Mokhtar Maghraoui – Peace with the Environment

The following verse from the Qur’an also helps us to understand the importance of avoiding waste and over-consumption.

O Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters. (Qur’an 7:31)

Change is never easy, but we hope this information has inspired some. The Prophet (SAWS) advised us to always make changes that are easy and easy to maintain, so we suggest the following small changes that can have a large effect if we all participate.

• Recycle your paper and switch to recycled paper products – Paper waste accounts for approximately 1/3 of all household waste. This paper would otherwise go to the landfill.

• Change to electronic billing – This will also help us to minimize the amount of paper thrown into landfills.

• Use only the amount of water necessary to make wudu, shorten showers, and water lawns at night – Fresh, clean water is becoming more and more scarce, and we can help by not wasting this valuable resource.

• Turn off lights and electronics when not utilizing them, and change to energy efficient light bulbs – Remember that power plants create waste and pollution to provide that unused/wasted energy.

• Walk or ride a bike when performing local errands – Not only does this save gas and wear-and-tear on your car, but it’s also healthier.

We hope you find this helpful!  Please share your ideas and suggestions with everyone!

With Peace and Tranquility.

Whatever your plans, we thought we would take advantage of this opportunity to share some knowledge with you.

As you may know, the Prophet (SAWS) said, “The best speech is the Book of Allah (Qur’an), and the best way is the way of Muhammad (Sunnah) … ” (Bukhari). In light of this we suggest using ayat from the Qur’an and du’a of the Prophet (SAWS) in your greeting cards. So, if you know anyone getting married in the near future, maybe you can use one of these suggested greetings:

“And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts); verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.” (Qur’an 30:21)

— OR —

‘May Allah bless for you (your spouse) and bless you, and may He unite both of you in goodness.’ (Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah)

We hope you find this helpful!

We were curious if our business decisions have done anything to help our planet. So we looked at our choice to use 100% post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled paper versus “regular” paper. Could we really have an impact in such a short time?

Thankfully, our paper company provided us with a convenient calculator to help us determine our impact. Just by choosing to use 100% PCW paper, we have saved:

Because the paper was also made with 100% renewable energy, we saved:

Source: Neenah Green Eco-Calculator, Savatree.com, H2Ouse.org, EPA.gov.

In light of this we suggest using ayat from the Qur’an and du’a that the Prophet (SAWS) taught us, in our greeting cards. So if you know anyone going through a difficult time, maybe you can send them a card and use this greeting:

“The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah, than the weak believer and there is goodness in both. Strive for that which will benefit you, seek help from Allah and do not despair. If a mishap should happen to befall you then do not say ‘If only I had acted….such and such would have happened’. Rather say:

‘Allah has decreed and what He wills, He does’ … for verily ‘If’ lets in the work of the devil.” (Muslim)

We hope you find this helpful!

We at Sakina Design do our best to combine the contemporary and traditional, creating a unique and elegant look. This concept goes beyond our products, permeating our entire company, including  our name and logo. Judging from the response, we’ve been successful … if not a bit confusing. Some have even asked if we’re Turkish, to which we reply … hayir.

Joking aside … we do want to spread some clarity on this issue. We’re a U.S. company based out of southern California. Our approach is to pull on traditional Islamic art and give it a contemporary look.

To represent the traditional we have taken the name ’sakina’, which is the transliteration of the Arabic word for ‘tranquility’.

And to represent the contemporary we use a very clean and modern font. The connection to the original Arabic is retained by keeping the corresponding dots of the Arabic letters. The letter ‘a’ at the end of ’sakina’ is also reversed to make it look more like its corresponding Arabic letter. All this gives our logo a somewhat Turkish appearance. A society which also bridges the eastern and western worlds.

We hope this helps to answer your questions and clarify any confusion.

With Peace and Tranquility!

Quality products start with quality designs. For this we thank our obsessive-compulsive graphic designer, who does not rest until every last detail is perfect. She spends considerable time contemplating the use of our products before even designing them. As a result, you will notice our wall art and greeting cards are flexible and convenient. Because of this process, our wall art can be used individually to fill small spaces, or combined to fill larger spaces. This insightful design strategy was also applied to our greeting cards. By using a “greeting insert” we allow our customers to use the same card for any situation.

