When Paul asked me whether I knew an artist who specializes in drawing portraits of Islamic resistance martyrs so he could have his portrait made, I had no idea that his random question would lead me into the worlds of Islamic art and the labyrinths of sexual identities. Paul told me about a book[1] which included popular artistic images from Islamic countries. He declared his desire to be depicted along the same aesthetics depicted in this book.

 

What first attracted my attention as I was going through the book was the image of the Buraq. The Buraq is the steed which carried the prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem during the Israa and Mi’raj Ascension or ‘’Night Journey’’. According to Islamic tradition on the night journey Prophet Mohammad rides his Buraq touring the circles of heaven and hell. On this tour he meets previous prophets such as Adam, Moses and Jesus before encountering “in his heart” God himself.

Popular artists from Pakistan, India, Egypt and Syria recreated this image with the human half of the Buraq as an attractive  woman, decorated with jewels and long hairdos. The Buraq itself has anklets dangling from its four extremities. The image of a white Buraq, specifically the one drawn in India in middle of the preceding century, reminded me of the Lebanese pop star Najwa Karam. A few days before I had seen a huge billboard on which the famous singer was referred to as “The Pearl of the Gulf”. In her white dress she appears in a pose, which reminds me of a horse’s stance. Her picture was taken from behind with Karam turning back towards the photographer. Her gaze is neutral and expressionless, making her resemble a drifting mystical being. But what particularly reminds one of a horse in her picture was the way she positioned her butt, which was projected upwards so that it was the focus of the picture.

 

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[1] Pierre Centlivres, Micheline Centlivres-Demont: Imageries Populaires en Islam, edition Georg, Genève 1997.