Dhikr
This painting is made entirely from donated tasbihs. People gave me their beads, beads that had been through Hajj, through late nights, through grief, through gratitude, and I arranged them in circles to echo the tawaf around the Kaabah.
A friend gave me her mother's tasbih. The senior ladies at our mosque, who thread up new tasbihs from broken ones, donated theirs. Each set of beads came with a story, a life, a relationship with Allah that I will never fully know.
And at the heart of the piece is my father's tasbih. Made of Kahrabu, amber, that he brought back from Najaf in Iraq. That one is the most personal thing I have ever put into a painting.
The Shahadah sits at the centre, and all of that prayer circles around it.
100 × 100 cm Tasbih (prayer beads) on canvas
Dhikr
Dhikr is held in a private collection.
Donated tasbihs woven into a tapestry, their circular form echoing the circumambulation of the Kaabah. At the centre, La Ilaha Ilallah. The eternal bond between the faithful and the divine, held in every bead.
NOW IN A PRIVATE COLLECTION
Commission an original painting
This painting is now in a private collection. If you are looking for an original painting for your home, I would be happy to discuss a commission with you.