Muslim comic book is 'the antidote to bin Laden'

Kinda Jayoush

Oct 14, 2011

Speaking to a large crowd of Arab youths at an international development conference in Montreal, Canada, Dr Naif Al-Mutawa, the creator of The 99 cartoon, rushed enthusiastically through his ideas about the importance of self-image and the challenges facing Arab and Muslim identity.

"There are many levels of the story I am presenting," said Mutawa. "One of which is the entrepreneur who had an idea, raised money and set up this company and created almost a thousand jobs.

"That story, when people see it, they see that anything is possible," he added, referring to his project for which he has raised millions of dollars and found markets around the world, including major television networks in both the United States and the Middle East.

The Arab Development Summit - held as part of the Arab Development Initiative earlier this month - was organised by a group of 30 students from McGill university, one of the leading educational institutions in Canada.

It attracted more than 500 delegates in addition to entrepreneurs, speakers, partners and sponsors, including the World Bank, Harvard Arab Alumni Association and Etihad Airways. Speakers included the poet and political science professor Tamim Barghouti, the leading entrepreneur Dr Ahmad Ashkar, founder of the Hult Global Case Challenge, and Maryam Eskandari, an award-winning architect.

Award-winning architect Maryam Eskandari, who spoke about "designing space for social change", described how inspiring it was to create a mosque in Sudan that later became a place of worship for people of all faiths.

Eskandari, who is of Iranian origin, said her Muslim clients who wanted to build the mosque discovered they lacked financing. But then members of the Christian community agreed to give them money for the project and the Muslims decided to share the prayer space with other religions to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence in their own community.

Tarek Kanaan, one of the participants, said that such ideas and examples of economic and social development were exactly what Arab young people need to embrace.

"We know the challenges that are ahead of us and we know some of the solutions, but we needed to get together, discuss these issues and put them in an organised manner," he said. "We have spoken of economic change, civil society, minorities, pluralism, religious tolerance, self-image and political change among many other issues openly and frankly."

Read More

The Prayer and Meditation Pavilion

June 25 2009 | Maryam Eskandari

The Prayer and Meditation Pavilion produced by Italy's Studio Tamassociati has been nominated for a numerous architectural awards. Its monolithic, elegant and effortless exterior in comparison to the striking and vivid interior spaces has been clearly celebrated by not only architects and designer, but by the general public as well.

The project is located in Soba, Sudan. In the last two decades, this country has been exasperated by numerous inter-ethnic wars. The vast majority, 70% of the population, of Sudanese are Muslims. The remainder are between Christians and other religious faiths (Crisis in Darfur of 05/05/2004).

In designing, the Prayer and Meditation Pavilion, the architects clearly understood and succesfully articulated a platonic place for meditation for all religious and ethnic groups present in Sudan. The key elements used to create the straightforward and simple design ironically are not all that easy. The use of local materials are for certain. However, the premediatated use of light and shadow, radiates a calm and soothing theraputical atmosphere.

On the exterior, the two off-white cubes are surrounded by a large pool of water, a moat, creating a spiritual element in which symbolizes a detachment from the outside world. This large pool of water allows for religious washings. However, the wash is perceived with out any religious connotations - component containing water. The architects made sure that all architecture symbols, icons and religious elements were obscured, so that no elements could be attributed to a sole religion.

The interiors of the pavilions are embodied by the appeal of two trees, creating sacrilegious, and natural; yet sacred space, within an artificial man made atmosphere. The plan of the pavilions, two cubes, are tangent to each other on one face. A shift of half-a-width on one side allow for openings. The opening and slots peel away the outer walls , in which creates access points to each cube from opposite sides, and across the pool. Top of each pavilion are bamboo canopies in a steel frame, painted white to match the whitewashed walls. The bamboo, and the gaps between the frames, creates beautiful patterns of shadow on the walls and floors.

The project clearly demonstrates the meaning behind a purified faith. Within all religions there is a struggle within ones soul to clearly articulate piousness and modesty. While working on this project the architects delcared “ When we were having to think of a place where the muslim prayer take place, as is customary happen at any place of care, we had to compare with this difficult dilemma. Designing a space that could accommodate the complex spiritual houses in this country. The choice was to not be given any form of worship but to create a space capable of hosting the prayer and meditation for all faiths. We had, of course, to deal with the Muslim religion that is the faith professed by the majority of Sudan and with the religious practice (washing, separation of men women) but we have dropped these rules in a estranging not make the dominant ” .