Srinagar (Jammu-Kashmir): A 65-year-old man, Jalal-ud-din Sheikh from Usmania Colony Hawal in Srinagar has become the first Kashmiri to introduce Islamic calligraphy to the eye-catching Kashmiri woodwork.
Sheikh has professionally been involved in the art for the past 45 years and has been doing the work with all the passion he started with. He is second to none when it comes to writing Qur'anic verses by carving them on wood.
Sheikh was interested in writing on wood since childhood. After matriculation, he became involved with the work of wood carving. After mastering the art, he worked in a few wood carving factories for a little time and went to Dubai, where he displayed his artistic talents for almost eight years.
Sheikh put up a small wood carving workshop at his home where he makes delicate and intricate masterpieces with great diligence and perseverance that it becomes difficult to take the eyes off from his work.
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Sheikh also specialises in carving different types of logos on wood, from the smallest to the most difficult ones and uses more than 40 carving tools/chisels to craft a single calligraphic piece that contains the verses from Quran and Arabic poetry. Sheikh says that he uses more carving tools, “because they make the work more accurate and aesthetically alluring.”
Sajjad Hussain, who is associated with wood art, says that it is not only difficult but impossible to find such a skilled calligrapher in Kashmir Valley like Sheikh. There is no other artisan who has the same skill of drawing and writing in Arabic or any other language.
He has also beautified many major mosques and shrines in the valley, including Jamia Masjid of Kashmir with his calligraphy. His works of art are very popular not only in the country but also abroad.
Although Sheikh has so far engraved many Quranic verses on wood, the carving of 94th chapter of the Holy Qur'an, Surah Nashrah is his masterpiece.
