QUARTZ
EXPERIENCE HISTORY
PURE QUARTZ
It is so pure it seems flawless. This transparent variety of quartz shimmers like water—isn’t its clarity outstanding? May we quench our perpetual thirst by al-Kawthar one day.
DID YOU KNOW?
THE NAME
The name quartz entered the English language through the Old German word Quarz, which has an uncertain origin. Today, the transparent crystalline variety of quartz is also called rock crystal. In Ancient Greek, krustallos was derived from kruos, meaning “icy cold,” as some philosophers thought that the mineral was a form of supercooled ice.
Did you know?
THE SOURCE
Pure quartz is sourced in the United States of America, Brazil, Russia, and Madagascar.
DID YOU KNOW?
THE VARIETY
Truly a chameleon gemstone, quartz has the most varieties of all minerals. There is rock crystal, milk quartz, amethyst, citrine, ametrine, smoky quartz, morion, tiger’s eye, hawk’s eye, aventurine… You also might have heard of jasper, carnelian, chalcedony, onyx, and agate. And there is more! Some varieties are formed as a result of meteorite storms and subsequently found in craters.
HOWLITE
A HISTORY
From small carvings to jewelry components, howlite lends itself best to make decorative objects. It has a porous texture, which means it can be easily dyed to look like other minerals such as turquoise as well.
HOWLITE
THE ISLAMIC TRADITION
Water might be the element of nature considered most precious in the Islamic tradition. Heavenly drops are a Sign. Appearing sixty-three times in the Holy Book, water is a purifying blessing that is indispensable to sustain all life on earth. It is a social good. It has been narrated by Saʿd ibn ʿUbadah that our Blessed Prophet has said that the best form of charity is to provide someone with water to drink.
In Islamic teachings, it is frowned upon to waste water. To conserve it, and not to squander or pollute it, is seen as a moral obligation. In the title of a significant number of medieval Islamic books, the use of the sea symbolizes a metaphysical knowledge so vast it is as deep as the ocean. The ocean and the sea are also recurrent metaphors in the poems of the 10th-century Iraqi poet al-Mutannabi, 14th-century Persian lyric Hafiz, and the 13th-century Persian poet and Hanafi faqih Jalal al-Din Rumi.
