest of the world.

Cultural Entry #2 (Alexandra Blankman)

Throughout my first year at Boston University, I have sought out Arab restaurants throughout the Boston area because of my love for Middle Eastern cuisine. Most recently, I came across a Middle Eastern café in Cambridge called Sofra Bakery. Specifically, Sofra’s Bakery is a fusion of Turkish, Lebanese and Persian foods. The bakery was incredible! My friend and I ate from the Meze bar, which included many small plates that we shared with each other. Specifically, we ate a date-braised turnip, muhammara, mujadara and hummus. This classic Middle Eastern dish made me think about how the food fits into the greater Arab culture. I did some research and realize that an Arabic cuisine is more than just a meal. In fact, the whole concept of the meal is based on the idea of hospitality. An Arab meal should always be one of joy and warmth. There are many customs of an Arabic meal that is indicative of this kind of generosity. For example, the host of the meal will generally invite guests to taste each dish and encourage them to take things from each plate to enjoy all of the flavors. This is how the tradition of many small plates within the same meal, or Mezze, came into practice in Arab culture. It also shows me that a country’s food is not only a reflection of its culture but also of its history. For example, I couldn’t help but notice that whipped feta and tzatziki was on Sofra Bakery’s menu. I associate these foods with the Greece and the Mediterranean. However, these foods infiltrated Arab culture because of the continued interaction between these regions over centuries. It is for this reason that Arab cuisine also incorporates some influences from Turkish, Spanish, Italian and French food. In turn, all different types of cuisines from around the world have been influenced by Arab cuisine. In fact, the Arabs introduced Artichockes, Bananas, cherries, coffee, dates, strawberries, sugar, grapefruit, eggplants and rice to the Western world. All of these foods eventually became staples of the Western diet. It is for this reason that a country’s food can tell us so much about a country’s culture and history, http://www.canadianarabcommunity.com/arabiccuisine.php

Chris Hourani Cultural Entry #2

Chris Hourani Socialism and Islam Since becoming independent from colonial powers, many of the relatively young Islamic nations have struggled to find a balance between western economic ideologies and religion. Although existing in a predominantly capitalist world, the Muslim world has found socialism to be most compatible with the Islamic religion. The Prophet Muhammad advocated for social equity and some of his companions went as far as to promote the redistribution of wealth from the ruling classes to lower classes during the Uthman caliphate. The amiable attitude towards socialism stems from the egalitarian nature of Islam amongst social groups. Islamic socialism can also draw roots from Muhammad’s rule in Medina, creating a quasi-welfare state. This relationship between ideology and religion can be seen in modern nations with significant Muslim populations. This historical friendliness toward socialism manifested itself in many of the young countries with Muslim majority populations after the decolonization of World War II. After independence from France, the Algerian FLN, which led the fight for independence, had to decide what type of government to implement. They chose to accept socialism as the official economic system of Algeria while having Islam be the official religion. Similarly, the nationalist Neo-Dustur party in Tunisia was tightly knit to trade Unions such as the UGTT during its struggle for independence. As a result, they too chose to adopt a pseudo-socialist economic policy. This pattern repeated itself in other countries. The Socialist party in mostly Muslim Azerbaijan had a sizeable influence over that country’s politics. What really makes this phenomenon interesting is the fact that even after adopting socialism, these countries were not black listed as communist nations. With the U.S.-Soviet dichotomy ever present in the early years of these countries’ modern history, they were able to avoid bumping heads with either superpower. They chose to follow and stick with the non-alignment and were able to navigate the treacherous waters of diplomacy during the Cold War without any major conflict arising from economic ideology. In the wake of the Arab Spring of 2011, many people from the West have stated that Western-style democracy and capitalism is the best form of government and economic system for the revitalized nations. Although this may seem logical and morally right from the perspectives of many Westerners, it cannot be neglected that religion, generally playing a larger role in the society of Muslim countries, plays and will play a major role in the decision of what road to take in those countries. Sources: Islam, the Straight Path by John Esposito Modern Algeria by John Reudy A History of Modern Tunisia by Kenneth J. Perkins

Cultural Entry #2 Taylor Resteghini

In searching for a place to study abroad that would complement my Arabic studies, I have become interested in learning more about Morocco. The BU study abroad program is specifically located in Rabat, a large city with a mix of old and new structures. The program includes service projects like teaching English or internships in both the summer and school year. All levels of Arabic classes are offered as well as additional classes on history, Islam, politics and foreign policy. I decided to do some background research on the history and culture off the country.

