This painting took 6 years to complete. This was not because it was particularly difficult or large. To finish it, I needed to unlearn, heal, and learn. I know this now, in hindsight. I am grateful for God’s guidance throughout this entire process – the Qur’an has been my sanctuary. Without Him I am nothing. I am grateful for the love and support of family and friends; my village is beautiful. I am grateful to the person who bought it for giving it a safe home, and for allowing me to let it go. Prints are available here.

كُلُّ نَفْسٍۭ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ رَهِينَةٌ
Every soul is in pledge for what it earned
إِلَّآ أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلْيَمِينِ
Save the companions of the right: —
فِى جَنَّـٰتٍ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ
In gardens, they will ask each other
عَنِ ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ
About the lawbreakers:
مَا سَلَكَكُمْ فِى سَقَرَ
“What brought you into Saqar?”
قَالُوا۟ لَمْ نَكُ مِنَ ٱلْمُصَلِّينَ
They will say: “We were not among the performers of duty,
وَلَمْ نَكُ نُطْعِمُ ٱلْمِسْكِينَ
“And we fed not the needy.
وَكُنَّا نَخُوضُ مَعَ ٱلْخَآئِضِينَ
“And we discoursed vainly with those who discourse vainly,
وَكُنَّا نُكَذِّبُ بِيَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ
“And denied the Day of Judgment
حَتَّىٰٓ أَتَىٰنَا ٱلْيَقِينُ
“Until the Certainty came to us.”

Qur’an 74:38-47

The world would have you believe that your actions have no consequences. You may be sold on the idea that the Creator and a final outcome for all matters are made up and that we only live once (YOLO!). Look around though. Use reason and you will see that all humans believe in something. For example, the self as god. What has caused more destruction than the belief that everything I think and feel is MY truth, and therefore, THE truth?

The Brutality of Time

A mother smiles in anticipation of her newborn—expectant and joyous. She dreams of the moment they will meet and the countless moments they will spend together. Her baby is born and grows to her very age in the blink of an eye. She stares into the mirror at the marks of time that have appeared on her face. There are moments of grief. She realizes how much time must have passed. It was time she thought she had but did not.  

A seed waits patiently under the damp earth, anticipating the sun’s glory. She is a moment of potential waiting to shatter the barrier between the unknown and the known. She is patient. She understands that within her there is a gift that the world awaits that only she can give. As supple leaves unfurl she faces the vast sky knowing that she and it are the same. Her leaves age. She begins her journey back to the dark soil. She is content knowing that every stage is inevitable. It is part of an ancient oath that resides in all living things.

A father bleeds. Warm blood oozes out of a fresh, violent wound and he is reminded of the warm hand of fate that had touched him so many times before. He cannot move now… when once he felt the owner of his destiny. His eyes trace the ceiling for a shadow, a bird, a word. A teardrop falls from the corner of his eye as he remembers his birth and his mother’s face. He lets go – relieved and in anticipation of another birth. Life was just a moment, a drop of dew falling from a supple leaf unfurling. 

A leatherback turtle traverses the vast oceans using a map embedded in her DNA. She returns to the shores that birthed her decades before. She is pregnant and heavy with the weight of a duty that she does not fully understand but knows she must fulfill. Her strength and grace inspire deep wonder in those who have hearts to see. She is part of an unbroken cycle as old as the world. She understands that every grain of sand she uses to cover her eggs existed before her, and will exist after she is gone. She leaves again. Behind her is a promise of life and the continuation of the cycle, in front of her is a future of new trials and uncertainties.

A man has murdered another, the burden he carries gets heavier by the day and even though he does not perceive it, it takes its toll on his soul. A soul that longs to be washed in the dew of repentance. Blood-stained hands that cannot be cleaned not even within 1000 years. He has killed all of us…

The Deceit of Progress

The world would have you believe that every advancement is progress. Yet for all our progress we have lost the ability to truly see each other. The blindness of the heart has caused us to be cold, callous, and unforgiving. In the pursuit of the interests of self we have traded our last measures of rational thinking. We are mere empty shells on the landscape of human potential. Apart from small pockets of resistance, we have succumbed to the myth that a better world is possible “when enough of us wake up”. I am convinced that there is a larger plan at play. We are truly being herded in droves to our destruction with overpriced coffee and cell phones in hand.

We are trapped in cities. Our lives spiral further and further away from the natural world, which we are destroying in order to continue to live in cities. We are told and believe that this is normal. We are stressed and diseased physically and spiritually and unable to fathom a way out of this cycle. Can there be another way to exist?

We live in a paradigm that encourages the pursuit of happiness; a narrow-minded and self-absorbed endeavour at best. The idea of service to others as a path to fulfillment is mostly absent from our conditioning.

Development involves car parks, malls, and competitions for the tallest buildings, but no spiritual ascension or growth. There is little time to stop and think, much less to do the deep work of personal reflection. Our bodies are failing because we think that everything that is made for consumption is food. How can a system built on destruction sustain us?

Is there a way out? Is there a map, a guide, or a path to escape this deceptive maze that leads to our decimation?

The Compass of Belief 

There are two truths that cannot be discredited; we are born and we die. In the brief moments between those two events, we face endless choices. And our paths, whether rocky or smooth, depend on our decisions.

As humans we will falter and fail – but what can keep us grounded? I am guided, like the leatherback, to believe that deep within our DNA we are awake to a higher order. While our minds and bodies remain dormant within this physical realm, there are moments when the light of our true nature breaks through our consciousness. In those moments we come to understand who we truly are. In those moments, we know that none of the magnificent design around us is without a designer. To deny this is to disconnect from our built-in compass.

The believer is essentially a nomad. A wanderer on a plane of existence that seeks to destroy his soul. Guided only by an inner compass that seems innate, the believer traverses the world with a heavy heart and a longing for a home he has never seen. Tired feet and bones that ache are constant companions as he moves towards the unseen thing that draws him ever forward. Consoled by a Promise, he is ever watchful and ever mindful of his duty. 

Belief is a doing word, the believer’s comfort is the word of his Lord. The believer’s compass is the ability to use reason and heart.

وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَلَلدَّارُ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِّلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
And the life of this world is only play and diversion; and the abode of the Hereafter is better for those of prudent fear. Will you then not use reason!

Qur’an 6:32

Much of my work, worldview and thinking over the past 5 years has been influenced by the work of Sam Gerrans. I thank him for his tremendous contributions to the study and understanding of the Qur’an in the context of our current era. May God continue to bless him and may he be rewarded for his sacrifices. Learn more about Sam’s work here.