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UPF Founder’s Life Inspires Arabic Calligraphies
Written by Robert Bentele, secretary general, UPF-Munich
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Munich, Germany—The creator of 92 Arabic calligraphies inspired by the life of UPF founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon gave a presentation about his new book.
Dr. Quais Saidi came from Stuttgart at the invitation of UPF-Munich to talk about his book Love and Peace in the Eyes of Rev. Moon and to show a virtual exhibition of his calligraphy.
Only the previous week, his work had been presented with great success to a wide public at the Frankfurt Book Fair at the stand of the KANDO publishing house.
Dr. Saidi, who has lived in Germany since 2001 and holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Baghdad, was greatly inspired by his six-year in-depth study of the autobiography of Rev. Moon. When the UPF founder died in September 2012 at the age of 92, Dr. Saidi decided to represent his words and statements in Arabic calligraphy—one picture for each year of life, i.e., 92 calligraphies.
In this way he wished not only to offer his respect to Rev. Moon but also to encourage peace and build bridges between cultures in Rev. Moon’s spirit. The texts accompanying the illustrations are in English, Korean, German and Arabic.
Before Dr. Saidi spoke about his book and explained the calligraphy, he gave a presentation about the minority religious group to which he belongs, the Mandaeans. This group receives great persecution in Iraq, and from an original number of about 100,000, only slightly more than 4,000 remain in Iraq today. The majority have spread all over the world, and there is a community of about 600 in Munich. They consider their greatest teacher to be John the Baptist.
The UPF supporters who attended the October 21, 2017, meeting were very enthusiastic about the book and the pictures. Many questions were posed over coffee and cake, leading to animated discussions. We hope that this book reaches a wide public and can serve as a bridge between cultures.
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