After finalizing the design, we proceed to the next step, identifying manufacturers who can meet our quality standards. For our wall art, we work with a U.S. framer who hires craftsmen committed to high quality standards. Together we selected a recycled wood product that was not only eco-friendly and contemporary, but also stronger than any virgin wood. The printing process for the wall art naturally involves minor variations and imperfections as part of the process. However, if we feel these variations take away from the quality of the artwork, we do not allow it to be framed. This is accomplished through a painstaking process of going through each piece of art individually.

For our greeting cards, we utilize one of the latest techniques to create an elegant look and feel, laser die cutting. This technique is applied to high quality 100% post-consumer (PCW) recycled, chlorine-free paper. We also use thicker paper in order to maintain rigidity and give it a high quality appearance and feel. Instead of the traditional petroleum based inks, we use more eco-friendly soy-based inks. However, we don’t stop there.  We also ensure that the inks contain no toxic heavy-metal compounds.

I hope this helps to explain some of the steps we’ve taken to produce quality merchandise that we hope will set a new standard for “Islamic products”.

Our principal complaint is the lack of Islamic decorations designed specifically for the Muslim-American consumer. What we see are products designed for overseas markets being imported to the U.S. They are either overly ornate or otherwise unappealing to our sense of taste and style. We also find most of these products to be low-quality, so even if we do like them, they appear cheap or break easily.

We believe the Muslim community deserves better. And we feel that the term Islam and Muslim should be attached to high quality products. Products that are designed and manufactured in accordance with the Islamic principle of ihsan (excellence). Products that appeal to our unique sense of aesthetics, that are durable and long-lasting, that are produced with their environmental impact in mind, and that take into consideration the health, safety and dignity of our fellow human beings.

And so the idea of Sakina Design was born. Here we produce contemporary, high quality, eco-friendly home decor, which pulls on the rich tradition of Islamic art. We uphold the highest standard of honesty in our business dealings. We also do not take or give interest and believe that charity should be an integral part of any good business.

At Sakina Design, we not only hold ourselves to these standards, but hope that we will set a new standard for Muslim businesses, and all businesses. This is possible only with the help and participation of the Muslim-American consumers. We will do our part in establishing and upholding these high standards, and we ask our customers to support us and all companies that uphold these ideals. Together we can change what is expected of Muslim businesses, and be proud of the label ‘Muslim Business’.

We’ve frequently been asked by customers if they can speak to Sakina. At times we’re tempted to say “I don’t know, can you?” … but we’re not sure if all our customers would find this an amusing response.

So we’ve decided to take this opportunity and explain why we’ve chosen Sakina Design for the name of our business. And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, there is nobody at Sakina Design named Sakina … we apologize if anyone is disappointed.

As we were developing our business idea, we tried to think of a name that would capture the essence of our business. A company that represents American Muslims, who have come from around the world, with a history of more than 1400 years. A company that aspires to present artwork in a contemporary manner, while pulling upon the rich and diverse tradition of Islamic art. A company that wants its art to create a sense of tranquility in both its physical appearance and its ability to inspire remembrance of the divine.

We liked the word ‘tranquility’, and when we translated it to Arabic, we just loved it. ‘Sakina’, the Arabic translation of ‘tranquility’, appears in the Qur’an. Since the Qur’an is the foundation for Muslim societies throughout the world, it reflects both the diversity and history of Muslims. The meaning of the word is also consistent with our goal of providing products that remind people of the divine, since ‘Sakina’ comes from God.

We hope this helps to explain why we have chosen the name Sakina for our company. So be warned, we now have a license to make fun of anyone who calls or e-mails us asking for Sakina … ha ha ha … just kidding.

With Peace and Tranquility!

Many people have approached us, concerned that our wall art may not fit the space they want to decorate. However, we feel confident that our artwork can fit almost any area. We specifically chose the square shape for this reason. Depending upon the size and shape of the space you want to fill, you can order the appropriate number of pieces, and arrange them accordingly.

For example if you want to fill in the area above you sofa, you might want to use three pieces of art arranged horizontally:

Or maybe you want them arranged diagonally:

If the space is tall, you can purchase four pieces and arrange them in a square:

Maybe there is an area underneath or above a staircase you want to fill:

Use two pieces to fill in a narrow area.

Smaller areas can easily be filled by a single piece:

The beauty of the square shape is that it provides almost unlimited flexibility. Combine our geometric patterns with calligraphy to fit your style and decorating needs.

Please share your creativity with everyone. Submit photos of our artwork in your home and we’ll choose some of them to post on our blog.