tour 33 of 35
Arabic Script: Mightier than the Sword
Ghani Alani, from the Mu'allaqah of Zoheir
This work is ink on paper, by the Iraqi artist
Ghani Alani. Written in different directions, in the
muhaqqaq script, are
verses from the
Mu'allaqah of
the pre-Islamic poet Zoheir ibn Abi Sulma (530-627). The
Mu'allaqat,
literally 'the suspended poems', are a series of
poems written by Arab poets in the pre-Islamic era. They were
passed down orally and only written down in early Islam (after 622
AD).
Alani's
calligraphy begins towards the end of the poem: 'Who uses
not roughness, him shall men wrong. Who seeks far away from kin for
housing, takes foe for friend: who honours himself not well, no
honour gains he from men. Whoever makes of his soul a beast of
burden to bear men's loads, nor shields it one day from
shame, yea sorrow shall be his
lot...'
Alani was
born in Baghdad but has been living in Paris since the 1960s. He
obtained his ijaza
(diploma) from two masters, Hashem al-Khattat al-Baghdadi and the
Turkish master Hamid al-Amidi. He teaches, publishes and exhibits
his work extensively.