check out this artist

[May-chan]

http://malikanas.deviantart.com/

his arabic typography art is the neatest stuff I've seen on DA in ages. I wish he was selling prints, there are several I'd want to buy... even if I don't know what they say...

but just because one has a poster that potentially says "death to western infidels" doesn't mean on actually believes in that... right? ^_^

[Anamnesis]

Think about where you are living, and ask that question again. IF they see Arabic, and are smart enough to realize what it is(unlikely), then you'll be the talk of the little town you are in...and not in the good way.

[May-chan]

oh pssh nobody comes in my house anyways and they wouldn't be able to tell that it even is arabic when in such a format

[Cutey Kerina]

The artist seems like a very peaceful person, judging by their way of writing and just my overall impressions. I doubt any of them mean anything nasty. I love the look of them. I'd love to have one of those hanging on my wall.

[Christina Anikari]

Not to mention the fact that most arabs aren't really in the habit of creating anti-western caligraphy.

In any case those are awesome. If he sold prints, and if i had money, i would so buy one of those. I really like middle eastern imagery and arab script is probably the prettiest i can think of, though telling how to read it i have absolutely no clue.

[May-chan]

I had a friend in highschool, his dad was Iranian (though they described themselves as Persian to disaasociate with Iran itself) and he was learning arabic from his dad. It was kind of funny, he had this workbork that had all these campy 70s illustrations

[Christina Anikari]

Heh. And calling themself Persians probably means an association with the Shah, because the best way to disassociate you with one oppressive facist regime is to identify with another...or something silly like that. As for arabic there were two girls out of the 14 people in my class who knew it fluently. One was Palestinian and the other was Pakistani

[May-chan]

well "persia" has a looooong history. And knowing them they were more likely associating with their cultural background than any government... as a matter of fact... I'm sure of it

[Christina Anikari]

Well the name Persia has always been the western name for the area. In Farsi Persia is only an area in the south-western region of modern Iran close to the border to Iraq, an area that was the original homeland of the Persian empire back in antiquity. The only Iranian ruler ever to call Iran for Persia was the shah that the US put into power after overthrowing the revolutionary government set up by Mossadeq in the 50s. Add to that the fact that to this day the majority of all Iranians in the west are people who fled when the Islamic revolution came in 79, it is pretty reasonable that it is association with the previous regime that makes people define themself as Persian and not Iranian. That or a rather wierd attempt to be more western.

[May-chan]

look I know his family didn't have any association with any regime... and his mother was from poland actually... they went to an eastern orthodox church...

[Christina Anikari]

Freaky. Odd that they would choose to call themself Persian then, it is an extremely western term like i said. And i didn't mean being part of or actively supporting or anything of the sort. Just that the term Persia is affiliated with the shah and that most Iranians in the west would pick him over the ayatollahs and that it was the most reasonable connection i could think of, given that it is a western and not an iranian term.

[Anamnesis]

I wasn't saying anything about them understanding what it said, but rather knowing what the character is from. If they knew it was Arabic, then there might be assumptions, gossip, and subsequent hate. It happens in all walks of life, so...
Either way, since nobody would see that, it doesn't really matter ^^;;