Islamic Design from my perspective

As an engineer by profession, Art alludes me. I have problems trying to figure out what the artist is trying to say except to just look at the art as it is .

It was through art that fate led me to Islamic Design, and as my journey began to unravel, it got me to slowly appreciate Islamic Design from an engineering students perspective.

Per my understanding , Islamic art does not include figural works, because we cannot copy God's creation.

Islamic art is usually a combination of two items, which is the calligraphy and the illumination (or the design around or under the calligraphy).

We read the Quran and take for granted the calligrapher, or the person who copies the Quran. It is a painstaking process as the person or persons has to write it as consistently as possible. It is more difficult/interesting if it is done by more than one person. The copying time is shorter but the job gets trickier because each one of them has to write in in the same kind of handwriting. This is of couse impossible as forensic science tells us that each individual has a certain style, no matter how close the handwriting it is. But it is more or less indistinguishable to the layman, which is more than enough for its purpose.

Usually, the Quran is written in Nasakh script or font. It is done so for easy reading by everyone. However, there is a specific technique in writing in Nassakh e.g. the letter alif must be a height of 4 dots or 5 dots aligned vertically. These dots are dependent on the size of the nib of the pen. So if the nib is bigger, the dots get bigger, which will automatically make a bigger alif. This applies for all the letters. The calligrapher is guided by the size of the nib of the pen when writing the surah. Therefore, the text is proportionate to each other.

Hence in copying the Quran, the calligrapher needs to know the size of paper and what to write, then choose the size of the nib.

Moving on to the illumination or design around the text and its intricacies, I realized that each design uses translation and/or rotational symmetry. The principles behind the illumination is a reflection of the concept of Tauhid. No beginning, No end. If you take a look at the design, the design repeats itself and you are able to imagine it go beyond the page infinitely. With this kind of design, one is unable to find where the shapes start to take form, and thus is unable to find where the shape ends.

I once found an article of a university lecturer who teaches Maths using one of the walls of the building in Cordoba, Spain which was full of tiled Islamic Design. I now realise that this is possible when you are studying geometric shapes and matrix.

In Malaysia, unless named Al-Quran Mushaf Malaysia, the qurans that one usually gets on the street are most probably from Saudi Arabia or Syria. We bring a lot of it into Malaysia and some are reprinted in our neighbouring country. The designs and writers are from these respective countries.

Whats sets the Al-Quran Mushaf Malaysia apart from the others is that it is made up of designs from the 14 states of Malaysia, hence the name. The quran incorporates designs inspired by items such as old palaces, plants, wood carvings etc. from each state. It is also coloured according to the various states that it represents.

Illumination or design in Islamic art is very mathematical. I also see this in the flowers and plants around us. The Fibonacci series was inspired by the birthing of rabbits. But later, it was corelated to other theories such as the golden section in nature, where the the spread of the leaves as it grows, is of the ratio 1.688. I also noticed that if you map out the spread of the petals of a flower , you can get a consistent angle of spread from petal to petal. That was how I got to started in taking a closer look at the flowers around us and later moved on to plants. There are many websites that go in depth in the mathematics in plants. As Albert Einstein said “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better".

I later chanced upon research done by Dr. Peter Lu at Havard University. Peter J. Lu, a physics graduate student at Harvard, noticed a striking similarity between certain medieval mosque mosaics and a geometric pattern known as quasi crystal. Basically, it is an infinite tiling pattern that doesn't regularly repeat itself and has symmetries not found in normal crystals. He found out that the mosques of the medieval Islamic world are artistic wonders and perhaps mathematical wonders as well. A study of patterns in 12th‑ to 17th‑century mosaics suggests that Muslim scholars made a geometric breakthrough 500 years before mathematicians in the West.

To me this is wonderful, if we can just have our Malaysian design on the fixed format of the tiles, which has 5 distinct shapes, we can actually have our own thoroughbred Malaysian Islamic design tiles for all our buildings.

