Crafts Workers from Multan
Multan is the main city of southern Punjab. In history it has always enjoyed great importance. Some how its people attracted the Sufi saints so much that the city became the abode of Sufism in south Asia.
Multan is one of the oldest living cities in south Asia. The old city has a very interesting Bazaar and many elaborately decorated Shrines of the Sufi saints. There are 18 different craftsmen & women in the crafts market of Multan. During our Sufi Festival nearly half of the craft workers shops will be represented in Glasgow. Kuraishi (crochet) work has been used for its beauty and decoration for centuries. In the beginning animal wool was used for this purpose.
Now bed sheet, cushions and chadars are make of crochet for which thread & wool is used. Fatima Kanwal demonstrates this inherited craft. Okair Sazi Maker, Haq Nawaz demonstrates this craft that has been going on since ancient times. It is an old craft of design making on leather products. Nowadays this art is used in ‘calligraphy’. Haq Nawaz has been associated with this craft for 30 Years. Ustad Abdul Rasheed Qureshi makes things out of camel bone especially women’s jewellery. In addition table lamps, lockets and other items are made. Abdul Rehman Naqqash presents an art that has been in this region for centuries. In 1910 Ustad Abdullah Naqaash introduced the Islamic touch to this art by making lamps of camel's skin.
In Agra, India, the ‘Naqaash’ of this family are still working. A hall in Serena Hotel Faisalabad has been named after his father and is declared the best hall of Asia. Next we have the expert in Kaashi, Muhammad Wajid. Multan is famous for the work of blue, turquoise tiles. This craft came to the sub-continent from Iran and the Middle East. Wajid also worked at the Shrine of Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam and on Bhong Mosque.
Then there is the expert of pottery making Muhammed Shafiq. Pottery making is a very old craft. Ustad Ajmal Chistti is a glass-work expert. It’s an old tradition. Pieces of glass are joined to from a specific design on different buildings and for designing utensils or pottery.
He has been in this profession for 32 Years. He has worked in Afghanistan and Japan. Finally there is Rashid Mukhtar, a leading artist who is skilled across a range of arts and crafts from landscape painting to portraits, from photography to calligraphy. Calligraphy is especially important in Islam as the Prophet said ‘Good writing is important because it makes the truth stand out’.
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