EXHIBITION
Baraka Silsila.e.Nisbat
TECHNIQUE
Monochromatic
GALLERY
V.M Art Gallery
YEAR
2012
By the night when it falls.
By the day when it breaks.
By what has made the male and the female,
you strive toward different ends.
So the one who gives
and stands in awe of God
and sincerely affirms that which is best,
We will indeed ease for him or her
the path to bliss.
[Quran: 92:1-7 | Sürah al-Layl]
The title of this gallery comes from a poem by Allama Iqbal, which in its self-explanatory exquisiteness says it all. It talks about the magnificence of the night and the elevated status of night vigilance supported by the calm and stillness one cannot possibly find in the day.
The moon came to me last night
With a sweet question.
She said,
“The sun has been my faithful lover
For millions of years.
Whenever I offer my body to him
Brilliant light pours from his heart.
Thousands then notice my happiness
And delight in pointing
Toward my beauty.
Hafiz,
Is it true that our destiny
Is to turn into Light
Itself?”
And I replied,
Dear moon,
Now that your love is maturing,
We need to sit together
Close like this more often
So I might instruct you
How to become
Who you
Are!
~ Hazrat Khwajeh Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez Shirazi r.a
“At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.
Breathe into me.
Close the language-door
and open the love-window.
The moon won’t use the door,
only the window.”
~ Hz. Mawlana Jalal-ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (r.a)
Waiting as each day melts into the night,
and back into another day
Watching as the river makes its way to the sea, into vapour,
and again a riveting river to sea.
Waiting, watching, and wanting
the eyes of my beloved,
once into times infinity
~fm
The stars follow me as I do them
The destination not a concern
The time spent together means
Much and moreLife and times with you shine on
Cherished watercolour memories
Imprinted in my minds eye
Timeless true and moreHappy with this single care in the world
Life makes sense of the nonsense
Please be with me my love
Here there forever and more~fm
Solitude, night—what pang is here?
Are not stars your comrades? Clear
Majesty of those silent skies,
Drowsed earth, deep silence of the worlds,
That moon, that wilderness and hill—
White rose‐beds all creation fill.
Sweet are the teardrops that have pearled
Like gleaming gems, like stars, your eyes;
But what thing do you crave? All Nature,
Oh my heart, is your fellow‐creature.~ Muhammad Allama Iqbal
The caravan of stars proceeds without a whisper or a sound;
Mountain, forest, river, All in lull;
Nature seems lost in contemplation.
O heart, you too be still.
Hold thy grief to thy bosom, and sleep
~Muhammad Allama Iqbal
The stars asked the moon
“We have grown weary shining.
Are we destined to journey forever?
When will we rest?” The moon replied
“My friends, you who are nourished by the night,
movement is in all creation,
time is a galloping steed.
This path has no resting-place.
In rest hides death.
Those who gallop are free,
those who rest are destroyed.
The path’s beginning is passion,
and absolute passion the end.”~ Muhammad Allama Iqbal
