Basmallah.. This was done by my grammar teacher. Besides being the most proper chap in school, who comes to class ea…

Basmallah..

This was done by my grammar teacher. Besides being the most proper chap in school, who comes to class early, he also studied calligraphy. Every once in a while he’ll write using varying styles, which I will post here every now and then. He’s offered any of us extra classes if we’re keen to learn writing methods.

Ustaz Omar Ba-Hamal, is one of those rare teachers who comes early and begins writing on the board before period begins. And he won’t start the class until the time of the period enters. If you come to class late, he’ll immediately grant you permission to enter, and will repeat a portion of the lesson to help you understand.

In the name of..

The ‘Ba’ in his name is a prefix in his family name, like Ba-‘Alawi. It can also apply to names of places, like Ba-Hawash. This is similar to what we normally hear for ‘al’ like al-Junied and al-Jailani. The same applies to ‘Bin’ at times like Bin-Laden and Bin-Hafidz. It doesn’t mean ‘son of’ in the literal sense.

..of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

Never have we began any class, without the Basmallah being written on the whiteboard. In most cases between classes, all else gets rubbed off while this remains. And if it gets rubbed off, before the subsequent teacher begins writing, he’ll express about its absence before writing it a new one.

So happens I began the first post of this album, with the calligraphy of the Basmallah done by Prof Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas for one of his books. It is presented in the form of a kingfisher. Look for it in this album. He also has another in the form of the chanticleer.

I highlight this as at times people are unaware of its significance. Sometimes people live in an environment, where this is completely absent – not the writing per se, but consciousness. I am of no authority to go into it, but it’s enough to realize how important it is, to begin every action consciously with its meaning and how it ought to affect our actions, and thus our lives – here and the Next.

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