Why a Booktrail?
When bombs begin to fall, Ali drowns out the sound of war with a pen.
Silent Music
What you need to know before your trail
Like other children living in Baghdad, Ali loves soccer, music and dancing, but most of all, he loves the ancient art of calligraphy. When bombs begin to fall on his city, Ali turns to his pen, writing sweeping and gliding words to the silent music that drowns out the war all around him
Travel Guide
What is the beauty of Arabic writing?
It’s “gliding and sweeping, leaping, dancing to the silent music in my head.”
The young boy admires Yakut, a renowned 13th-century calligrapher as when Mongols invaded Baghdad in 1258, the man fled to a high tower t in order to escape the violence and the chaos of the city and to sit and create beauty, writing “glistening letters of rhythm and grace.”
Similarly, the boy sought solace from the missiles and bombs that fell on the city in 2003 by practicing calligraphy in his room. He watches as the letters flow and the patterns evolve before his eyes. As the war destroys the world around him, calligraphy shows him the beauty of islam and his culture
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Silent Music
Author/Guide: James Rumford Destination: Baghdad
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