Calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya: Writing The Sublime

Mohamed Zakariya

In an age of digital art and laser printing, few Muslims have bothered to master the ancient art of Islamic calligraphy. To truly master such a medium takes years of tutelage under a dwindling number of experts around the world. One renowned artist, Mohamed Zakariya of Arlington, VA, is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished Islamic calligraphers in the United States, and his work has been used over the past several years to bridge the gap betwen Islamic and Western culture and to convey the beauty of Islamic spirituality. “Religion is a quest of trying to find out what things mean,” says Zakariya. “Proper calligraphy is supposed to expand your heart to the meaning of a text.”

His most notable work, the illuminated script that adorns the US Postal Service Eid stamp, almost didn’t make it to market, as it was released only a few days before the attacks of September 11th, but has since entered the USPS permanent collection. Zakariya, the only American to receive certification from master Turkish calligraphers (the main bastion of Islamic calligraphy today), sees the art form as taking “the high road” in the face of adversity.

Zakariya is spending this Ramadan “staying home and working hard” to prepare for an upcoming interfaith exhibition, “Writing The Sublime: The Art of Calligraphy in the Religions of Abraham,” which features the calligrahpic work of the three major Abrahamic religions. While promoting an understanding of the beauty of Islam is one of Zakariya’s main goals, he mainly considers his work – “music for the eyes” – to be a means of spiritual reflection on the Divine. “We can’t get away from the fact,” Zakariya said, “that God is a huge mystery.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.