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Shafaq News
21-05-2025
- General
- Shafaq News
Spirit in the script: Iraq's Ramadi guardian of calligraphy
Shafaq News/ In a quiet corner of Ramadi city in central Iraq, Imad al-Khattat dips his pen into ink and begins tracing a verse in Jali Diwani script. Around him, the walls are lined with canvases of calligraphy—each stroke a reflection of discipline, memory, and faith. 'When I write, I don't follow the line,' he says. 'The line follows me.' Al-Khattat established Al-Anbar's first Arabic calligraphy studio in 1976. He was the province's first member of the Iraqi Calligraphers Association, alongside colleagues from Fallujah and Haditha. Their membership helped formalize a craft long absent from the region's artistic institutions. 'Calligraphy isn't decoration,' he told Shafaq News. 'It's a language of spirit.' His career spans nearly five decades, during which he has participated in regional exhibitions in Turkiye, Sharjah, Dubai, and Amman. Despite the exposure, he has never accepted awards. 'Competitions are based on taste, not integrity,' he explained. 'The work speaks for itself.' One of al-Khattat's most renowned pieces, Al-Hilya, combines Thuluth, Ijazah, and Jali Diwani scripts, structured around classical ratios and adorned with religious phrases. He views it as a spiritual offering. 'It's not a product; it's a written prayer.' He also criticized the growing practice of digital replication, where calligraphers' signatures are removed and their works are marketed under other names. 'It's not just theft—it's deletion.' Al-Khattat recalls working at a local glass factory early in his career, where he applied gold calligraphy to drinking vessels and supervised their design through kiln processing. He credits this experience with shaping his precision and patience. 'I begin with Jali Diwani, then Thuluth, Diwani, Taliq, and finally Ijazah... Each script leads me where it wants.' Text selection, he insists, is never arbitrary. Religious verses, invocations, and classical Arabic poetry form the core of his work. 'If the viewer feels nothing, the piece has failed.' Today, the Iraqi calligrapher works privately on hand-copying the Quran—a task he considers the pinnacle of his artistic and spiritual journey. However, he refuses to sell his original pieces. 'They hold part of me,' he said. 'You can't assign a price to that.'
Saudi Gazette
13-03-2025
- General
- Saudi Gazette
Over 1.5 million dates distributed at the Prophet's Mosque daily for iftar
Saudi Gazette report MADINAH — Dates are a staple food on the Iftar table during the holy month of Ramadan for most Muslims. More than one and a half million dates are distributed to those fasting in the Prophet's Mosque and its surrounding courtyards every day, as part of 227 packaged meals distributed to iftar tables before the Maghrib call to prayer. Each meal contains a package of seven dates, which the fasting person can eat when breaking his fast. The types of dates distributed for iftar in the Prophet's Mosque are varied. The date farms in Madinah produce many types, the most prominent of which are: Ruthana, Ajwa, Anbara, Safawi, Saq'i, Barni Al-Madinah, Barni Al-Ays, Bayda' Al-Mahd, Al-Mabroum, Al-Hilya, Al-Jubaili, Al-Labbana, Al-Mashrouk, Al-Majdool, Al-Rabi'a, and Al-Shalabi. Madinah is famous for its dates, which have a historical heritage. These dates come from plams that are spread across farms, gardens, streets, and homes, and are an integral part of the community environment. The total number of palm trees in the Madinah region exceeds 7 million, distributed across 29,000 farms, producing some 340,000 tons of dates in different varieties. This represents approximately 18% of the total date production in Saudi Arabia. These dates are sold directly in the local market, or are stored. They are also used in some processing industries and offered to consumers in packages of different sizes, and in numerous food varieties through 44 factories specialized in date packaging and processing.