Back to calligraphy writing, Kufi font facinates me as it is very geometric. Back in the day, Kufi font was most commonly used for decorating buildings. As a civil engineer, it becomes more facinating as I think it can be applied to the design of the buildings itself or rather the format of building can be in Kufi writing. It is also used for logos. Compared to the Nasakh script, it is more mathematical because it uses squares . Its application goes beyond logos on buildings to songket weaving, which uses squares as their main format.

I guess it is worth looking deeper into it and getting a better understanding of Islamic design after all.

Rahsia Makanan Sedap

Assalamualaikum Ladies,
Below is a write up i got from a friend in Indonesia. She just wanted to share her thoughts. and since i posted about food the last time. It came at the right time for it.
Enjoy the thought!

Ketika zaman kanak-kanak, saya sempat bertanyakan kepada ibu kenapa makanan jiran kelihatan lebih sedap walhal kurang kandungan zat. Saya melihat betapa sedapnya kawan makan dengan pinggan tanah liat, nasi panas hanya berlauk sayur berkuah.
Saat itu juga saya langsung balik rumah kerana terasa lapar walaupun jiran mempelawa makan bersama. Saya bercerita secara detil apa yang kawan makan. Ibu sempat habis akal pasal apa yang saya ceritakan tiada yang istimewa bahannya. Ibu mengatakan bahwa makanan kami jauh lebih bagus. Bahan-bahan yang lebih segar dan berkasiat, beras kami wangi kerana baru, dan lauk kami berkasiat, hanya kadang-kadang kerana sibuk kami hanya masak sekali, petang selalunya nasi dan lauk pauk sudah sejuk.

Sekarang setelah saya imbas balik pengalaman tadi, mungkin boleh saya simpulkan kenapa makanan jiran kelihatan lebih sedap :

1. Kesyukuran atas rezeki yang telah Allah karuniakan kepada mereka terpancar dari lahapnya mereka makan. Cara makan yang penuh selera telah membuat orang lain ikut berselera.
2. Kebahagiaan kerana masih boleh menikmati makanan sedap disaat-saat lapar. Kadang-kadang kita makan kerana waktunya kita makan walaupun tubuh belum merasa lapar, sesetengah orang sudah lewat dari waktu makan, disaat itu terasa benar karunia dari Allah walaupun makanan sederhana akan terasa begitu sedap.
3. Keinginan mereka begitu sederhana, asal dapat makan cukup sehari-hari, memadai, kalau ada lebihan sedikit, itu suatu anugerah. Jadi apapun yang mereka dapat terasa istimewa, walaupun bagi kita biasa sahaja
4. Kesederhanaan peralatan makan telah menaikan nilai makanan itu. Penggunaan pinggan tanah liat membuat makanan menjadi lebih harum menyelerakan, apalagi makanan itu dihidangkan panas-panas.

Jika kita telaah kembali bukan dari bahan makanan yang istimewa tetapi dari cara penyediaan dan menikmatinya. Kesederhanaan bahan telah menaikkan nilai makanan, kebahagiaan jiwa dengan kesyukuran sehinggga sesuatu yang biasa jadi istimewa, dan jenis makanan yang tak berlebihan menjadikan makanan itu istimewa kerana tak terbandingkan dengan yang lain.

Bagi orang yang mampu, bagus kalau makanan kita berzat, kerana tubuh memerlukan itu. Apa yang patut jadi pengajaran bagi kita adalah kesyukuran kita pada setiap apa yang dikaruniakan Allah kepada kita, kesederhanaan, dan makanlah berpada-pada, secukupnya sahaja. Dalam Al Quran juga disebut tentang cara makan, makanlah berpada-pada, dan berhenti sebelum kenyang. Juga sabda nabi tentang makanlah secukupnya sahaja menyatakan, bahwa perut seorang muslim hanya satu, tapi perut orang kafir ada seribu.

oleh SriAguswati
Indonesia

Food for Thought

In the Quran surah 2:168
O ye people! Eat of what is on earth, lawful and good ..............

