Rahbat رهبة is translated as "fright", but "dread" gives a better feel of the word. It is one of 5 maqamât that correspond to different qualities of (sacred) fear: "For gazing towards Pre-eternity makes the heart unsettled and utterly overwhelms a man."
In Sad Maydan Ansari describes them in detail, but in brief:
"[Khawf (fear)] pertains to the repentant.
[Wajal (deep fear)] pertains to worshippers.
[Rahbat (fright)] belongs to the ascetics.
[Ishfaq (apprehension)] is the fear of the gnostic.
[Khushu' (humbleness) is the fear of the sincere."
A print is available on Redbubble. Creative process:
Reducing the letters to squares and triangles allowed for a range of possibilities, but as usual, the simpler the approach the more powerful the design, so I stuck to squares for all but the ra, leavign a space for movement inside.
As I decided to work on black paper, I could have simply drawn red outlines, but I wanted a feel of blacker than black, so the full part were first filled in with acrylic.
Second step (I forgot to take photos after this) was to apply bronze leaf to the inside, then came the outlines in red acrylic with a fine brush.