The capital city of the Kingdom of Morocco is Rabat, although the largest city is Casablanca. Moroccans are predominately of Berber (indigenous North African) and Arabic decent. The Berber people have been living in North Africa for centuries and lived in the mountainous areas but in more recent years many have moved to the cities for work. The official languages of Morocco are Berber and Arabic. The distinctive group of Moroccan Arabic dialects are collectively called Darija. A lesser amount of the population speaks French, Spanish and English. Before its independence in 1956, Morocco was divided into French and Spanish zones. In the 1960s, Hassan II suppressed domestic opposition. Human Rights Investigations confirmed a large number of rights violations cases. However, Hassan's son and current leader, Mohammed VI, has introduced less restrictive economic and social policies. He revised the constitution in response to "Arab Spring" protests, and appointed a new government in 2012. Some have protested against the failure to meet some democratic and economic expectations, but the country overall is experiencing improvement.

The currency in Morocco is called the Dirham and its main products include minerals, seafood and citrus. Green tea with mint and sweetened with sugar, called Maghrebi green tea, is a popular beverage. The most famous dishes include couscous, pastilla, and harira. Chicken is the most widely eaten meat. 

Morocco offers many site-seeing opportunities. Older cities commonly have mosques with beautiful towers (minarets), busy bazaars, old medieval medinas and fortresses (kasbahs). The university called al-Qarawiyin was founded in the city of Fes and is debated to be the oldest university in the world. Many mosques do not allow entrance to non-Muslims, except for some restored ones in Smara and Casablanca. The most popular sport there is soccer, so you could probably find a soccer game or two to watch and enjoy.

While the conservativeness of the culture depends on where you travel to in the country, it is important to respect the ideas of modest dress and courteousness in public. Traditional views have been somewhat challenged and discarded by the younger generations living in the cities. Overall, Moroccans are generally friendly and welcoming of visitors, given the nature of the country’s roots in travelling and diverse cultures. I am excited to do more research and possibly, when I become more fluent in my Arabic speaking, travel to this beautiful country.

CULTURE PORTFOLIO 2
Shanti Kapoor

RAMADAN

                The tradition of Ramadan started from the Qoran.  It is one of the five pillars of Islam.  It is one month of the year in the lunar calendar when you fast from fajer prayer ( (صلاة الفجرto magrib prayer (صلاة المغرب), so fasting from sunrise to sunset.  It is not considered fasting if you do not pray during the whole month.  

Because it is lunar calendar, each year Ramadan is twelve to thirteen days earlier than the year before.  During Ramadan families come together in praying and breaking the fast every day.  There is a wide sense of community during this month.   During Ramadan in majority Muslim countries restaurants, cafes, and shops are all open much later. 

Breaking the fast is called iftar افطار and occurs at sundown.  This is when Muslims refrain from eating in order to empathize with the less fortunate.

Hunger also reminds Muslim to repent .

There is also popular culture (pop culture) that surrounds the month of Ramadan. TV shows and  fashion both become ways to celebrate the holy month. There are shows that only air during Ramadan and clothes decorated with more design that symbolizes the spirit of Ramadan.

Ramadan is also characterized by specific foods that are eaten during the month, usually  during iftar. It is customary to break the fast with dates, but different countries and regions have different traditional foods they eat during iftar. Iftar’s counterpart, suhoor, is a meal eaten before sunrise. The foods eaten during this meal are less specific but can be from family to family.

During this past summer I was lucky enough to experience Ramadan in a Muslim country, Morocco.  I was living with a host family and Ramadan was a very important time not just for my host family but for the entire community.  People, usually the female head of the household who will be doing the majority of the cooking, start preparing for Ramadan weeks in advance.  My host mother saved money and made meals much smaller in the weeks prior in order to have the extravagant meals once the holy month arrived.   A few days before Ramadan began my host mother would be cooking and preparing foods all day, especially sweet desserts which could last for the entire month.  At around 6 or 7PM we would all gather in the salon and wait for the last hours of the fast to pass, usually watching TV.  My host mother would be busy in the kitchen preparing for iftar.  When it came time to break the fast, my family would pray and we would start by eating dates and Moroccan soup, then the main meal followed by many desserts.  After iftar I would usually go into the city to shops or cafes with my host siblings and friends and enjoy the night before returning home and perhaps taking a nap before suhoor.  Experiencing Ramadan in Morocco was a great experience. 

Photo of the first Iftar my host mother made: