– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, March 26: Ever since the Divine Scripture, the Holy Quran was revealed 1450 years ago, it has been preserved and produced in different forms, depending upon the technology of the time and art of writing. Starting from writing on leaves, leather pieces, papers, metals, plastic and modern digital form, numerous forms depict the keenness in the sacred book the artists and technologists have shown.
Two sisters of this city have written the Quran on cloth with hand embroidery, replicating the copy printed in Madinah. Suraiya Qureshi and Tabassum Qureshi took almost five years to complete their work. The thirty Juz of the Quran are divided into five volumes. Using white cotton cloth and anchor silky thread, each word has been embroidered with hand needle. It is spread over 604 pages of handy size. Each volume is in different colour for the sake of beautification. Binding of all the volumes was done by them at home.
After completing the daily household work, both the sisters dedicated themselves to work on the Quran. Using Nastaliq style of calligraphy, the font size is wonderfully uniform all through. Another sister of them who is Alima used to do the proof reading at the completion of each page.
The most interesting aspect and their fond desire is to gift the embroidered Quran to the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. When asked about their future plan, the sisters said they intend to understand the Divine Book and take its message to larger audience. Their passion has now brought them closer to the Holy book, they admit.
