You may know how, in ancient times, the common view was that nature had separated humankind into distinctive peoples. Aristotle was among the first to reject such arbitrary distinctions, and to conceptualize the human race as a single whole. It is interesting to note that his young pupil, on whom he impressed this notion, turned out to be Alexander the Great - whose international empire was animated by this new intellectual outlook

From a global perspective, it is here, in Central Asia, that one of the most unusual water situations exists. I am referring to Lake Sarez. It is some 60 kilometres in length, containing some 17 cubic kilometres of water, is at 3200 meters altitude and has a natural dam of 550 meters, the highest of any dam in the world. For years it has been seen as a major hazard to millions of lives in this country and in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan

The Quran, makes several references to the pen and to writing, in particular pointing out that Allah teaches by the pen (and teaches man) that which he does not know. The reference is simultaneously to revelation and the specific religious knowledge of faith that is passed on by revelation, as also to knowledge in general.

The written word thus has from the outset, a symbolic content for Muslims which underlines and inspires the aesthetic significance that it developed as calligraphy grew to be a genuine art form. The written word as a symbol with both religious and aesthetic significance, is pervasive and is as important as it was several thousand years ago.

In Islam, the divine message was passed through the Prophet, first orally and subsequently written down as the Quran. Mohammed (pbuh) is Allah's Prophet, a Messenger who transmits faithfully to humanity Allah's words addressed directly to him. Mohammed being not divine but a Messenger, it is his message, the Word of Allah, that is all-important and the Quran is the direct visual embodiment of Allah's Message.

Just as the Quran and its message pervade every aspect of a Muslim's life, secular or religious, material or philosophic and abstract, almost any physical object can bear calligraphy, whether sacred or secular, whatever its size and use.

Just as the Quran and its message pervade every aspect of a Muslim's life, secular or religious, material or philosophic and abstract, almost any physical object can bear calligraphy, whether sacred or secular, whatever its size and use.