I read this article that appeared in the Asian Age written by Siraj Wahab a couple of days ago (April 23, Culture Plus). It was about the grand daughter of Late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. She practices photography as a hobby and is quite a pro at it, hosting several exhibitions to display her photos, all essentially black and white. She's been covering the mammoth pilgrimage of hajj, where she had been received with overt hostility because many Muslims consider photography as forbidden. Here's what I liked about her views on artistic expression:
"One of the basic ills in Muslim society is that we think that art is luxury. I say art is not a luxury, it is a necessity...Go to a mosque (in a village in Pakistan) and you will find there was someone there who painteed the mosque-who drew flowers on the walls. There is beautiful calligraphy. it doesn't mean that the person had been through art school. It was a part of society. It was a natural expression...The probles is we have separated art from utility. There is this mistaken belief that what is useful cannot be beautiful. As a result, it is almost as if Muslim society no longer appreciates beauty...the Quran in itself says you have to appreciate beauty. Part of the Prophet's miracle is that he fascinated the Qureish of Mecca more than 1400 years ago with the language of the Quran. They were genuinely impressed with the beauty of the Quran language. That is also an art."
Hmmm...I say, as long as there is nothing anti-Islamic about a piece of art, I agree.
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3 comments:
salam,
it was not the prophet that the quran sharif is a mouthpiece of its ALLAH SWT who has spoken the quran and it is the language of ALLAH and is bound to be charismatic and spell bounding and HAJ is one of the 5 pillars of islam and there are some hadith that the prophet hated and prohibited for something like photography or the prophet na-auzabillah would have a sculpture of himself made and sahaba were to follow,
regards,
Sharique Ahmed
Photography or as a matter of fact, any other artistic expression is questionable morally/socially if it's implications are blasphemous, anti-human, un-ethical, immodest and immoral. Photography as hobby has nothing bad if it meets the above requirements.
And what is the definition of above parameter? (becuase modesty, morals, etc are personal definitions, different people have different levels/standards). To the answer of this...We have Qura'n: The Glorious!
verrrrry well written ! :-)
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