Even though there is no direct connection, the image of wings outstretched in unison recalls “The conference of the Birds,” the Sufi masterpiece by the Persian poet Fariduddin Attar. My favorite Escher drawing, inspired by curvilinear, fluid triangles in the Alhambra, is of interlocking birds. Inherent in the Islamic concept of “ilm” or dedicated pursuit of knowledge, is the spirit of harmony- exploring the infinite bridges between diversity and unity The effects of “tessellation”- produced by dividing the plane into multiple tiles with no overlaps and no gaps and commonly used in Islamic art- had such a great impact on the Dutch artist MC Escher when he saw the tiles of the Alhambra in Spain that he drew 137 prints in response, including some of his best-known works. Add to that geometric gesture, variations of color, scale and texture, and you have a work so elaborate, so beautiful in its parts and as a whole, that it becomes more than merely ornamental- it invites reflection, piques a sense of wonder. Hexagons, concentric circles and other overlapping shapes, precisely measured and repeated, are universal and extrapolative: the mind deciphers this logical language as spatial reasoning. One of the primary examples of this is the tradition of using geometry as an aesthetic language across the Muslim world one finds geometric designs in architecture, metal-work, fabric, glass and artifacts both decorative and of common use, made in myriad other materials. These two realms have often been perceived to be at odds with one another but the study of the Islamic civilization shows us that it is possible to collapse the distance between them and find growth in the connections. He is “al-Baseer” the “all-seeing” as well as “al-musawwir,” “the fashioner” or “the great artist.” If the physical act of seeing represents empiricism, science and reason, imagination represents the realm of innovation and creativity, the enterprise of spirit such as the fine arts. Going back to that blurred photo from 1982 which happens to speak so lucidly of our living values of celebrating oneness while honoring diversity, I’m reminded that God himself has 99 names denoting diverse attributes which may seem contradictory but are unified. Inherent in the Islamic concept of “ ilm” or dedicated pursuit of knowledge, is the spirit of harmony- exploring the infinite bridges between diversity and unity, which lead up to the values both Islam and America have in common: pluralism and creativity. The people of ideas I admire the most have one thing in common: making bridges, so to speak, between apparently disparate realms-science and art, faith and reason, geometry and aesthetics, mystic poetry and pharmacology, astronomy and gemology, medicine and political philosophy, architecture and ecology, physics and music theory, the sacred and the secular, the “East” and the “West.” This approach of studying multiple domains and making connections without presuppositions and prejudice signifies an open-mindedness that is key to true investigation, and, in most cases, paired with a unique tolerance for a divergent origin or point of view, enabling the thinker to chance upon brilliant discoveries simply by reaching across to other modes of thinking, traditions, cultures and historical periods. In later, more turbulent years, this image of festive beauty infused with a sense of peace and elation, blurred as it may be, would remind me that it was here that I received, in essence, my most important lesson, that no matter the place or moment, sacredness comes from diversity in meaningful convergence and that the true aim of civilization is to build by integrating a wide array of the finest influences, to preserve and develop the best ideas of the past that promise to carry us forward, to collapse distances not only in time and place and disciplines, but between human beings.
#TRANSLATION TESSELLATION SKIN#
Enveloped in the tranquil beauty typified by Islamic floral-geometric design, I found myself at prayer in a hall with people of all ethnicities, ages, countries of origin and skin colors. Taken with our very basic snapshot camera, the Kodak Tele-Instammatic 608, it lacks the sharpness and vivid colours we are so used to now, in 2020, but this photo is a special one, for two reasons: it is an image of the great Muhammad Ali Clay who was present for Eid prayer in the Islamic Center of Los Angeles, and because it was my first ever visit to an American mosque, at age 9. The photograph before me is from a summer morning in 1982, from an album of that year’s Eid ul Fitr congregation.
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