Oliver Cheng
This calligram depicts Bu'raq as taking the form of the characters of Allah. The premise of this depiction is that one of the fundamental parts of God is his Love, and the primary way for someone to transform from an ego-centric human, to a God-centred being is through Love. To depict this transformative nature of Love, I chose Bu'raq, the mystical creature which transports the Prophet Muhmmad to God during the Mi'raj. During lecture, Professor Asani talked about the fact that Bu'raq represents this exact love. Bu'raq is generally depicted to be a horse, but it seems as though there is no consensus on what animal it is exactly. To show this ambiguity, I took imagery from a tiger, from a horse, and from a beaver to create the body of Bu'raq. In all depictions, Bu'raq has mystical wings, and a human head. It seems as though the gender is also ambiguous in Hadiths so I chose a head that has both masculine and feminine features. I placed the lām and aleph on the legs and back respectively to represent its position as a transporter; it is a transporter with many attributes, love being one of the primary ones. I placed two characters around the face's lips and face, linking the compassion and love that comes from the mouth to the compassion and love of Allah. An interesting connection between Bu'raq and the characters of Allah is that there are generally 7 characters in Allah, and Bu'raq's journey was through to the 7th heaven. Bu'raq is also commonly depicted with a crown on its head, suggesting the majesty of both Bu'raq as a mythical transporter, but also of the majesty and oneness of Allah.
