Description
A painting inspired by the eloquent and thought provoking words of Imam Ali (as) in Dua e Kumayl.
The imagery in this dua has always intrigued me as an artist. There’s so much more to unpack, but I created this painting as I reflected on how the human body is described in this dua. The more I think about this body, the more astonished I become. Yet simultaneously, this body is so week. How easy is it to hurt oneself, get sick, break a bone, cut your skin. How often do we become arrogant and feel independent, forgetting that our lowly state requires continuous sustenance from its Rab, Lord, Nourisher.
“𝑴𝒚 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔. 𝑶 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒆! (𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆) 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒘 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 [𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆] 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆!”
“𝑶 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒆? 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌, 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆, 𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆. 𝑴𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒅! 𝑴𝒚 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅! 𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓! 𝑴𝒚 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓! 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒀𝒐𝒖? 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒑?”
“𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓! 𝑶 𝑯𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝑾𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅! 𝑶 𝑯𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑾𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔! 𝑴𝒚 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅! 𝑴𝒚 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅! 𝑴𝒚 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅! 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏”
The skeleton is often referred as the “support system” of the body. Here, “Ya Rab”, is interlaced into the bones and ribs to show who our true support system is, who gave rise to this body, and who we must serve through it.
یَا رَبِّ یَا رَبِّ یَا رَبِّ
Original Medium: Acrylic Painting
