An Erratic Journey & a Reflective Digression

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم

In the name of Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah

    All praise is due to Allah alone, Who guided me to Islam and then guided me to the understanding and methodology of the Salafus Saaleh (Pious Predecessors), when prior to this, my life was in shambles, chaos, self-destruction and recklessness. I lived my life without concern whether I lived or died. I was a beligerent, angry and increasingly violent alcoholic. I used to get high and gradually turned from innocuous to harder drugs, hiding my spiral from others. Throughout my childhood and into my mid-late 20s, I created violent, rage-filled artwork. Artwork depicting murder, dead children, and women. Everyone around me thought it was for the shock value, but in reality, it was a coping mechanism for the environment I was raised in, for the rage that simmered beneath the surface.

    That pain took root early. Since I was a child, I grew up with the wound of being stabbed in the back by my father, who was, in my eyes, my hero. That illusion shattered at the age of five when I witnessed things I didn’t fully understand. To my innocent mind, it felt like betrayal and abandonment. It was around that time that I decided art would be the outlet I poured all my energy into. Unknowingly, it became my way of escaping the chaos and turmoil. As my family fell apart around me, I became consumed by my art, spending hours in isolation. I didn’t care about anything else.

Topic: Art-Making and Intelligence

Art-making is as much an intellectual pursuit as any other field of study. It engages multiple aspects of intelligence: it has the potential to enhance emotional intelligence by cultivating self-awareness and adaptability, enriching academic intelligence through creative thinking and theoretical reasoning. Moreover, art-making cultivates social intelligence by stimulating interpersonal communication and community engagement, making it a powerful medium for intellectual development.

On the other hand, neglecting these intellectual benefits can lead to a superficial approach to art-making, where the process becomes mechanical and lacks depth (or soul). This could result in weakening personal fulfillment, declining artistic vision, and fewer opportunities for meaningful social engagement.

– Abdushakur

Originally posted on Threads 

Abdushakur and The Art of The Infinite Pattern

 بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم

In the name of Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah

    A few years ago (in 2014) I was wandering around Union Square (NYC) during the evening. Out of boredom, I went to The Strand, a well-known bookstore on Broadway, right off of Union Square. I usually go to the art section of the store to browse around. That evening I was going through books on art theory when I came across a book titled, "Art, Creativity, and The Sacred" by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona. I was instantly pulled towards this book, despite the cover not being much to look at. So I tore off the cellophane wrapping and started to flip through the pages until I came across an essay titled, "An Islamic Perspective on Symbolism in The Arts: New Thoughts on Figural Representation" by Lois Ibsen al-Faruqi (may Allah have mercy on her).

Topic: Tawheed, Islamic Art & the Islamic Artists

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم

In the name of Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah

    

    This is the source, the inspiration, and the foundation of the whole of creation from mankind, to the Muslim, to the Islamic artist, and ultimately to what he or she creates of art.

    Without a sincere belief in Allah as He revealed in The Qur’an and through His Messenger صلى الله عليه وآله وصحبه وسلم and companions by way of the authentic sunnah, there can be no Islamic art.

    I created this graphic based on Utrujjah Publication’s translation of Shaykh AbdurRazzaq’s book (as shown in the image) because it effectively highlights the foundational aspects of Islamic art in a practical and inspiring manner. It underscores the elevation of human creativity beyond the materialistic aspirations of the naturalists, reflecting the true essence of Islamic artistic expression.

Topic: Artist’s Statements

 

“Islam (Qur’an and Sunnah as understood by the Salaf as-Saaleh, the earliest generations of Muslims considered to have the purest understanding of the faith) holds a higher importance to me than anything, even my art practice (if Allah wills). While my art practice is a central aspect of my existence, it is Allah alone who guides and grants permission to undertake any task, and all success is with Allah alone.” – Abdushakur

Topic: Islamic Art

 

“Tawheed (the Oneness of Allah) is the foundation of Islam and everything associated with that. Hence, the foundation of Islamic art is Tawheed, and none attempts to separate or obfuscate Tawheed from Islamic art except the kaafir (disbeliever), the mubtadi’i (religious deviant), and the jaahil (ignoramus).” – Abdushakur

Topic: Islamic Art

 

“The pen offers a permanence and certainty in visual art, just as it does in written expression. Ink on paper dries into unwavering, unapologetic conviction, unlike the mutable forms of paint or the fleeting smudge of charcoal. This permanence mirrors the pen’s elevated status, as it was the first thing created and commanded by Allah to write the Decree of all things for eternity. In fact, Allah swears by the pen, raising it to a place of unparalleled honor.” – Abdushakur