3 weeks ago I happen to listen to an interview on the Radio with a doctor. While he is an expert in some medical areas, some I cannot remember except of children and mother care, the other specialities just pass by my uneducated (medical) ears.
Hence, I decided to summarize what he said over the air. Because I am a natural remedy buff, and subscribe to his medical principles.

He was talking about how food can affect our health. A lot of time we misconstrue about halal food. As Muslims, we eat halal food, but we must now move to eat halal and toyib food.

Before I go on, I have to qualify myself by stating that I have taken the salient points and expanded it with some research on the internet on the subject. You will find at the bottom of the page the sites I have visited.

Halalan toyibban means allowed and permissible for consumption with relation to Syariah law as long as they are safe and not harmful. In other words the food is pure, with nutrients and it does not harm the body.
We know that what we eat is what we are. We don’t realize that some food may be halal but it is not necessary toyib.

Take for example the chicken which has high protein and within price range to the masses . During the raring of the chicks, and to ensure fast growth, they are given hormones, which is not good for babies, children, pregnant women and others in general.
And the antibiotics given to the chicken to ensure it’s healthy may kill some bacteria but not all, as a result we get new strains of viruses or bacteria such as the bird flue.

I found an article which says:
“1Antibiotics are medicinal products that have an anti-bacterial effect - they either kill bacteria in the system or keep them from reproducing, allowing the infected body to heal by producing its own defenses and overcome the infection.
One - side effect of taking antibiotics for an infection is that it can leave the body defenseless against other (non-bacterial) types of infections......
Widespread use of antibiotics for non-medicinal purposes, such as in cattle feed and in antibacterial hand soaps, is causing concern in the medical and pharmaceutical industries, since it is responsible for the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria....”

So, the best chicken we should eat is ayam kampung, chickens bred in the kampung , which eats bugs and stuff growing on the land. These chicken are a lot of times difficult to cook because they are tough. Our parents and forefathers have managed, I think we should be able to do cook it ,with enough intelligence.

Then, there was a mention of cancer. I think this was because the radio show was preempting the Relay For Life event which was organized by the National Cancer Malaysia society.
The right food can help to reduce the possibility of cancer. Everybody has cancer cell and due to environment or food we eat which gives it the push for it to grow. Some factor like Stress, smoking, pesticide, chemicals and pesticide in vegetables enhance generation of cancel cells
Sometimes due to stress, the food we eat will enhance the cancer cells. But studies show that sugar or glucose in the body is the fuel for cancer cells to grow. In general grains such as white rice, a form of carbohydrate will turn to sugar after being eaten.

There are other alternative good sugars such as gula melaka, honey, gula kabung or leaves which can be made into sugar.

There was an article which mentioned about the medicinal value of lemon grass which says:
‘2However, of late researchers are discovering that the lemon smell in herbs like Lemon grass have the ability to kill cancer cells in vitro while leaving healthy cells unharmed. Citral, which gives the lemon aroma to Lemon Verbena and Melissa as well as Lemon grass, functions as a natural herbal remedy for cancer by instigating 'apoptosis' in cancer cells. Apoptosis, or 'cell suicide' is a programmed cell death that does not release any harmful substance into surrounding areas and cells.’

‘3There was another study which concluded that substances found in galanga, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves - the main ingredients in the spicy soup - are 100 times more effective in inhibiting tumours than those found in other foods. They have discovered a type of antioxidant, called 1'- acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA), in the soup's ingredients, which was 100 times more effective in blocking cancer growths’

Grain used by Prophet Muhammad is like unprocessed-barley, which was grounded as flour.
When ground ,it has high vitamins and roughage. Which can be bought from an organic food shop.
In the olden days, my uncle used to eat banana pancakes made from sticky rice flour or rice flour but never from wheat.

The flour we get at the shop is processed white flour which have been bleached with clorox, which is harmful to the body. We can get raw unbleached flour from organic shops.

There have been success stories from cancer patients, who go for chemotherapy, but they take care of food. There is a 30% cure rate or they can survive up to 3-5 yrs more.

