Holy Quran: Staying on the Right Path

The project I have created gives a very simple message that the Holy Quran is the door to the path which takes a person closer to Allah. The people who do not choose to enter this door will suffer the consequences. The very basic punishment is the fire in hell.
I would like start the description of my project with the verse I wrote on the Quran. Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim” which means "In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful”. The verse is very significant to a Muslim and is commonly used before starting any work. It develops a sense of consciousness and the gratitude for God. Reciting if before starting a work also ensures resistance towards an unacceptable and a wrong act. Therefore here it depicts that if we start reading and understanding the Quran with the name of Allah, He will ensure that we remain on the right path. It is to be noted that the Holy Quran begins with this verse. Umar bin Abi Salamah(ra) related that Rasulullah (saw) said, "Say 'Bismillah', eat with your right hand and eat what is near you." The “Mimbar” a raised platform in a mosque from which speech and sermon are given. It is a significant part of the mosque. It is located to the right of the Mihrab. It is also a symbol of authority and it is for the Imam, who is the Islamic leader of the community. In my project I have used Mimbar as stairs which take a person, after he enters the door of Quran, closer to the God. Although God does not have a physical existence therefore I have portrayed God as light. I have written Allah-o-Akbar on the sun, which depicts that God is the greatest of all as we can see around us the most lighted and greatest object is the sun. The light from the sun represents Allah, because one of the names of Allah is “Noor”, which means the light. The portrait shows that if a person does not follow the way of Allah, read and understand the Holy Quran that person will face some dreadful consequences for example burning in hell fire. The fire is the project show that if a person does not enter the door he has no other choice but the fire. The verse written with the fire is from the Holy Quran chapter 3, verse 10. The translation is “those who disbelieve, surely neither their wealth nor their children shall avail them in the least against Allah, and these it is who are the fuel of the fire.” Therefore it is clear that the person who does not believe in Quran and Islam will be punished. The punishment depicted here is burning is the Fire. According to the Quran, hell is a place of raging, fiercely blazing fire (Surah 73:12; 92:14; 101:11) with leaping, piercing, burning flames (Surah 4:10; 17:97; 25:11; 37:10; 48:13; 77:30-31; 85:10; 104:6-7), in which people “neither die nor live” (Surah 87:12-13).

I have used the Calligrahy styles Thuluth and Diwani. Thuluth is one of the most widely used Arabic fonts. It is one of the most complicated type of calligraphy. It was was fully developed in the 9th century and invented in the 7th century. The meaning of Thuluth is one third. It was named considering the ratio between the curved and straight lines. According to the article “An exhibition of Afghan Calligraphy and Miniature painting” written by Naseeruddin Saljuqi, Quran was written in the Thuluth script in Egypt during years 1252 to 1517. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has the piece of art in which the first revelation to the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) is written Thuluth style with golden colour. Other than this the Thuluth script is widely used to write on glass, metal and fabrics. The reason I chose the thuluth scrpt was that its one of the oldest script and one of my favourite scripts. When was one of the first scripts I saw when I was first introduced to Islamic calligraphy!
The second style of calligraphy I have used is a very beautiful, flexible and is highly ornamental. It is called the “Diwani” script. According to the article “An exhibition of Afghan Calligraphy and Miniature painting” written by Naseeruddin Saljuqi, the diwani script is developed by Ottoman and is similar to Shikasteh (broken style). The credit for the development of the script goes to Ibrahim Munif in the 15th century. It was actually developed from the Turkish/Persian Ta’liq. A famous calligrapher “Shala Pasha” further developed and reached its peek success during the 17th century. It is excessively cursive and highly structured. Vowel marks are not part of the diwani calligraphy. Another style branched out from diwani and was named “Jali Diwani”. This type was mainly developed by Hafiz Uthman. Jali diwani has a much greater ornamental use than Diwani. It used the space between letters which is filled with decorative marks which do not have any linguistic meaning. It has one other form which is called Riq`a Diwani style, which is devoid of any decorations and whose lines are straight, except for the lower parts of the letters. The diwani calligraphy has a high artistic value and is used in ceremonies and greeting cards. The main purpose of including the diwani calligraphy in my project was that I show the feel of hell fire simultaneously writing the verse (3:10) itself as calligraphy which portrays the meaning of hell fire in Islam. This style was best suited because I found this style very flexible as it was used in many places, for example I lion was drawn which was actually Arabic written in diwani script and a drawing of a man praying which was also drawn but was in Arabic! This amazed me and inspired me to make fire with diwani calligraphy. This is because some alphabets can be twisted and turned which would present the flames of the fire. Some pieces of arts are pasted below which inspired me to chose this style of calligraphy for this project.

All in all this creative project displays that Muslims should firmly believe on the word Allah and should make a habit of reciting and understanding the Quran.

-(Notes---- have to be organized later!!!)
-(citations to be added).

-(need more references!!)

It is still used in the correspondence of kings, princes, presidents, and in ceremonies and greeting cards. and has a high artistic value.
One of the most important part of my project this the Quranic verse in Chapter 52, verse 13. The translation of the verse is “That Day shall they be thrust down to the Fire of Hell, irresistibly”. This verse depicts that the people who do not follow Quran will inevitably thrown in hell.

Citationhttp://www.ethiomuslimsmedia.com/muslim/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=276:significance-of-bismillah-