ARTIST BIOAbdushakur (b. 1405 AH / 1985 CE, New York City) is a United Kingdom–based Latin American Muslim artist of Guatemalan and Ecuadorian descent. He works exclusively in non-figurative pen-and-ink drawing.His practice is structured through an aniconic methodology derived from the Prophetic prohibition on taṣwīr (image making). Executed entirely by hand with technical pen and ink on archival paper, his works are produced through sustained, incremental mark-making. This process rejects preparatory composition, mechanical assistance, or digital mediation, generating continuous fields that foreground duration, material consistency, and procedural discipline.His drawings constitute Ṣaḥīfat al-Ṣabr (The Scroll of Patience), a cumulative manuscript where individual works function as both autonomous units and sequential components of an unbroken record. Governed by the principles of:• al-itqān (precision)
• indibāṭ (structural discipline)
• ṣabr (patience/endurance)The corpus treats time and labor as formal conditions. Figuration and expressive authorship are systematically refused in favor of repetition, continuity, and rule-based execution, situating the work within a framework of devotional abstraction.Abdushakur maintains an integrated self-archival system recording the production and custodial status of each issued work. His drawings are held in private collections across the United States, Egypt, and Europe, forming an ongoing practice grounded in lived experience and structured through aniconism following his shahādah.
METHODDiscipline and FrameworkThe practice is governed by an aniconic protocol rooted in the Prophetic prohibition on image-making (taṣwīr). This is realized through a rule-governed manual drawing system and continuous procedural execution. Each work belongs to a single cumulative corpus, Ṣaḥīfat al-Ṣabr (The Scroll of Patience), where inclusion is contingent upon full compliance with the governing method.Execution ProtocolProduction is executed exclusively by hand using a 0.30 mm Staedtler Marsmatic 700 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; each mark registers time, pressure, and positional control. Duration is treated as a primary material parameter.Formal ConstraintsThe 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 FormatsWorks are issued in three primary formats, each functioning as an independent unit and a sequential component of the larger manuscript:• جزء (Juz’ / Fragments): 27.9 × 35.5 cm
• مقتطف (Muqtaṭaf / Excerpt): 50 × 70 cm
• ورقة كبرى (Waraqah Kubrā / Monument): Large-scale Codex SheetArchival and Issuance SystemAll works are documented through a dedicated self-archival framework recording execution data, classification, and custodial placement. Release is conditional upon methodological compliance; any deviation from the protocol renders a work ineligible for inclusion in the corpus.Material Ethicالإتقان (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.