Islam ascribes sacred qualities to water. It is the origin of all life on earth and the substance from which God created man (Qur’an 25:54). Water is not just a gift from God, but also one of the three things to which every human is entitled, along with grass (pasture for cattle) and fire. Hence, water should be freely available to all, and any Muslim who keeps water for himself that he does not need sins against God. As a symbol of creation, life, sustenance and purification, water is used to evoke notions of religious purity and can also refer to the afterlife and heavenly paradise. In this image, the symbolism of water and its significance in Islam is verbalized in the slogan “hibat Allah ta‘alla li-abna’ al-iraq al-ghayara” (“the gift of Allah the Sublime to the zealous/ eager people of Iraq”). The drop of water is used to symbolize God’s promised assistance and generosity to the pious.
The second dominant element in the image is the lush greenery, which, like the water, resonates the idea of God’s benevolence, and is symbolic of creation, life and sustenance. It also further emphasizes the Islamic aura of the image, as green is considered the traditional color of the Prophet Muhammad’s tribe and has been adopted as a sacred color based on Qur’anic verses (76:21; 18:65-82) and a reliable hadith (prophetic tradition or report) that associates green with “universally good things.”
