TEHRAN – A book containing 110 exquisite artworks on Imam Reza (AS) has recently been published in Tehran.
Entitled “Guarantor of the Gazelle”, the book will be unveiled during a ceremony at the Mahmud Afshar Foundation on Thursday, Negar Publications and Emam-e Rauf Publications announced in a joint press release on Sunday.
The book contains works by 81 prominent calligraphers, painters, miniaturists and illuminators.
The artworks have been collected since autumn 2008, and art expert Ahmad Mahdavi Damghani wrote a preface to the book, which is in Persian and English.
Works by calligraphers Ashkan Ashofteh, Seyyed Mohammad Ehsaii, Abbas Akhaveyn, Hamid Ajami and Hossein Najafi were selected for the book.
Works by the painters Aidin Aqdashlu, Amir-Hassan Aqamiri, Ashraf Saeidi, Mohammadreza Atashzad and Masud Hosseinzadeh were published in the book.
Iranian Muslims gave the title of ‘the guarantor of the gazelle’ to Imam Reza (AS). It refers to the story of a deer caught by a hunter in a forest. Passing by, Imam Reza (AS) asked the hunter to free the deer so she could raise her babies, but he promised the deer would come back afterward. The hunter accepted and freed the deer.
Months later, the deer returned to the hunter’s home. However, the hunter declined to kill her, as he saw the miracle in what had happened.
SB/YAW
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