Alternative Narratives: Islamic Mythology, Reimagined

Ascending from my Lover to my God: this piece takes inspiration from the "7 skies" concept in Islam, which divides sky above Earth to 7 parts, and adds a contemporary twist to it. The sections from central circle to the outermost one are as follows, in order: 1- you, 2- the heart, 3- the mind, 4- the body, 5- the room, 6- the house, 7- the neighbourhood, 8- Aleppo, 9- Syria, 10- the Arab World, 11- the Middle East, 12- Asia, 13- Planet Earth, 14- the lowest sky, 15- the second sky, 16- the third sky, 17- the fourth sky, 18- the fifth sky, 19- the sixth sky, 20- the seventh sky, 21- Heaven, 22- the Chair, 23- the Throne, 24- God.

The Universe: this artwork is inspired by Zakariya al-Qazwini's (Persian astronomer and writer) view of the universe, which he described in his 13th Century book "the Wonders of Creation", as a disk (the earth), surrounded by the skies and the mountains, carried by a huge bull called Kuyutha, and the bull stands on top of Bahamut, an enormous fish that is so big a human mind cannot comprehend it.

الكون: هذا العمل هو إعادة تصور حديث لمفهوم "السماوات السبع" في الإسلام، والذي يقسم السماء فوق الأرض إلى سبعة أجزاء.

The Night Journey: this piece depicts the Night Journey, known as Isra and Mi’raj, when Prophet Mohammed traveled on the back of a winged horse called Buraq from Mecca to Jerusalem and then ascended to heaven and spoke to god, in a single night. The event is highly important in Islam, especially due to the fact that prayer instructions were given in that night. The artwork was made completely by artificial intelligence. I wrote down the story of the Night Journey and then put the text through an AI code. What you see here is the raw, unedited result. It is quite an interesting piece, as it marks the first time ever that a computer reinterprets a story from Islamic literature and mythology.

Companions of the Cave: The Companions of the Cave were a group of young men who fled their town and hid in a cave, fearing persecution for believing in God. The guys spent 309 years sleeping in the cave before waking up to a different world. The Islamic version of the story, mentioned in the Quran, differs from the Christian one in some details, but they both share the main core. This artwork reinterprets this story.

أصحاب الكهف: تحكي هذه اللوحة قصة أصحاب الكهف، وهم مجموعة من الشباب هربوا من مدينتهم و اختبئوا في كهف خشية من القتل بسبب إيمانهم بالله. نام الشباب 309 عاماً في هذا الكهف، ليوقظهم الله بعدها على عالم مختلف تماماً. قصة أصحاب الكهف في القرآن مختلفة قليلاً بالتفاصيل عن نظيرتها في الإنجيل، لكنهم يشتركون في نفس الجوهر الرئيسي

God: in Arabic language, diacritics are symbols written above or below letters in a word to indicate unwritten vowels. Classical works and historic documents have always been written with diacritics to avoid ambiguity in meaning and interpretation. This piece shows the diacritics of verse 255 of Surat Al-Baqarah in Quran, which translates to: "Allah! There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him, the Ever-Living, self-Sustaining. Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who could possibly intercede with Him without His permission? He ˹fully˺ knows what is ahead of them and what is behind them, but no one can grasp any of His knowledge—except what He wills ˹to reveal˺. His Seat encompasses the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of both does not tire Him. For He is the Highest, the Greatest." - The artwork discusses the concept of believing in god without seeing him. The viewer shall believe the artwork without it showing the verse, but only its diacritics.

Qareen: in Islamic Mythology, Qareen is a spiritual entity that accompanies a human from the beginning until the end of their life. Every human is born with a Qareen that goes with them wherever they go and tries to seduce them into sins. This illustration imagines a human and their Qareen.

القرين: في الأساطير الإسلامية، القرين هو الكيان الشيطاني الذي يرافق الإنسان منذ بدء حياته حتى نهايتها. لكل إنسان قرين يولد معه يرافقه لإغوائه وإضلاله لارتكاب المعاصي. تحاول هذه اللوحة تخيل القرين والانسان.

A Sign: before he died, prophet Mohammed of Islam predicted 139 signs that will happen close to the end of the world. 129 were “small signs” and 10 were “big signs”. Among the small signs was “when the worst of people becomes their leader”. This sentence is the center of the piece you see here. Are we at the end of time? 

العلامة: قبل وفاته، تنبأ الرسول محمد ب 139 علامة ستحدث قبل نهاية العالم. 129 من هذه العلامات تسمى "علامات صغرى" و ال 10 الباقية "علامات كبرى". من بين العلامات الصغرى أن "يكون زعيم القوم أرذلهم". هذه الجملة هي محور هذا العمل. هل نحن في آخر الزمان؟