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• 1 2023-01-29T20:06:33-05:00 Ivan Toth-Rohonyi 2 9 versions of Al-Baaqi plain 2023-02-21T23:58:10-05:00 For this project, I chose to write one of the 99 names of Allah, Al-Baaqi 9 times. I chose this name because as far as I can understand from the English descriptions of it, it symbolizes God’s unchanging and eternal nature. However, as these 9 calligrams show, no two descriptions of Allah or in general no two objects can be exactly the same. While the marked differences here are also a result of this being the first time I do calligraphy, I do think this is something that can be thought of more generally. No two cultural or temporal settings are exactly the same, so no two understandings or descriptions of Allah can be the exact same either. Nonetheless, there must be something unchanging about conceptualizations of Allah to make Islam as an entity to make sense, which is why I chose a name that represents the unchanging, constant and eternal nature of Allah. In terms of the eternity being represented, there do seems to be something common to all 9 words, even if it isn’t easily describable in terms of pixels are very exact visual terms. Perhaps what unites them is the intent to describe God in a certain way, even if their reception will vary, with some not even understanding the clumsy strokes. It was also interesting to realize while drawing the words that after some time I started to copy from the words I’ve written on the paper so far instead of the original, which has a direct parallel to understandings of Islam not solely depending on the original scriptures and revelations but all the commentaries and interpretations created since.