Girl power on display at calligraphy exhibition

Hyderabad: At an exhibition of magnificent pieces of Arabic Calligraphy of internationally renowned Indian calligrapher Muqtar Ahmad and his students, the works of two young girls from Kerala and Bengaluru have become cynosure of all eyes.

Jehan Kottiyal Hyder from Kerala and Beebee Laisa from Bengaluru left visitors impressed with their Arabic calligraphy. Their creations were among nearly 200 ‘Tughras’ or works of calligraphy that were on display at two-day exhibition at the auditorium of Masjid-e-Baqee in Hyderabad.

Ahmad, who runs an Arabic Calligraphy training centre for young generation in Bengaluru under the Institute of India Islamic Art and Culture said, Jehan Hyder was highly talented and a fast learner who has mastered Riqqa style of Arabic calligraphy in just four months. “She has done in four months what others will normally take a couple of years to do”.

“If she continue to practice like this I am sure she will be among the top Arabic calligraphers in the world. Her hand is very strong. After Riqqa she is now practising in Nasq”, said Muqtar.

Muqtar, who originally worked as a Katib (calligrapher) in Bengaluru-based Urdu newspaper Salar for five years, developed his skills in Arabic calligraphy under the tutelage of world’s top most calligraphers, specially from Turkey and Arab world.

As his meagre resources did not allow him to go abroad to learn the art, he used online tools to take lessons from top experts of the field, like Mohammad Zakaria in the US and Dawood Batashi.

After passing various online examinations and earning praise from top calligraphers, Nisar started participating in international exhibitions and competitions. His works were displayed at the exhibitions in Dubai, Qatar, Algeria and Malaysia and several other countries and earned awards.

His other student who impressed with her works at Hyderabad is Laisa, an M.Tech in communication technology from Bengaluru who is practising Arabic calligraphy for last two years. She is also a trained English calligrapher.

Laisa who has completed learning Thuluth style of Arabic calligraphy, and it now masterning the Nasq style. “My plan is to set up an institute to teach Arabic as well as English calligraphy, specially to girls. Unlike Turkey and Arab countries, we hardly have any women calligraphers in India”.

Urdu calligraphy fell on hard times after Urdu newspapers and book publishers replaced the calligraphers with computers; a majority of them gave up the profession thinking it was all over. But Ahmad said: “I looked at it from a different angle and decided to go for Arabic calligraphy and master it as an art. There are many calligraphers and artists practising Arabic calligraphy. But unfortunately most of them are either ignorant of its intricacies and rules or don’t feel it necessary to follow them. Because of this shortcoming they don’t get recognition at the international level”, he said.