The sculpture, by Spanish artist Eugenio Merino (Madrid, 1975), represents a Muslim worshipper, a Catholic priest and a Rabbi. The three of them are immortalized in the act of praying, each one in his own fashion: the Muslim bending, the Catholic kneeling and the Jew standing. The piece comes with the controversial title “Stairway to Heaven”. To a closer look, we see that the books of the three religions are inverted: the Jew prays with a Koran, the Christian with a Torah ( תורה ), and the Muslim with a Bible.
The artist obviously defends his work: “It is not a work of art meant to offend. My idea is the coexistence of the three religions, joint in a common effort to reach God, in a literally way. I think the message is positive.”
- Is the sculpture anti-Semitic, because it suggests once again the stereotype of the Jewish people ruling the world, standing on top of the column, closer to God? Or should that be taken as a compliment?
- Maybe the sculpture is anti-Islamic, since the Muslim is crushed at the end of the pile. Or should that be taken as a compliment, meaning that Islam is at the base of world religions?
- And what about poor old Catholicism, squeezed in the middle, the eyes closed? Or maybe the column is not meant to suggest a hierarchy?
How should we read this piece?
This is how I see it:
if Jews understand Muslims by reading Koran as it is the same message (reminder) that came from Moses, if Christians hear the earliest message that came to Jews by praying to one God (as Christians were deceived because Jesus called to The One God) and Muslims continue to bow down to The God with Bible by his side(as it still contains messages from The God so showing the respect to Christians and help them get on right path) all 3 will reach The God’s love and mercy together.
But the Muslims are required to believe in the Bible (unadulterated version) and the Torah as a words from God. We study the Bible as well as the Torah. Y’all still don’t understand Islam. Please do your researchs.
That is an amazing interpretation of this piece.
Amazing correct !
Well said
It is clear that if Muslim raises or engrosses ✌️
All religion will be imbalanced and destroyed. In this picture it means that Islam is the root of mankind
Islam is the supreme religion, a true Muslim will wake up soon InshAllah
If the Muslim stands up the Christian and Jew will topple
Or out another way through your history the Christians have been in the back of Muslims followed by the Jews.
If the Muslims stand up it will be catastrophic for everyone
Thank you that is very correct
The Quran is on the top.
I agree with you the message is simple , there is one God and at the moment you can do what makes u happy as we are not asleep we see what is happening but when we stand and wake up , the unbelievers will believe.
When Muslims stands than no other religion will alive. And Inshallah one day it will happen.
Annnnnd it’s thoughts like that, that keep the works fighting. Pure ignorance.
On god
In mmm p way it will be catastrophic to any religion. It will give them the chance to explore what was the message from God sent to Moses, Jesus and Prophet Muhammad peace be upon all of them. The answer is ones of God. Yes, if the most original Bible was in place today thatbwould have been common for all religions.
Why be so fearful or in question that if the Muslim gets a up, other religions will have end to them. Instead why not take a positive approach and explore why he is at the bottom. Your words reflect your inner truth. It’s a fear you show what you not k ow about Muslims.
It completely depends on how everyone perceives this. According to me the piece is a commentary on the three abrahmic religions. First came the Jews then the Christians and then the Muslims. It is also represented through the way they are placed and the way they are seen praying. The Jew standing , the Christian kneeling and the Muslim bending down to God. Since the basis of all three religions is the same they’re all praying to one God which is their way to attain peace and be close to their beliefs therefore it’s called Stairway to Heaven because all three of them feel closer to God through prayer.. Each religious text has formed the basis for one another in simple words they’re all the same just their ways to reach out to God are different.
I agree. Everyone brings their own experience, beliefs to the table and your comment is well thought out.
Well said.
I dont agree with the comment that if the prostrating man gets up others will topple. If we remove the religious aspect from the structure, it represents a balancing act which is overshadowed by an ornament which is the theme. At the first glance we instinctively know that it is outside of the realm of literalism. So,if the man on top is capable of balancing on the shoulder of someone below him, the other men will have the capacity to stand straight and capable of maintaining the balance on each other’s shoulder. All of them will work as a pillar for each other. Lets not forget, they are holding each others holy scripture. Peace and blessings be with you.
Thank you for your thoughtful interpretation.
To me it looks like the picture message is very clear islam is the base of all semitic religions and is the foundation for all, it is like sleeping lion
Wow, that’s excellent comment.
the thing is if the Muslims stand up everyone else falls
when the Muslim stands 😉
Once the muslim rises the rest will have ‘had it”
The Prostrating man hidden face of worship is a symbol of truthfulness. It also shows humble. I can see that he out the book aside as he memories the book he believes by heart. Can any one see why he is the youngest amongst the others?
Obviously the Spanish artist in his mind has tried to bring the 3 religions together by mixing their holy books and asking each religion followers to study each other’s books in hope of understanding and tolerating each other to stop their stupid wars hence the name “stairway to heaven” , however in reality we see the opposite has happened and since it’s creation in 1975 we see more religious wars ,maybe it should have been named “stairway to hell “!
Unfortunately the majority of the world population is ignorantly religious and until these people don’t get true education to wake them up from a brainwash there will be more wars and the only business or industries benefiting from it are the weapons ,security ,mosques, churches and temples which are having a fantastic time, just check their year over year profits during the past 45 years!
World War 1 & WW2 did not happen for religious reasons
Millions were killed
I am a practicing Muslim and I completely believe in the Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and I don’t think any innocent human being whether a Muslim or not deserves to be killed or even hurt.
Pay attention that he complete picture was a little different from this one and :adjacent to it, there was also a sculpture of a Menora cast on the barrel of a metal replica of an Uzi, the signature machine gun invented by Israeli Army official Uziel Gal.
The Reliable Controvery of ARCOmadrid – ARTnews.com
https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/arco-2010-57920/amp/
And if the artist was honest in his idea, he should showed the muslim when he was in Qunut (supplication) not on Sejdeh (prostration ), then it was fair showing.
What will happen if the muslim standup?
I would like to think that the Muslim is praying for their salvation and that the Christian and the Jew and Muslim are all brothers in Allah’s eyes and are relying on the Muslim to carry the weight of his brothers…
If muslim stand, others will fall down. I think this is real meaning of the sculpture
I am a muslim and I know that musims don’t follow Quran. Prophet Muhammad (s) ordered every muslim to learn the science, but do they? Very little compared to christians and jews. It is true that jews rule the world’s economics, and christians help them with this and with their religion. If you don’t believe, investigate who are the main shareholders of giant companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Intel, Tesla, etc. Also, investigate giant media stream companies. You will see the same companies like Vanguard are everywhere. Also, pay attention to the Western military operations in the Middle East during the past decades. I hope one day we’ll wake up.
If the muslim comes out of Sizdah (bow) all above will fall down
To a close look ! This is an abnormal photo, If muslim stand and open thier eyes Jewish and christain may fall.
It might be that the Jew and the Christian is on top but they both carried by the Muslim. We need to understand that God is Merciful and all knowing and that He will not send us more than One ” religion” at a time its just impossible for two religions to coexist in one time period, if there is only one God.