EXHIBITION
Etherial Ether Echoes
YEAR
2005
TECHNIQUE
Photomontages
SUBJECT
Conceptual

… the inevitable journey and the five lives of man.
Know, O beloved, that man was not created in jest or at random but marvelously made and for some great end.
Hazrat Imam Al-Ghazzali r.a
We live our lives with a train of endless stimuli striking the five senses. These, for the seeker, do so much, to remind one of the inevitable crossings. Although in all honesty comprehension is limited since we the human race uses a tiny percentage of our hearts and minds to their fullest potential. The Holy Quran and the sayings (Hadith Shareef) of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s) give us so much to ponder upon and reflect…awaken the sleeping heart and feel … insisting to let our intellect come alive on a different altitude.
The images in this series are of things evident in our surroundings and are used metaphorically. They were inspired by a single or a collection of words from the precious treasures that come from beyond. Frail human intellectual capacity can only try to understand the constant reminders of the inescapable journey. I do realize that my diminutive brain has not even scratched the surface and all this cannot really have a beginning or an end.
… The Prophet (s.a.w.s) explains this: “Knowledge is in two sections. One is in man’s tongue, which is the confirmation of Allah’s existence. The other is in man’s heart. That is the one necessary for the realization of man’s goal.” The truly beneficial knowledge is only within the framework of the heart’s activity. As the Prophet (s.a.w.s) says,” The Holy Quran has an outer meaning and an inner meaning.” Allah Most High revealed the Holy Quran in ten layers of hidden meaning. Each successive meaning is more beneficial than one before because it is closer to the source of truth. The twelve divine Names belonging to the Essence of Allah are like the twelve fountains which gushed forth from the stone when the prophet Moses (peace be upon him) hit it with his staff.
The outer knowledge of appearances is like rainwater, which comes and goes, while the inner knowledge is like a fountain whose source never dries up.
Hazrat Abdul Qadir Al Jilani (r.a)
THE heavens and the stars
At the appointed time will disappear.
A wave will strike the earth,
And lo! it vanishes.Only the Truth will remain Unchangeable.
And you at that moment,
Passing from this dream-life,
With self discarded,
Will be one with the Beloved.Oh! Master, ponder on your coming and your going,
And the thousand existences that lie before you!The Secret Rose Garden
Hazrat Sa’d Ud Din Mahmud Shabistari r.a
Translation by Florence Lederer
The heavens and the stars
At the appointed time will disappear.
A wave will strike the earth,
And lo! it vanishes.Only the Truth will remain Unchangeable.
And you at that moment,
Passing from this dream-life,
With self discarded,
Will be one with the Beloved.Oh! Master, ponder on your coming and your going,
And the thousand existences that lie before you!The Secret Rose Garden
Hazrat Sa’d Ud Din Mahmud Shabistari r.a
Translation by Florence LedererOh this eternal death ! this arena,
Life ! Shall the storm-filled universe never Quieten ?
Reason, fawning on idols,Finds no deliverance :
wisdom and folly bow before stocks and stones.
How has man, once made in God’s image, fallen so low ?
Must such a world on heart and on spirit hang its load still,
or why does no daybreak
Come to dispel mankind’s heavy night ?Muhammad Allama Iqbal (1873-1938) “Poet of the East”
I would like to share the name of books that inspired these images:
The Secret of Secrets – by Hazrat Abdul Qadir Al Jilani (r.a) (May Allah sanctify his Secret) interpreted by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al Jerrahi al-Halveti
The Lives of Man – by Imam Abdallah Ibn Alawi Al-Haddad (r.a). English translation by Mostapha al-Badawi.