Sit down, breathe, warm up your hand, take the “qalam” (calligraphy pen), deep it in the ink… the flow starts.
As my love for the Arabic language started quite spontaneously, sparked by my fascination with the beauty of the Arabic letters, which, back then, appeared to me as harmonious mysterious signs hiding powerful messages, I have always felt an élan towards the study of the science of the Arabic letters and of the art of Arabic Calligraphy.
During my stay in different parts of Egypt, I have progressively integrated Arabic Calligraphy in my everyday life, from going to exhibitions, to contacting calligraphers up to deciding to take an introductory course to the Art of Arabic Calligraphy.
Mirroring the process of studying the Arabic language, the introduction to the Art of Arabic Calligraphy opened up the way for an infinite discovery into the beauty, depth and richness of a language, which continues filling my mind, heart and soul with precious transcendent knowledge.
The day I decided to start my calligraphy classes with the talented artist and dear friend Callimoud, a further chapter in my journey at the discovery of the Arabic language started, bringing it to a higher level. Not surprisingly, the love for this language expanded beyond my imagination and with it the desire to delve into it completely.
From Observation....
Standing in front of a lordly artwork by Italian artist Antonella Leoni, representing a cock surrounded by the beautifully written sentence:
”When you hear the cock’s crow, ask God for His favor upon you for surely it has seen an angel…”
إذا سمعت صوت الديك فاسألوا الله من فضله فانه قد رأي ملاكآ
, I could not but be amazed by the manifested beauty of its images combined with elegant flows of writings in Arabic.
“Teach by the pen” was the name assigned to the Cairo International Forum for the Art of Arabic Calligraphy taking place at the Cairo Opera House in June 2021. Here, I could take a couple of hours to observe a succession of artworks, in different styles and with a variety of messages, enjoying beauty and learning new sentences in Arabic, mostly taken from the holy book for Islam, the Qur’an.
In fact, the Art of Arabic Calligraphy often writes religious sentences, but not exclusively. It includes numerous styles, such as the Diwani, the Thuluth, the Kufi, the Naskh, the Reqa, the Nasta’liq among others, developed in different periods and with specific functions. Constituting a precious heritage of the Islamic civilization, writings in Arabic calligraphy fill the streets of the Egyptian capital, from the magnificent inscriptions over the walls of historic mosques, to the more modern commercial signs of shops and advertisements.
In my eyes, the beauty of Cairo could spring up thanks to the dense presence of this artistic reproduction of the beauty of the Arabic language, adorning every corner of a city that could seem just chaotic and overcrowded at first sight.
...Through Conversations...
My appreciation for that first visit to an Arabic Calligraphy exhibition could not be so strong without the explanation by one of the artists participating in that event, the Italian calligrapher Antonella Leoni. Recommended by another talented Arabic calligraphy artist living in Milan, Eyas Alshayeb, I had already got to know her on a sunny day in Cairo. Walking around the island of Zamalek, our first meeting turned into a succession of endless conversations on the beauty of Arabic, with both sharing a deep love for this extraordinary language.
“As I go deeper in the discovery of this language, the more I want to know.”
I was explaining my approach to the study of this language while sipping my coffee. Further, listening to Antonella’s unique approach to the Art of Arabic calligraphy and her deep knowledge of the Arab-Islamic civilization, sparked more curiosity about that vast ocean of the Art of Arabic Calligraphy.
Observing a foreigner so knowledgeable and passionate about this art was so rare and inspiring. That is how casual meetings and meaningful conversations can spark lights inside us, introducing ideas never conceived before and opening the way to new journeys.
Remembering my first conversations with some Arabic artists during my first stay in Alexandria, such as Omar Aborayan, I could feel the same passion and deep appreciation for the use of the pen as the means to reproduce the beauty of the Arabic language and its powerful messages.
The pen, thus, turns into more than an object fulfilling the function of noting down and draw signs. As Nizar Qabbani reminds us in his famous intense poem “Footnotes to the book of the setback”, where the pen is transformed from the writer’s tool to write love poems to a weapon denouncing the critical time he was living, the pen can be the most powerful tool at disposal of human beings, which adapts according to the necessities of time.
“My grieved country, In a flash
You changed me from a poet who wrote love poems
To a poet who writes with a knife.”
_Nizar Qabbani_ from “Footnotes to the Book of the Defeat”
By transforming ideas in the mind to visible signs on a paper, the pen connects the immense inner world of human beings made of values, emotions, imagination with multiple external worldly realities.
...To Action
Not surprisingly, during my last stay in Alexandria in fall 2021, I decided to take a little step towards my dream of learning the Art of Arabic Calligraphy.
Sitting down in the garden of the French institute in Alexandria, I was sipping my ritual Turkish coffee with Callimoud, who would soon become my Arabic calligraphy teacher. After watching a video on Mada Masr talking about the unique personality of Mahmoud, with a background in Engineering and later transforming his passion for the Arabic Calligraphy into his job, I decided to contact him, attracted by the message shared in that video:
Talking with him left me no doubts about my determination to start the course under his guidance. As he was explaining the emotions he feels while writing in Arabic Calligraphy as well as the lessons he takes from practicing this art, my mind brought me back to my experience with freediving in Sinai.
Similarly to the moment you take that long deep breath before your plunge into the depth of the sea, entering a parallel, timeless and space less dimension, in Arabic calligraphy it is natural to feel a total absorption in the moment while initiating the movement of the pen on the paper.
“It can be a form of meditation,” he stated, explaining how the breath helps guide the pen to trace harmonious defined lines.
Aware of the difficulty of this learning process, requiring patience, presence and dedication, I agreed with Mahmoud on starting an introductory course to the Diwani style. The Saturday later, I was sitting at the same table, with all my attention to his explanation of the evolution of Arabic calligraphy.
As the weeks passed by, I started feeling more at ease with the “qalam”, which has become a kind of intimate companion and trusted friend. From the first scribbles, to some flowing lines until single recongnizable letters, I was so enthusiastic of what I was learning. The time I could sit down with the pen and paper to exercise the new letters learnt in diwani style were becoming essential moments of peace, presence and focus, so much needed to recharge and reconnect with myself in the midst of the turbulent life in Alexandria.
Beyond words
I came to the conclusion that from whichever standpoint you look at the Art of Arabic Calligraphy, either as a student or as a professional artist or as a simple observer, this art is just enlightening. Above all, it gives a transcendent value to words, as driving forces of our lives as single individuals and in society.
Words are powerful, as the poet Abdel Rahman al-Sharqawi explains:
“الكلمة نور
وبعض الكلمات قبور
[…]
الكلمة حصن الحرية
إن الكلمة مسؤولي
ة إن الرجل هو كلمة،
شرف الله هو الكلمة”
عبد الرحمن الشرقاوي”معنى الكلمة”
“The word is light
And some words are graves
[…]
The word is fortress of freedom
Indeed the word is a responsibility
The man is a word
The honour of God is the word”
_The poet Abdel Rahman al Sharqawi