Sometimes even a baby in the womb is at risk to cancer through the mother’s life style and the food she eats.

Mothers play a big roll in giving enough nutrients to babies. There have been many reports on how good breastfeeding is for her baby.

As Muslims we should realize the Quran, has already stated very clearly about milk for babies.

2:233 The mothers shall give suck to their offspring for two whole years........

Milk from mothers to baby is the best possible food for babies, which not only provide food but it is also a form of antibiotics.

We think milk is good for us but we can get more nutrients in other food. While drinking milk gives us some nutrients, it also kills other important enzymes. This is because we usually get pasteurize milk; the milk is processed by heating it at a high temperature to kill bacteria.

I found an article which says:
‘4Pasteurizing milk destroys beneficial bacteria along with the bad ones and destroys enzymes essential for nutrient absorption. Pasteurizing milk destroys all its phosphates; This is essential for the absorption of calcium, and calcium works with Vitamin D, (not only available through sunshine but is an essential nutrient in raw cream). Nature packaged a superb design for human sustenance in milk as it comes from the cow with all original essential nutrients — so long as it is not pasteurized. Heating any raw food destroys the active enzymes, so lipase (an enzyme unique to milk and needed to complete digestion of fats) is blasted along with many other essential nutrients that pasteurization destroys.
The process also involves the milk to be spray dried and on high heat which kills the protein and fat and only leave some nutrients. We get the bad fat and spoiled protein which increase our cholesterol.’

He also said, the best way to take cow’s milk is by making yogurt out of it, but the cow must not be fed with antibiotics.

We can get good minerals in other ways other than from milk such as nuts, almonds, ‘tempe’ , ‘dhall’, ‘tahini’ or ‘bijan’.

Based on the ‘sunnah’, Prophet Muhammad drinks fresh milk from goat or camel . It was just warmed up to about 60 centigrade. Which is same as mothers milk.

Food is a factor which is important to ensure good health. Living style is also important.

We are to sleep at night, because the growth hormone works only at night especially for the old and babies.

There are 3 factors for a baby to grow well, love, food, proper sleep. Working mothers are most affected because they work during the day, but will wake up 3-4 times to feed the baby at night. This will not only disturb the growth of the baby but also the mother who later will look haggard and unnecessarily grow older.

Working late into the night can also increase the chances of cancer, high blood pressure, diabetic and fat.

Getting organic food can be expensive. But alternatives such as ‘bubur kacang’ is good for the body, because coconut milk is good for the body.

Talking about coconut milk brings us to the subject of cholesterol which can be reduce by alternative means. ‘Contrary to popular belief, coconut milk which has coconut oil does not increase cholesterol because it has more of the shorter-length type of saturated fat molecules (known as lauric acid and myristic acid. Dr. Mary Enig MS (Nutritional Sciences), Ph.D. reported in her article that the effects of coconut oil on persons with low cholesterol levels was the opposite of persons with high cholesterol levels. Of persons with low total cholesterol counts, she wrote that "there may be a rising of serum cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and especially HDL cholesterol." In persons with high cholesterol levels, "there is lowering of total cholesterol (and LDL cholesterol)." The studies she cited showed that in both groups the LDL/HDL ratio moved in a favorable direction. And it is also a natural antibiotic for babies’.

Sticky oil means it has already been hydrogenated. This is because 5hydrogenation is the process of heating an oil and passing hydrogen bubbles through it. The fatty acids in the oil then acquire some of the hydrogen, which makes it more dense, hence sticky. Trans fatty acids are formed when vegetable oils are hydrogenated or heated to high temperatures. With high temperatures, trans fatty acids are fats that are twisted, which alter their natural "cis" shape.’

Another interesting point he said was, Olive oil is not supposed to be cooked and best taken as it is.

Finally, a caller enquired about his wife ,who is asthmatic, and breast feed her baby. The child will not be asthmatic due to the feeding unless the mother takes ‘outside’ milk , or the father smokes, or they burn mosquito coils .It is worse if they use a vaporizer versus mosquito coil. Asthma is also caused by rubbing talcum powder onto the baby because the powder is very fine and can go into the lungs.


