ON THE COVER
Q&A WITH DR. M. SALEEM SEYAL
Practicing the Art of Islamic Calligraphy
Aaron Burch
What was your first experience with Islamic Calligraphy? What type of script do you typically draw in?
I was born and raised in Pakistan, a Muslim country, and almost
everyone reads the Quran. My mother, God bless her soul,
used to teach the Quran in Arabic with translation in Urdu (the
language of Pakistan), then later translations in English. And,
the Quran text is in every Muslim home. So, I became interested,
because I just loved the way Arabic Calligraphy is written. My
interest was in art and drawing. Then, near the end of my high
school, there was a calligraphy competition, and I won first
prize. Afterwards, I went to medical school and my time was
limited, but I always enjoyed beautiful calligraphy. I draw in all of them. There are hundreds of scripts, but there
are six or seven that are the most common. Initially, all the
Qurans were written in Kufic. It’s kind of ungainly, not terribly
impressive looking, but it still has its own beauty and attraction.
The most common is Thuluth. Nastaliq is another. It originated
in Persia (Iran).
Ninety percent of Islamic calligraphy is the Quran. The other
parts are sayings of the Prophet, proverbs or even poetry.
Romantic poetry written in calligraphy is just absolutely
gorgeous. There’s inexhaustible treasure out there.
In your article, you mention that writing Quranic verses has been
considered becoming closer to the Divine. You say you’re still an amateur, how would you like to see your
craft improve?
Yes, it’s a form of worship. It is the word of God and you have to
present it beautifully. The ecstatic beauty of Islamic calligraphy
is just amazing. A lot of non-Muslims actually own Islamic
calligraphy pieces. They don’t even have to know the language.
They just enjoy the beauty. I’m definitely not a master calligrapher, but I am very interested
in it. Every morning, I wake up at 5 a.m. and spend at least
an hour and a half practicing. I go sit outside, there’s nobody
around, and I just practice. Any time I find, I do it.
You can never really master the art of calligraphy. There are very
few masters out there. What I continue to do is just continue to
work and evolve, and make it more beautiful and enjoy it. It’s
just a tremendously enjoyable thing.
Do you have a favorite style of script?
They’re equally beautiful but there is one called Thuluth or
Sulus that I enjoy very much. Also, Diwani, which was invented
in Turkey, is extremely elegant in the way that its written. In
that time, the Ottoman Empire became extremely powerful
and started to expand. The rulers collected all kinds of
calligraphers and they were very innovative. For example, they
created something called Tezhip, which means illumination or
calligraphy written in gold.
SEPTEMBER 2017
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