Haji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang

Sini calligraphy is an ancient calligraphic style that can be traced back to the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), when China underwent an intense period of cultural amalgamations with Muslim communities emigrating from West and Central Asia. Marked by the combining of Chinese classical texts and Qur’an scripts, Sini calligraphy incorporates aqueous Chinese brushwork and pictorial characteristics of Arabic writing. One of the most renowned Sini calligraphers in contemporary times, Haji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang, was born and raised in a Hui Muslim village in Shandong, China. He pursued Islamic studies and Sini calligraphy at the age of seventeen, subsequently sojourning in Kuwait, Egypt, and Turkey throughout the 1990s and 2000s to hone his skills, developing creative forms to express his religious faith through what he has coined ‘Arabic calligraphy’ in Chinese traditional style. Among the selected works here, formats including scrolls and brocade mounting, commonly found in traditional Chinese painting, are presented in juxtaposition. Noor Deen’s creative alchemy of the two calligraphic traditions is further demonstrated in works like Transcendent is Allah. There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (2008), where the artist combines the Islamic prayer سبحان الله (which Noor Deen interprets as ‘transcendent is Allah’) with the Chinese blessing 壽 (shou, longevity). He re-adapts the classic ‘coiling dragon’ form in Chinese characters into a more abstract figure based on the Islamic prohibition of drawing living beings. The hybrid character is outlined by another Islamic oath ,لا اله الا الله (There is no God but Allah), while its interior is adorned with a repeating inscription of محمد رسول الله (Muhammad is the messenger of God).

Works in the exhibition:

真主的尊名
اسماء الله الحسنى
The Most Beautiful Names of Allah. (2015), ink on paper, 120.6 × 78.5 cm

赞主清静
万物非主唯有真主，穆罕默德是真主的使者。
الله نسبحا
الله للااله الا الله محمد رسو
Transcendent is Allah.
There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger
of Allah. (2008), ink on paper, 135 × 48 cm

荷花（لوتس lotus）
忠诚章
ورة الاخلاصس
Surat Al Ikhlas 2006 (2014), ink on paper, 180 × 60 cm

万物非主唯有真主，穆罕默德是真主的使者。
لااله الا الله محمد رسول الله
There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger
of Allah. (2010/2008), ink on paper, 178 × 60.5 cm

奉普慈特慈的安拉之名
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful (2010(2017)), ink on paper, 80 × 147 cm

崇高伟大的真主
万物非主唯有真主，穆罕默德是真主的使者。
赞主清静、一切赞颂，全归安拉、真主至大、真主意欲时。
الله جل جلاله
لااله الا الله محمد رسول الله
سبحان الله، الحمد لله، الله اكبر، ما شاء الله

Allah. Exalted is He.
There is no god but Allah and Muhammad 
is the Messenger of Allah.
Transcendent is Allah. All Thanks Belongs to Allah. Allah is the greatest. Allah’s Will Be Done. (2018), ink and watercolour on paper, 86 × 83.5 cm

至仁主章
سورة الرحمن
Surat Ar Rahman (2024), 
ink on paper, 84 × 156 cm

万物非主唯有真主，穆罕默德是真主的使者。
لااله الا الله محمد رسول الله
There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger
of Allah. (2020/2010), ink on paper, 67.5 × 200 cm

Courtesy HAJI NOOR DEEN STUDIO