It’s never too late to change our diet.

[1] http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-antibiotics.htm

[2] http://my.88db.com/my/Knowledge/Knowledge_Detail.page?kid=11068

[3] http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thai-Soup-Powerful-Antioxidant-t55945.html

[4] http://wewantorganicfood.com/2008/01/26/pasteurizing-milk-destroys-essential-nutrients/

[5] http://www.treelight.com/health/nutrition/PartiallyHydrogenatedOils.html

Animals around and in my compound

In our busy schedule daily, and in our quest to make ends meet, we seldom take time to see what animals live around our house. Like plants, they come in varied sizes and ecologically, they are to blend in their environment. This is to ensure their survival.

We human beings do try to blend socially at work and home. Or where we stay depicts or tells who we are or try to be.

While the location is relatively close to Kuala Lumpur, I live in a kampung area with a ‘jungle’ environment. Hence, I get to see a lot of animals missed in town.

We had to save a baby porcupine,because our neighbouring plot of land fell some tree as the owner had new plans for it; the mother died in the process. It grew around our compound and when it was adult enough, it walked away into the woods.

Another time, we bumped into a baby pangolin runned over by a motorbike, brought it home, nursed it and when it was ready it too walked into the woods.

Sometimes, we would bump into some snakes, small and big and our neighbour would do the honour of catching it and send it off into the woods .I really do wish , it would not come back.

While taking pictures of small flowers, I would have the opportunity to take pictures of some insects, grasshoppers and butterflies.

Sometimes, the friendly squirrel would drop by to eat a durian. We left one at the windowsill for them. When we first moved there, we would swoon and get elated when we see them, but after awhile, they become absolutely pesky.

My son tells his friends at school, he has bats or ‘kelawar’ at home, and I reckon his friend thinks he was just making up stories. We do have them up on our third floor look out .

As for neighbours, we get some cute monkeys dropping by for a banana or two. These are not the normal ones but they have black face and hands with long tails. They would not touch ground and live high on trees.

One Saturday, while watching some movie, I heard a muffled thump near the window. As I looked out, I was surprised to see 3 pheasants dropping by from the jungle. Its local name is burung kuang and I have been hearing its hooting at nite but I was pleasantly surprised to see it so beautiful.
There was a story told in books about the birds. Some of us oldies would remember.
One day , the crow got talking to the pheasant. They decided to paint each other. The crow started doing it on the pheasant and did a beautiful job too. When it was the turn of the crow , it was already late in the evening , the pheasant in haste threw the whole bunch of colours on the crow. Hence, the blue black colour .

We have a resident woodpecker, which likes to tap on our main wooden pole of the house. The tapping would vibrate into the house. I guess it’s just sending us some messages, like a morse code, while trying to rattle the insects in the pole.

We have a small stream running under the house, and sometimes my son would try to catch some fish, or even some fresh water prawns . The kingfisher is a normal bird to see, fishing on small fish or prawns behind the house.

At night , we do hear the call of the tortoise or a mother otter ,calling her children and we see them swimming upstream to catch some of the fishes in the stream.

We just need to be more appreciative of what we have around us, big or small. Like flowers, sometimes the smallest are the most interesting with their vibrant colours .

With animals, I realised the females are usually dull coloured , while the males are the ones with pretty and vibrant colours.

We just need to save the environment to save them.

Animals around my compound

Murai Batu (adult)







Murai Batu chick







Kingfisher









Kingfisher








Tortoise






Fresh water prawns







Woodpecker (hen)







Pheasant(hen)







Pheasant (male)







Monkey








Monkey






Bats







Squirrel eating durian







Baby Squirrel







Butterfly







A resident grasshopper







A resident dragonfly








An unidentified insect









Another unidentified insect on a lime plant







A batik print Python







Another type of snake







Another smaller Python







Baby Pangolin







A teenager porcupine name Khamisah




a baby porcupine (we named Khamisah)