WASHINGTON, 13 December — On Sept. 1 the US Postal Service issued it first-ever Eid stamp as part of its holiday series, the direct result of a five-year lobbying campaign by Muslims, including the help of 10,000 schoolchildren from across the country that sent postcards and submitted their designs.

But then when Muslim terrorists attacked ten days later, it set off anti-Muslim feelings here which some believe affected the distribution and promotion of the Eid stamp.

Designed by calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya, of Arlington, Virginia, the stamp displays the Arabic words “Eid Mubarak,” or “Blessed Feast” with the gold letters written in Turkish-style calligraphy on a blue background.

“He is certainly the first American to ever study classical calligraphy. He did his master studies in North Africa and Turkey with many of the famous classical calligraphers,” said Barbara Stowasser, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.

“He is a very spiritual person, for him his calligraphy is an act of devotion, and you feel that spirituality when you enter his studio. He does many different calligraphy styles; the stamp is late Ottoman, rococo style.” said Stowasser.

Zakariya is not an obvious choice as someone destined to become a leading calligrapher in the world.

“I was born into a family whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower,” Zakariya told Arab News. “I converted to Islam and became very interested in calligraphy as the result of a trip to Morocco in 1961.”

Asked how he was chosen to design the Eid stamp, Zakariya said: “The stamp was negotiated over a number of years, and it took some effort to convince the Post Office to have one. I was the afterthought. After they agreed to do it, I got chosen.”

Zakariya said the design meant balancing a lot of concepts together. “I didn’t want to have too much, didn’t want any clichéd concepts, so I decided to go for a very clean cut legible, calligraphy that still comes out of the deepest part of Islamic calligraphic tradition.”

“The Post Office worked hard on this, they did a beautiful production job, and ran a heavy promotional campaign. They tried hard to make this a special stamp. They printed 75 million, which is a large run, expecting it to sell out. If it did, they thought to make it a permanent American stamp, but due to the terrorist activities, everything changed.” said Zakariya.

“Islam is a new thing here, and has foreign connotations, and foreign connotations are perceived sometimes as being sinister.”

“Basically, I’m trying to promote a cultural side of Islam in the US that is value-free when it comes to politics. I don’t use the art as a hammer, but I want to expose the art to show the beautiful aspect of this culture. It combines art and culture at the same time. It is the terrorists that are trying to destroy while we are trying to build up,” said Zakariya. He plans to travel to Riyadh in January, where he has been invited by the US Embassy to give some lectures on calligraphy.