Nastaliq Past and Present
December 5, 2004 9:12 PM   Subscribe

 
Beautiful, thank you for the links, BuddhaInABucket, I'll be looking at these for hours! (And bookmarking for later reference)
posted by kamylyon at 10:14 PM on December 5, 2004


Gah!! That omniglot link worked in preview. This is the link that should go where it says with his.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:30 PM on December 5, 2004


Wow, those are beautiful. I think I'm glad I can't read what they say... how could the content not be a letdown, compared to the form?
posted by Wolfdog at 4:39 AM on December 6, 2004


Those are great, thanks!
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:44 AM on December 6, 2004


This is great, but does anyone know where to find old miniature paintings of stories in the koran, or other arab myths?
posted by klue at 6:56 AM on December 6, 2004


There are paintings of stories from the koran? That strikes me as very strange; isn't one reason Islamic art developed in the higly abstract/calligraphic style it has the ban on illustration?
posted by kenko at 7:55 AM on December 6, 2004


As far as I know (which is no more than what you learn from reading My name is Red by Orhan Pamuk) you're right, kenko; it's illegal; but I'm sure it has been done, although the fact that I'm not finding any paintings of stories from the koran online kinda proves me wrong.

Anyhow, the painting I'm really looking for is not from the Koran. It's talked about quite a lot in my name is red, and if I had the book here, I'd know the names of the persons in the painting. It's a painting of a guy who hangs a picture of himself from a tree to make a girl fall in love with him. If I can't find the painting after more searching I'll probably take this question to askMefi.
posted by klue at 8:47 AM on December 6, 2004


klue and kenko: I'm trying to remember exactly where (and as such I have no reference) but if memory serves, the Koran simply says that no image can attain to the beauty of God's creation, and seems to refer to the second commandment against worshipping images. Many have adopted this as a rule, and have avoided making images out of respect for the divinity in all living things; and those who, in Islam as in all religions, desire to see rules and regulations in everything have taken to punishing offenses against this "commandment." But it wasn't a commandment originally. The Persians, who have had their own rich tradition of art (as this awesome, awesome post amply demonstrates) haven't followed this notion as much.

that sounds like a really cool painting, klue. i'd like to see it, too.
posted by koeselitz at 9:45 AM on December 6, 2004


Great links -- thanks for this post! (And I'm dying to read Red.)
posted by languagehat at 6:30 PM on December 6, 2004


These are beautiful images, and a nice break from all the unverifiable / pseudo-news / conspiracy theory front page posts populating Metafilter right now.

I just had dinner at a Persian restaurant, where there was framed calligraphy on the walls, next to elaborate woven rugs, some of them with human and animal figures on them.

The world is awash with cultural contradictions.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 12:30 AM on December 7, 2004


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