Mohammed Zakariya
Encyclopedia
Ventura, California
Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
master of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
. An American Muslim
Islam in the United States
From the 1880s to 1914, several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the Ottoman Empire, and from parts of South Asia; they did not form distinctive settlements, and probably most assimilated into the wider society....
, he is perhaps best known for his work on the popular Eid
Eid ul-Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting . Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast"...
U.S. postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
. Raised in California, Zakariya trained as an aerospace
Aerospace
Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
as a young man. However, a trip to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
would change his life and future career path. He was fascinated by the culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, and language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
that he encountered in Morocco. It was this experience that led him to study and eventually convert to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. However, his love for Arabic calligraphy began even earlier, when, as a boy in Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
, he first saw a work of Arabic calligraphy hanging on the wall of an Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n carpet
Carpet
A carpet is a textile floor covering consisting of an upper layer of "pile" attached to a backing. The pile is generally either made from wool or a manmade fibre such as polypropylene,nylon or polyester and usually consists of twisted tufts which are often heat-treated to maintain their...
shop.
Many years later, Zakariya traveled the Muslim world, making stops in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, studying the art of Islamic calligraphy. Back in the U.S., Zakariya was advised by the curator of Islamic Art at the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C. to return to Turkey and train under one of the learned masters there. In 1984, he was offered the chance to study under the world-renowned master calligrapher Hasan Celebi
Hasan Çelebi
Hasan Çelebi, , born 1937 in Erzurum, Turkey, is a world-renowned Turkish master of Arabic calligraphy.Çelebi has devoted his whole life to calligraphy, and has been described by Caryle Murphy of the Washington Post as one "of the most celebrated masters of classical Ottoman calligraphy style"...
in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, an offer which he eagerly accepted. In 1988, Celebi declared Zakariya to be a master calligrapher and awarded him the distinguished advanced diploma, the "icazet" in thuluth
Thuluth
Thuluth is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy invented by the Persian Ibn Muqlah Shirazi, which made its first appearance in the 11th century CE . The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In Thuluth, one-third of each letter slopes, from...
and naskh
Naskh (script)
Naskh is a specific calligraphic style for writing in the Arabic alphabet, thought to be invented by the Iranian calligrapher Ibn Muqlah Shirazi . The root of this Arabic term means "to copy". It either refers to the fact that it replaced its predecessor, Kufic script, or that this style allows...
scripts in a ceremony in Istanbul. In 1997, he received the "icazet" in taliq style from another Turkish master calligrapher Dr. Ali Alparslan.
Today, Zakariya continues his art in the U.S. where he trains his own students and regularly holds exhibitions and workshops across the country. More recently, Zakariya and his works were featured in the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentary "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet
Muhammad: Legacy of the Prophet is a PBS documentary film about the life of Islamic prophet Muhammad based on historical records and on the stories of living American Muslims who call Muhammad the Messenger of God...
" (2002), produced by Unity Productions Foundation.
Articles published by Mohamed Zakariya
- "Comment: Preserving Heritage", Islamica Winter 2005-6.
- "The Hilye of the Prophet", Seasons, Autumn/Winter 2003-4.
- "Know your Mushaf", The American Muslim, Fall/Winter 1994
External links
- Mohamed Zakariya's homepage
- Sacred Space: The Mosque of the Two Pillars
- Mohamed Zakariya the Teacher
Sources
- "The Soul Searcher", Psychology Today, May/June 2004.
- "The World of Mohamed Zakariya", Saudi Aramco, January/February 1992.