UMass Magazine Online

Winter 2003

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Gallery: Calligraphy

Marietta Pritchard




	“When ye adjudicate between people, that ye judge justly and uprightly.” Surat un Nisa’a (The Chapter of Women) IV, The Holy Qura’an. 22” x 18” Ink and Acrylic - calligraphy by M.J. Alhabeeb

"I CONSIDER MYSELF ONE OF a few original calligraphers in the West who foster classical calligraphy and emphasize the essence of manual skills,” writes M.J. Alhabeeb, an associate professor in resource economics. Alhabeeb has resisted the “growing temptation” to use computerized design in the creation of his art, and instead works with a reed pen called a qalam.

A show of his work, “Islamic Art: Peace and Beauty,” was on display during October and November in the Augusta Savage Gallery. The work not only makes its own striking visual case, but it also advances the artist’s cultural statement on behalf of this country’s Arabic and Muslim community, which he believes has long suffered from negative stereotypes. He writes: “This exhibition offers a valuable opportunity for the American public to fathom the beautiful, peaceful and bright side of the Arabic/Islamic culture for its unique art.”

UMass art historian Walter Denny comments: “Great calligraphy, like great music, is the product of intense learning and arduous discipline, coupled with the continual practice necessary for absolute physical mastery over the qalam, the reed pen,” which is seen as “a symbol of the means by which knowledge of The Divine reached mankind.”

Alhabeeb’s calligraphy consists of phrases he has selected from the Koran. Although he is “not a religious man,” his chosen quotations reflect aspects of the text that he feels have contemporary meaning – about peace, responsibility and human cooperation.

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