28. Arjoo Aftab, AL Musawwir ( The Bestower of Form, The Shaper), USA/Pakistan
This week I was really enjoying an article about Arjoo Aftab a US/Pakistan Artist. I loved the way she says (in response to a comment about Coke Studios) “I think I said that I don’t drink soda! Coca Cola as a company has done some very shady and terrible things to farmers in India and Pakistan in the past. So I don’t support them at all. Having said that, I am very supportive of what they were able to get started in Pakistan, musically. The set up is still very male-dominated and power-driven… so it’s not the kind of environment I am comfortable creating music in.”
Being a fan of the music produced by Coke Studio I really welcomed this insight. My thoughts then wondered into women in music, and my own journey and frustration around this physical form. I feel so grateful that finally I am at peace and understand my physicalness is just one aspect of who I am. Unfortunately when I was younger and my sisters took to wearing the hijab it was always the case I believed women who covered were more closer to God. I used to cry to myself and be so angry as to why I was not able to cover. Overtime through meeting lots of muslim women I realised it has nothing to do with being close with God. Yes in their own minds some women may feel that it helps them. My friend recently was alarmed at my questioning of women wearing the Hijab. Yes I'm all for live and let live but I was exploring the idea that how can when you are seeking God be so concerned about the physical body. Surely God is undefined and its that undefined part of you (soul or spirit) that is paramount. As a mother now raising a son I am quick to dampen any talk of divide between the sexes. I have learnt not to blame men for the way they are but understand how they have been nurtured over time through cultures that oppress the physical nature of who we are. As I navigate in the raising of my child I do so educating him about the many forms of our being. The physical being is just one aspect and not the be all and end all (like how I was raised.)
If you can support Arjoo her website is here she is daring to do something different. Another of her songs is below - a cover of Hallelujah.
According to my source the 13th name Al Musawwir is the one who continuously shapes the heart and continuously shapes all things. What it creates is not left for even a breath. The individually cut out pieces of leather are now sewn together and made into a three-dimensional form. Al Musawwir is the one that moves closest to the material objects in the universe. The individuation process has been completed and the infinite is given a finite shape - in just the way as it is said in the scriptures that Adam is created in gods own image and likeness.