{"id":7262,"date":"2012-04-02T12:34:32","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T19:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=7262"},"modified":"2012-04-02T12:34:32","modified_gmt":"2012-04-02T19:34:32","slug":"a-muslim-woman-with-a-story-to-tell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/a-muslim-woman-with-a-story-to-tell\/","title":{"rendered":"To Finish My Book I Need a Muslim Woman With a Story to Tell"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Berkeley
Berkeley CA artist Salma Arastu with her painting “Expansion of the Universe.” Photos by BF Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

My book is pretty much done. But I still need to find myself a few more people to interview.\u00a0A nice, talkative Muslim woman with lots of thoughts and stories, for one.<\/p>\n

I’ve interviewed dozens of people for my book. It’s working title is Wrestling With God: True Stories of Religion and Spirituality, as Told to a Hopeful Skeptic<\/em>. I’ve\u00a0heard the stories of\u00a0Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and even an atheist or two.<\/p>\n

\"\"
“Night and Day’ by Mohammad Saeed, age 11. Acrylic on canvas. Day unzips to reveal night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But there are still a few religious traditions that are underrepresented in my book. I could use a\u00a0Taoist, for example. Also another Jew. And\u00a0a\u00a0Muslim. And more women.<\/p>\n

Soooo. When I found out that an Islamic art exhibit was being held starting yesterday at the Islamic Cultural Center <\/a>of Northern California in Oakland — I thought, yes, here’s my chance to find myself a\u00a0Muslim to interview. A Muslim\u00a0 woman. An artist<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The exhibit hall was crowded with artists and their fans when I arrived. Some artists, it turned out,\u00a0were\u00a0as young as 11. Others had been\u00a0painting professionally for decades.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0found several works that I admired — paintings and drawings by Nabeela Raza Sajjad, Fatima Ozgun and Salma Arastu caught my eye.<\/p>\n

But the art work I enjoyed<\/em> the most was the handiwork of an 11-year-boy, Mohammad Saeed. Mohammad’s “Day and Night” features the darkness of night disappearing behind, get this —\u00a0a zipper. Genius!<\/p>\n

\"\"
“Oneness of God” by Nabeela Raza Sajjad. Inspired by Quran verses 112:1-3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I met at least two artists — Nabeela and Salma — who seemed to have what I need in\u00a0an interviewee: they’re both\u00a0intelligent, articulate, charming and passionate about their tradition. We’ll see if they have stories they want\u00a0to tell — or know some people who do.<\/p>\n

The exhibit is sponsored by Islamic Art Exhibit, a non-profit group Nabeela\u00a0founded in 2009. The theme of this year’s show is “The Miracle of Quran;” the artists took verses from the Quran as their inspiration.<\/p>\n

Most of the artists represented here are amateurs. Salma told me about another exhibit — strictly professional — currently at the Marin Community Foundation called “Muslim Eyes.”<\/p>\n

Enjoy the pictures. I loved taking them. And I loved meeting the artists.<\/p>\n

Photos by Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Salma Arastu’s “Creation of the Universe.” Inspired by Quran verse 21:30.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Nabeela Raza Sajjad founded Islamic Art Exhibit in 2009. Here, with her drawing “Creation of Heavens and Earth.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Islamic Art Exhibit , “The Miracle of the Quran,” April 1-28, 2012, Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, 1433 Madison Street, Oakland, CA 94612. For details contact\u00a0 510-832-7600.<\/p>\n

“Muslim Eyes,” Marin Community Foundation, Novato,\u00a0through May 31, 2012.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fatima Ozgun works in the tradition art of illuminating Quranic text. She painted the delicate border around the calligraphy. I arrived too late to meet her. Too bad for me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[caption id=\"attachment_10985\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]\"Berkeley<\/a> Berkeley CA artist Salma-Arastu with her painting “Expansion of the Universe.” Photo by BF Newhall[\/caption]\n

I still need to find myself a few more people to interview for my book. A nice, talky Muslim woman, for one. Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,50],"tags":[653,714,715,716,53,69],"class_list":["post-7262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-rocky-spiritual-journey","category-on-writing-reading","tag-arts-and-crafts","tag-islamic-art-exhibit","tag-muslim-women","tag-salma-arastu","tag-wrestling-with-god","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}