Islamic Anything

She felt she had finally found a way to fully relate to her nominal status as Muslim - Islamic Art.

The art of Islam, which was really many different flavors blended together, was, to her, some of the most beautiful art she'd ever seen. Not least because of the vibrant colors, or the gorgeous geometry, or even the intricate patterns of flowers and fruits...but just because of the unity that Islamic art gave and still gives to the Muslim world.

She looked at some of the pictures she had found online of mosque interiors and thought, "That was designed by my people, by people just like me." She knew that they weren't exactly like her -- they were probably men, and probably Arabic or another culture, and probably brown. She was Irish, freckled, feminist, female, ghostly white and seemingly unable to tan.

But what they did have in common was a thirst for beauty and a thirst for God's will. And they had in common a faith that God can and does communicate with lowly human beings. And that artistic ability is a gift from God that ought to be shared with others.

In seeing the calligraphy, she thought, this is a way I can relate to the need to learn Arabic. So I can read these gorgeous calligrams. She learned her first independently-sought Arabic phrase:

"Bismillah-ir Rahan-ir Rahim" - in the name of God - most Gracious - most Compassionate

She had seen it in a calligram and learned that it was often found in mosques and other places. What a beautiful sentiment.

She saw the amazing, intelligently designed zoomorphic images made from calligraphy. She soaked up the new terms and her new understanding of them - zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, micrography (using tiny letters and words to suggest a form) as she read about the calligraphy.

She noted that it was odd, her fascination with whatever she was currently fascinated in. Right now, she was reading a book called The Alexander Cipher. This book was situated in Egypt and Muslims were all around in that place. The archaeological information and the historical information were quite fascinating. And now she was studying Islamic art and very old structures...hmmm...