When you think of Sufism, what comes to your mind? We’d be really surprised if you said ‘comics’! But that’s exactly how Sufism is being represented by brothers Mohammed Ali Vakil and Mohammed Arif Vakil. The duo has published 40 Sufi Comics, a one of a kind book, which depicts short stories and anecdotes from Islamic history and tradition.
“We grew up in Dubai where we went for religious classes. They taught us about God, faith, love and respect for parents etc. We thought of expressing the stories we learned through comics,” says Ali, who along with his brother, grew up reading comics like Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha and Tintin.”
After pursing their bachelor’s degree in Oxford Brookes University in London, Ali and Arif did their chartered accountancy course. “We moved to Bengaluru in 2002 and my brother joined the family business, while I was still studying,” says Ali.
Despite the book’s cover having both their names, Arif credits most of the work to his younger brother Ali’s effort. “We have a blog called www.vakil.org that’s been running for a long time. One day, Ali picked up the book How to think like Da Vinci. The book mentioned how Leonardo used to draw a lot, which helped him think in a different way. That’s when Ali started drawing,” adds Arif.
The siblings got books from Amazon.com and saw YouTube videos to learn drawing. When they posted it on their blog and Facebook, the positive reactions drove them towards creating the book. Interestingly, the book doesn’t depict faces of the Prophet and revered personalities.
“Whenever Islamic art has been done, faces of religious personalities are never shown. Firstly, it’s believed that only God has to be worshiped. Secondly, nobody really knew what they looked like. Whenever there’s a movie showing the Prophet, they always show him from behind or cover his face — it’s more of a tradition,” reveals Arif.
Arif too has lent his drawing skills, but for volume two, that they’re currently working on. Evidently, the duo loves to blog and also read. “We’re also involved in social activities. My brother fasted during the Anna Hazare campaign. We are involved in micro finance activities for women who are living in slums. I also do a bit of web designing and development,” says Ali.
The brothers have also put their skills to good use by making a video for the TED competition. “It’s a contest for anybody who wants to speak at TED. The theme is ‘full spectrum,’ where we must engage the audience in as many of their senses as possible. We’ve come up with a script, storyboard and animation. The results are out on May 9,” says Arif, on a hopeful note.
