Mohamed Zakariya was born in Ventura California,1942. He dropped out of school to become a machinist. He then traveled to Morocco. In 1961 he returned from Morocco to his old job working in a factory, as a machinist, servicing the aerospace industry. He was, however quite changed by Morocco; he taught himself Arabic and converted to Islam. It was during this period, and on one of his frequent trips to the Santa Monica public library, that he happened to look into the window of a Wiltshire Boulevard Oriental rug dealer. Spotting a piece of Muslim calligraphy, he was drawn in to inquire about the piece and possibly acquire it. The shop keeper told him what it was. He couldn’t afford the piece, so he decided to make one of his own.
Mohamed became utterly immersed in this pursuit of a comprehensive knowledge of calligraphy, its masters and tools. In 1964 he traveled to Morocco again to study there, and in London; attempting to copy the works of the masters. After returning to the US, he work for an art dealer, restoring original antiques and crafting a collection of Age-of-Enlightenment-style bibelots, sundials, and scientific instruments; his spare time was devoted solely to calligraphy. “I immersed myself in the little-known literature of Islamic calligraphy, basing my writing on the method of the 11th-century Baghdad master Ibnul-Bawwab and his Mamluk disciples. I developed my skills in gilding and illuminating and began experimenting with paper coatings, burnishing, lamination, adhesives, inks, colors, and marbling.”
Though his work had progressed and was beginning to get recognition, by 1980 he was suffering from what he called “calligrapher’s block”. Acting on the advice of Dr. Esin Atil, the curator of Islamic art at the Freer Gallery in Washington, he applied for, and was granted a place at the Research Center for Islamic Art, History, and Culture (IRCICA) in Turkey, studying under the master Hasan Celebi. He was offered the placement with the condition that he forgot everything he already knew about calligraphy.
Mohamed’s master had to make special, non conventional, arrangements to accommodate this unusual student teacher relationship. “Normally, calligraphy students go to their teachers once a week, taking two to five years to master the material. But with only one month in Istanbul, I went every afternoon to Celebi and practiced far into the night and every morning; it was agreed that I would continue my lessons by mail after I returned to the United States.”
During his time in Turkey, he also trained in Talik , with Dr. Ali Alparslan, professor of Persian literature at Istanbul University. He received an invitation to meet M. Ugur Derman at IRCICA. Derman was the author of Mohamed’s favorite books on the works of Islamic calligraphy and the world’s leading authority on the topic. In fact Mohamed “treasured” volumes 1 and 2 of Kalem Guzeli, a redaction of Mahmud Yazir’s immortal tour through the history of the art. “Celebi and I met with Derman in Ihsanoglu’s office, we felt immediately at ease, despite the language problem. Derman showed us a rare murakkaa album (the first I had ever seen) by Sevki Efendi, which consisted of a hilye in four kit’as. The album took my breath way …”
In 1987, Mohamed became a master calligrapher. He traveled several times to Turkey and was reunited with his Turkish friends when he attended the “Festival of Arabic Calligraphy and Islamic Decoration” in Iraq.
Mohamed enjoys far more control within the creation of his pieces than most artists can in theirs. Many artist and tradesmen adapt to the contemporary tools that are available, Mohamed makes his own tools and materials conform to him, maintaining them with constant vigilance. “the person who neglects his tools, neglects what he is going to do with them”. For Mohamed, the pen, ink and paper are his tools, as is all that is needed to produce and maintain these tools to include his mind. For instance, he makes his own paper, ink, reed pens, and even tools such as knives used to maintain and modify other tools. Mohamed spends much of his time sifting through the poetry and philosophy of the Arabic cultures, for the wisdom and guidance of an Islam that many Americans can easily find inspiring.
Understanding the importance of calligraphy. “It is a thing that you find in really good Islamic art. There is no focal point. There is no climactic moment. And you don’t want one of those on paper. The focal point disrupts the page. It disrupts the whole look. There is an evenness, and an expressiveness, of an idea that runs through the whole piece. But there is no crashing, ‘thunderation’ moment.”
Arabic or Islamic calligraphy is work of devotion. Like all works of devotion, its goal is to worship a range of qualities and attributes that the devout believe to be integral in a greater understanding of their creator or prophet. Christians may show scenes depicting Jesus or even god within their works of devotion. Muslims believe it is wrong, and indeed blasphemous to represent god or a prophet with an image. Regarding non-script images, they show god’s presents in light and colors. There are many reasons for this, beyond the literal interpretation of the 3rd commandment of no graven images or likenesses. For example, in renaissance art, Christian artists would paint prophets in the likeness of well known individuals from powerful and influential families; aggrandizing if not deifying these individuals.
There of course other profound differences that influences these respective artistic dogmas. Christians believe that god has come to the earth in flesh, whereas Muslims believe that god has come to the earth in book, so the words of the Quran are the words of god. Making the words into art of devotion, deepens the communication. For Muslims, god reveals gods self to human beings in these words; the fact that these words exist, is their proof of god’s existence. They may not draw an image of god, but they make beauty out of the letters and words that god speaks.
“The lord is the most generous, who taught by the pen, taught the human being that which the human being did not know”. The crucial importance is that god teaches with gods pen. This is why the pen, the writing and the calligraphy is so important to the Muslims. “When we are doing calligraphy, we are talking about making a line, by eye, that is within a half thousandth of an inch deviation from good and bad”.
Those who embrace art, are students for life. In order to keep with tradition, Mohamed must be the master. He must pass on, as it was done with him and without compensation, all that he has learned, his techniques and his devotion. The students who stay on to become masters will work, just as their soft spoken, unassuming and eloquent master had done. They shall for the first 2-5 years do nothing but observe and try to copy their masters work perfectly; undetectably. They will learn how to make the pens, the paper, the ink, the marbling, the inlays and learn the skills of burnishing, illumination and lamination until perfected. They will study the many different styles and the disciplines within those time periods. Then they will be free to develop their own style within the guidelines of their master and their master’s masters. Eventually they will then become Masters themselves. The ones who stay on have a desire to know all that is known and then learn more; some of Mohamed’s students have been studying with him for over 25 years.
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