ARTIST BIOAbdushakur (b. 1405 AH / 1985 CE, New York City, US) is a United Kingdom–based Latino American Muslim artist of Guatemalan and Ecuadorian descent working in non-figurative pen-and-ink drawing. His practice is structured through an aniconic methodology derived from the Prophetic prohibition on taṣwīr (image making) and is executed exclusively by hand with technical pen and ink on archival paper. The works are produced through sustained, incremental mark-making without preparatory composition, mechanical assistance, or digital mediation, generating continuous fields that foreground duration, material consistency, and procedural discipline.His drawings constitute صحيفة الصبر (Ṣaḥīfat al-Ṣabr, The Scroll of Patience), a cumulative manuscript in which individual works function simultaneously as autonomous units and as sequential components of an unbroken primary record. Governed by the principles of الإتقان (al-itqān, precision), انضباط (indibāṭ, structural discipline), and الصبر (ṣabr, patience/endurance), the corpus treats time and labour as formal conditions. Figuration and expressive authorship are systematically refused in favour of repetition, continuity, and rule-based execution, situating the work within a framework of devotional abstraction and manuscript logic.Abdushakur maintains an integrated self-archival system that records the production, classification, and custodial status of each issued work. The drawings are released in standardized formats and are held in private collections across the United States, Egypt, and Europe, forming part of an ongoing practice grounded in lived experience and structured through aniconism, procedural authorship, and cumulative record-keeping following his shahādah.
FRAMEWORKCreed and OrientationThe conceptual framework informing this practice derives from the Qurʾān, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, and the transmitted understanding of the righteous predecessors (السلف الصالح). The orientation follows the Atharī (Salafī) creed, prioritizing the textual sources of Islam and their early interpretation within the first generations of the Muslim community.Engagement with these sources occurs primarily through English translations, recorded lectures, and accessible scholarly works. The framework reflects personal study rather than formal religious training and is presented solely as contextual background to the artistic practice documented on this site.InfluencesThe religious orientation informing this work has been shaped through personal study and exposure to teachers, scholars, and lectures within the Salafī scholarly tradition.Early instruction in the principles of Salafiyyah was received through Imam Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Salām al-Ghanī (Masjid at-Tawheed, Middletown, NY), whose guidance introduced the author to the study of Qurʾān, Sunnah, and classical scholarship.Instruction in Arabic language and exposure to discussions on the legal rulings concerning image-making were also received through Imam Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raʾūf Shākir, whose translation and compilation of The Islamic Ruling Concerning Tasweer later became an important reference in understanding the jurisprudence of representation.Engagement with classical Islamic scholarship has occurred primarily through translated works associated with the broader Sunni tradition, including writings attributed to scholars such as:
• Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal رحمه الله
• Imam al-Nawawī رحمه الله
• Imam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله
• Imam Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله
• Imam Ibn Rajab رحمه الله
• Imam Ibn al-Jawzī رحمه اللهAlongside foundational texts addressing creed and monotheism such as Kitāb al-Tawḥīd.Contemporary scholarly influence has also been drawn from the lectures and writings of figures including:
• Shaykh Muḥammad Saʿīd Raslān حفظه الله
• Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz رحمه الله
• Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaymīn رحمه الله
• Shaykh Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī رحمه الله
• Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān حفظه الله
• Shaykh ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-ʿAbbād حفظه اللهalongside English-language teachers whose lectures have made this material accessible, including:
• Dr. Ṣāliḥ al-Ṣāliḥ رحمه الله
• Dāwūd Adib حفظه اللهThese sources collectively inform the conceptual framework underlying the aniconic methodology and procedural discipline governing the corpus Ṣaḥīfat al-Ṣabr.Textual Influences on Image-MakingThe methodological rejection of figurative imagery within this practice derives from Prophetic narrations concerning taṣwīr (image-making) and their explanation within later Islamic scholarship. These narrations formed the initial catalyst for the work and established the foundational prohibition informing its aniconic methodology.Subsequent study expanded this position through writings addressing the legal and aesthetic implications of representation in Islam, particularly Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raʾūf Shākir’s حفظه الله compilation The Islamic Ruling Concerning Tasweer.Consideration of aesthetics within the Islamic intellectual tradition has also been informed by the scholarship of Lois Ibsen al Faruqi رحمها الله (professor of Islamic art and culture, Temple University, PA), including her book Islam and Art and essays such as An Islamic Perspective on Symbolism in the Arts: New Thoughts on Figural Representation and God in Visual Aesthetic Expression: A Comparative Study in Transcendence Symbolization.Further theoretical grounding in the epistemology of Islamic art has drawn from Idham Mohammed Hanash’s The Theory of Islamic Art: Aesthetic Concept and Epistemic Structure.The practice’s positioning relative to contemporary Western art discourse has been informed by works such as Jacques Barzun’s The Use and Abuse of Art and James Elkins’ On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art, What Happened to Art Criticism?, and his lecture series Concepts and Problems in Visual Art.PositionThe material referenced here does not constitute religious verdicts or legal rulings. It represents a personal framework of study informing the artistic methodology and conceptual orientation of the work.Correctness belongs to Allah alone. Any error remains the responsibility of the author.
