TRAVELING LIGHT :: Mustafa Davis | Amir Sulaiman

MUSTAFA :: I created this piece to visually portray the emotive experience of being a traveler. The footage is from three separate locations throughout the world (California, New York, and Stockholm) blended together in a single shot. When on the road, days and hours blend together and life can become a blur… a sort of montage of thoughts and memories that are often more dreamlike than real.

I’m often on the road 3 weeks out the month and so much of my time is spent in physical transit from one place to the next. Travel is a means of obtaining light on our spiritual journey but often that light is masked in the darkness and difficulty of life on the road. We do not realize that its light at all until after the journey has come to an end and we begin to reflect on where we’ve been. But the travelers reflections are never still because as he reflects on where he has been, he is already going somewhere new… so the lights and darkness and blur of memories is constant, never-ending. This video is a visual representation of the emotional state of travel… blending lights, darkness, and constant, unceasing movement.

I sent this piece to Amir without telling him what it was about, what I was feeling, or what the piece represented. His poem is what he was inspired to write after seeing the piece, feeling it, and interpreting it though his own artistic filter.

AMIR :: this is simply a poem of longing. when the longing is powerful enough it can defy the laws of physics; it disregards the illusions of time and space. the Ifrit line is a reference to Chapter of The Ant in the Qu’ran which mentions the story of Bilquis (the Queen of Sheba) making her pilgrimage to the wise Prophet-King Sulaiman (King Solomon). Months before she reached him he asked his council, which consisted of men, jinn, birds and other creations, to bring her throne to him. the Ifrit, who was one of the jinn spirits, said he could travel to Sheba (a few months journey), get her throne and return before his king could rise from his seat. but then another, who is only described as one with “knowledge of the book” said he could bring it before his king could blink. as sure as he said it, the throne appeared before Prophet Sulaiman son of David, may peace and blessing be upon them. in the context of the poem, its meaning is that love itself is a divine miracle, it itself is karama.

LYRICS:::

Although time and space
have displaced us
i know we are not in different places
As I speak this I am racing
Running
Although my feet won’t touch the pavement
Yet as you hear this I am running
Racing

its hard to pen a poem
my body still
my heart has a heart of its own
its left me and made its way
alone
on its own
to your home
to its home

my love is racing to you
running
until you can feel its traces through you
racing running to you

i have no knowledge of the book
yet even the Ifrit couldn’t cover the distance
That my light my love
Is covering this instant

as i speak this
my love is racing running
as you hear this
my heart is racing coming

should i be more patient
but im not much for waiting
when my every waking
moment
is facing
your face

while i speak this
im racing
as you hear this
im running

my heart is racing running
to you