99 Names of God

I've always admired circular shawls, particularly the Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi Shawls. The math, combined with the delicate lace, make for a gorgeous and geeky knit. I've always planned on knitting one, and I think it's about time.

If I'm going to knit something this geeky, however... I'm going to do it EXTRA geeky. In that effort, I'm pulling out something I haven't used in years. My Arabic.

In Islamic tradition, there are 99 names or attributes of God. Those used most in the Qu'ran are Ar-Rahman (The Compassionate) and Ar-Rahim (The Merciful), and there are certainly more than 99 attributes given to God throughout Islamic texts. One such list sits on my mantle.

  I've decided to do something that might qualify as a bit insane. Using the methodology blogged by my friend (gannet on Ravelry), I've decided to chart out 99 names of God using Abjad numerals (assigning a numeric value to each Arabic letter), and bead the names of God into a shawl.

First I need to design a central mandala, though. Something including Allah in its Abjad form (1, 30, 30, 5), either beaded or in the number of stitches or rows in the pattern or or or...

This might be insane. It will definitely be geeky. And by golly, it will be FUN.