KARACHI, March 19: The future of the arts belongs to the East. Beautiful works are being done by the Muslims in the world. If only their works were properly exhibited.

These observations were made by noted artist Gulgee during his talk, titled “Art and an Artist”, in the Aga Khan University auditorium on Wednesday.

He said a calligrapher sought to write the word of God in a manner as beautiful as possible. “In this way, a calligrapher is faced with an impossible task. How could a human effort match the skill of the Almighty?”

The artist said that while he had acquired proficiency in all the classical styles of calligraphy, he let himself go when he wrote the word Allah. “I tell myself that I should forget calligraphy. When I write Allah I feel Allah in my blood and my soul, abandoning myself completely. That is how it works with me.”

Gulgee said there was a great deal of misconception about Islam all over the world. “A lot of people in the West maintain that Islam opposes painting. Whenever I get an opportunity I tell these people that one of the attributes of God is Al- Musawwir which means ‘the Artist’. How could Islam oppose painting and the arts when Allah wants to call him the Artist?” he wondered.

Gulgee emphasized the importance of learned patronage for the promotion of the arts. “There was a great calligrapher called Hafeez Usman. The caliph of his time was so fond of the calligrapher that he used to hold the inkpot while the artist worked. Once the caliph said to Usman that ‘there will never be a calligrapher like you.’ Usman replied: ‘No, as long as there are caliphs like you who respect artists, there will be a thousand Hafeez Usmans.”

The calligrapher spoke about his recent mural based on Iqbal’s poetry and some Ayat from the Quran. He said the mural, which had taken him a year to complete, contained the oft-quoted couplet by Ibqal — Khudi ko kar buland itna key har taqdeer say pehlay/khuda bande say khud puchhay bata teri raza kya hai — as the centre-piece.

A large space on the mural is occupied by another phenomenal poem of Iqbal, Masjid-i-Qartaba. Written in Eastern Kufi script, the calligraphy is accompanied by Surah ar-Rahman. Another couplet by Iqbal — Sabaq phir parh sadaqat ka... — runs across the mural in the form of a wavy line. It is written in Gulgee’s signature script — with lots of golden yellows, greys and blacks — with the same couplet written in Eastern Kufi script underneath. The left part of the mural is occupied by another circular disk which contains Surah Fatiha written in Thulath script in traditional Tughra style. Under the circular disk, an Ayat is written in what is known as Maghribi script.

Gulgee admitted that writing Ayat from the Quran was no easy job. “There is a verse in the Quran which, in effect, says that had the Quran been revealed upon a mountain, it would have been blown to bits. There is such a tremendous power in the Ayat of the Quran.”

Answering a question, the artist said he used to deliver talks at universities all over the world, hoping that one day he would be invited by a university in my own country to tell his countrymen what the art of calligraphy was about.