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Prince Amyn Mohammed at the Ismailia Centre, London-1989-05-13

Date: 
Saturday, 1989, May 13
Location: 

Ismailia Center

Source: 
Roshni
zam.jpg
Author: 
Prince Amyn Muhammad Aga Khan

Prince Amyn Mohammed displays the silver trowel after placing the last brick at the "topping out" ceremony at the Ismaili Centre in London on 13th May 1982. As guest of honour at the ceremony held on the roof of the nearly completed Ismaili Centre in central London, Prince Amyn Mohammed said that the Centre has the "the difficult vocation of bridging East and West, of bringing together strong and brilliant cultures." Mr. Nutt, a Director of Farclough (the major contractors) praised the Centre, saying it symbolises the enduring religious convictions of the Ismaili Muslim community and embodies the traditional skills of our designers and craftsmen united in clear affirmation of Man's goodwill and mutual understanding."

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Quotes from Prince Amyn's Speech at Zamana Gallery,

January 26, 1989

"The written form of the Quran is the visible reflection of the eternal and constitutes mankind's perceptual glimpse of the divine."

"In this sense, the Word becomes epigraph, a visible manifestation of what is intangible, eternal and divine"

"Letters themselves, which convey both the text of the Quran as well as the 99 names of Allah, tend thus to become also imbued with a special aura"

"Islamic Calligraphy blends content and design which, whether legible or not, conveys, when used on religious text, the central symbol of Faith."

"As Abu Haiyan al-Tawhidi put it: Handwriting is jewellery fashioned by the hand from the pure gold of the intellect..."

"Legibility, in fact, becomes of minor importance, since calligraphy always conveys and constitutes by its very essence the central symbol of the Faith"


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