599d

Are we Impious (as Rumi says) or Hypocrites (as per Hafez)?

The verse by Rumi (on the left side) says: "Become drunk with Love, for Love is all that exists".

The verse by Hafez (right side) says: "Ecstasy is unknown to the Sufi, because of his pride".

599c

And yet the question lingers upon my heart...

599b

This image is also inspired by the exhibition *Sehnsucht Persien* at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich. The artist, Mir Afzal al-Hoseyni, was active in Isfahan around 1640.

Al-Hoseyni was probably inspired by Antonio Raimondi's Cleopatra, a copper engraving made in Rome around 1515-1527. You can see both images on the upper left side of the pdf flyer: just click here!

599a

The image above is inspired by the painting "Junge Frau in georgischer Tracht" (Young woman in Georgian costume) which is the highlight of the exhibition "Sehnsucht Persien" (The Fascination of Persia) held at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, Switzerland.

If you enjoyed the novel *My Name Is Red* by Orhan Pamuk, you will find yourself visually delving into the artistic debate described in that story.

Also, another exhibition at the Museum Rietberg is worth visiting: *Yaks, Yetis, Yogis: Tibet in Comics*.

Although apparently unrelated to the former, besides being highly enjoyable, Yaks, Yetis, Yogis develops -using a different approach and medium- the same concept of meeting the "Otherness", i.e. that mix of attraction and suspicion which is aroused within us through the encounter with another culture.

Lurking Zebras

The Tavern of Joyful Learning

This is the first of a series of six drawings I made between 2005 and 2006, inspired by the group Sufis Without Borders.

I do not know why I am publishing them now (every Saturday, the last will be on November 30), just felt like having them here at FWB.

Ink on tracing paper, 30x30 cm/12"x12".

The Call of the Owl

Enjoy Colouring the Froggies!

598d

Is it?!?

598c

Begone besotted fool! And make sure your mournful lines of poetry will follow you!! This is a house of logic and reason!!!

598b

The owl sings his plaintive song...
My heart is like a fire! When you breath on it... it becomes alive! (Maulana Rumi)

598a

As night falls on Princess Angelica's castle...
دلم چو آتش چون در دمي شود زنده

Zebra Within Lemons

A study of Yellows on parchment paper. There is also a winged frog in the bowl, although invisible from this particular perspective ;-)

Better Safe than Sorry

Add your colours to the Froggies!

597d

I booked a flight to a Vegan country: Better safe than sorry!

597c

Also, should anyone be concerned about Nuvoletta, Mullah Frögü's lamb...

597b

That Ibrahim (عليه سلام) was given a lamb, not a frog. Happy Eid!

597a

Today we are deeply grateful...

Pizzeria Zikrullah 2

Salute!
Cheers!!
Santé!!!

Pizzeria Zikrullah 1

Such a good Pizza!
But where is the Wine?
It comes after Zikr!

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Add your colours to the Froggies!
About Taraxacum officinale

596d

Tsk tsk. Her inner boundaries collapsed.

596c

We will blow them out of reason, like kids [blow] dandelions!

596b

If our tears and our sorrows are the most precious of secrets...

596a

Let's go for a walk in this garden of words...

Joie de vivre! (Three Sailing Zebras)

"Joie de vivre" means Joy of Living, a simple feeling of gratitude for being alive.

Sufi Methodism...Hic!

Add your colours to the Froggies!

595d

But the Sufis have a method to awaken our innate faculty of transcendence!

595c

We have lost our connection with the Holy -she says- therefore we scratch about in the mud...

595b

She also says that God is very different from what priests and mullahs teach...