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.
METHODDiscipline and Framework
The practice operates under an aniconic protocol grounded in the Prophetic prohibition on image-making (taṣwīr), realised through a rule-governed manual drawing system and continuous procedural execution. Each work is produced as part of a single cumulative corpus (Ṣaḥīfat al-Ṣabr, The Scroll of Patience), within which inclusion is contingent upon full compliance with the governing method.Execution Protocol
Production is carried out exclusively by hand using a 0.30 mm Staedtler Marsmatic700 technical pen and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star India Ink on archival Bristol paper. No preparatory sketching, compositional planning, mechanical reproduction, or digital processes are employed. Mark-making proceeds incrementally and continuously, with each mark registering time, pressure, and positional control. Duration is treated as a primary material parameter.Formal Constraints
The work is strictly non-figurative and non-imitative. Visual structure emerges through repetition, density, and controlled variation within a fixed procedural logic. Areas of reserve (uninked fields) function as structural intervals within the overall continuum.Standardized Formats
Works are issued in two primary formats:
جزء (Juz’/Fragments) — 27.9 × 35.5 cm
مقتطف (Muqtaṭaf/Excerpt) — 50 × 70 cm
ورقة كبرى (Waraqah Kubrā/Monument) — Large-Scale Codex Sheet
صحيفة الصبر (Ṣaḥīfat al-Ṣabr, The Scroll of Patience)
Each unit functions both independently and as a sequential component of the larger manuscript.Archival and Issuance System
All works are documented through a dedicated self-archival framework that records execution data, classification, and custodial placement. Issuance is conditional upon methodological compliance; deviation from protocol renders a work ineligible for inclusion within the corpus.Material Ethic
الإتقان (al-itqān, precision), انضباط (indibāṭ, structural discipline), and الصبر (ṣabr, patience/endurance) function as operational requirements rather than aesthetic preferences. The method treats consistency of line, continuity of process, and completion of duration as criteria of correctness.