Initiation - Bismillah

In the name of AllAH The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.  

From a young age we are taught to start all tasks big and small with this beautiful phrase.  So to launch the Ramadan Collection, it was an obvious choice to initiate with these beautiful names of Allah.  

As I started working on this piece, I spent hours practicing this phrase in the beautiful Kufi Kerwani script.  It dawned upon me that as I grew up not sure if along the way I forgot the meaning of these beautiful words or whether their true essence was ever really explained to me.  I say bismillah quite ritualistically when it is "required" and twice a month at best! 

After hours of practice and re-practice from markers to qalams to calligraphy pens to sketch pads, paper and finally to calligraphy paper, the deeper meaning of these words started to unveil for me.  "I start with the name of Allah" - yes of course - "who is the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful".  Makes sense to call upon Allah's Mercy and Beneficence in our big endeavors, like a new project at work, an exam, driving a car for the first time, going down a big ski hill.  But why has it been prescribed to say this phrase for the small daily tasks too, like enter into our homes, eat a meal, read the Quran etc.  Because somewhere along the way our humanness kicks in and even with our small daily tasks slip ups and blunders happen.  It is a reminder to us to be kind to ourselves when we make random blunders. 

We are our harshest critic and we need to quieten that inner critic and recall that our Creator made us perfectly imperfect.  We will err, and should err to experience life fully and Allah who is infinitely Merciful will forgive us for it and due to his infinite Beneficence we will meet success.  So stay calm and Bismillah on! 

I have a collection of over 50 Arabic Calligraphy pens but no English Calligraphy tools, I had to buy English Calligraphy pens for this piece and luckily I always had great handwriting (my grade school teacher would disagree, but l'll let you decide :) ).  This piece needed the English translation, so that this phrase is spoken mindfully in the family who owns it.  

And with these reflections I end this post and initiate the Ramadan Collection.  Bismillah Ar-Rehman Ar-Rahim. 

Script: Kufi Kerwani - beautiful ancient script found in early manuscripts of the Quran.

Size: 8.5 by 11 inches

This is a paper product.  Frame not included, can be framed in a standard document frame from a big box store like IKEA, Michael's, Homesense etc.