Q: How and when did you begin creating calligraphy?
A: I started doing calligraphy at the age of seven. I had three classmates in my school whose brothers were artists, and we would compete with each other in creating calligraphy. My handwriting was better than that of my better-off friends and I was very passionate about it, so I would do the calligraphy homework for all my classmates. This had been going on for a year or so when I won my first prize at the age of eight in a competition in which different schools in our city participated. The prize money seemed enormous to me and I felt so good about winning that my head was in the clouds. Our teachers, who used to chide me for doing my classmates’ homework, were suddenly very happy, and so were my parents.
After three months, I again finished in first place, but this time it was in a competition with calligraphers from the entire province of Punjab. From then on, I never looked back; I kept on finishing in first place -- one time after another. At eleven, not only did I win most of the calligraphy competitions in my country but I was also declared the champion calligrapher of the year.
When Pakistani President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar presented a trophy to me, I seized the opportunity and asked him to send in my name for the 6th International Calligraphy Competition of the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) that was scheduled to be held in Istanbul in 2003. These IRCICA competitions are arranged by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The president told me that it would be almost impossible to win, since all previous winners have been over 45 years old. I pressed him, pointing out that I had won 25 calligraphy competitions out of the last 26 and he finally agreed. I sent my work to IRCICA and started preparing for the competition. I selected the Kufic script category, and by the grace of Almighty Allah, I won first prize in the incentive category. Even the most senior calligraphers of the country were in disbelief. They were especially amazed that I finished in first place in the category of Kufic script, which is considered a monopoly of the Arabs. This was my first international prize, so at age 12, I became Pakistan’s first and the world’s youngest calligrapher to win the IRCICA Incentive Prize.
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12:15 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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