Painting Beauty (episode 2)

By: Naufal Ubaidillah

Another day has risen. The sun has appeared from beneath the mountains. I am now in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This city is outstanding. From the utter metropolitan atmosphere until the traditional favelas on the outskirts of the city, this city has everything. What am I doing in this city, in this country, of all places? I am doing my Master’s degree on Fine Arts. I have been admiring the likes of Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh, and Japanese painters for a while now, so I decided to take Fine Arts as my next stop in my knowledge adventure. 

At the classes, I learned that in order to make a remarkable painting, we need to see the canvas as a mirror to our souls. Therefore, what is painted in the canvas will show the contents of our soul, the core of our being, to the observers around the world.

One of my classmates is from Uzbekistan. Her name is Yasmin. She is gorgeous and kind. I have had a crush on her since the first time I saw her. I still remember the first time I met her. That day was the first day of my Master’s degree. We sat next to each other, listening to the lecturer, a forty-something Brazilian guy with curly hair and friendly face. He talked about the origins of art, and the art of art. Yes, the art of art. The meaning of the art of art is mainly how we make artworks and how we appreciate artworks. Once in a while, I glanced to her, smiling. And she glanced at me too, smiling. 

So, after that class, Yasmin and I talked a lot. Apparently, she was a Muslim. I had expected it too, to be honest, because of her blue headscarf. She came to Brazil to study Fine Arts in order to understand her feelings better and produce art masterpieces in the future. That is an awesome motivation, I had responded. She was an only child, just like me. Her father was a rice farmer and her mom was a tomato farmer. They live in Uzbekistan to this day.

Yasmin’s favorite color was green. She told me that the color green reminded her of our time before we were created. The pureness of being is perfectly portrayed by the color green, she had said. Her favorite poet is Yunus Emre. Who is that, I had enquired. So she explained to me who Yunus Emre was, what his story was. I was really impressed by the story, especially Yunus Emre’s tenderness and immaculate attitude to his spiritual teacher.

I became incredibly interested about Islam. Other than the immaculate attitude, I was drawn to Islam’s perfectly logical cosmology: the ultimate Oneness and Might of God. I have read a lot of Islamic books since then. Mainly, Yasmin recommended the books. First, she recommended that I buy a Holy Quran with an English translation. She also recommended me to read Badiuzzaman Said Nursi’s book, “The Words”. That book is fascinating, as I catch the words easily and therefore understanding the nature of everything easily. So I read both the Holy Quran’s English translation and The Words everyday. I read them every morning. One hour for the Holy Quran, and one hour for The Words. My feelings when I read them were indescribable, it was such a peaceful feeling. 

Daily, I discuss about what I read in the morning with Yasmin. She smiles a lot when learning that I enjoy reading the Holy Quran and The Words. One day, and it was two days ago, a strong feeling came to me that I should convert to Islam. Because from what I read, this is the perfectly natural way of life to get happiness from this world and the realm after we die.