Al Muntaqim: My Zentangle Calligraphy for Justice That Humans Failed to Give

Final image, scanned version

Why I Made This Art

For more than 10 months now, I have been raising my voice for basic human rights and trying to create awareness. This journey is not easy at all. It is about a series of crimes, not one or two, that every religion and every society in the world calls a crime. I am not stable enough yet to openly name people or mention the exact crimes, but that time is not far.

The broken justice system was one thing. On top of that, there are people in Pakistan who still stand with the criminal, and that breaks a person from inside. Some people's words hurt my heart deeply, because the truth was right in front of them. There was proof that the whole world would accept, and proof from our deen as well. When the justice system fails, the last hope is that society will at least not stand with the wrongdoer. But how can that happen when people know everything and still choose to side with the criminal?

All this hit my mental health so badly that I couldn't do much of anything. It took me around 2 weeks to start coming back to normal.

What shocked me most was this: I have seen atheists and agnostics follow Allah's teachings of justice more than these people who call themselves Muslims. They became Muslim just by reading the Kalima (the Islamic declaration of faith), and that's it.

I will keep fighting my silent war. But when the heart breaks like this, it needs tawakkul (absolute faith in God's plan) on Allah. So I gave my Divine a gift in the form of calligraphy, to the Al Muntaqim. Where humans fail to give justice, it is the Divine who gives it, and not only in the afterlife but in this world too. I pray that He punishes the wrongdoers here, in this dunya (this earthly life), because not one or two but many people have been hurt by them.

"And never think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. He only delays them for a Day when eyes will stare [in horror]." (Surah Ibrahim, 14:42)

Why Zentangle Style?

My health was already bad, and at the same time repair and construction work was going on in my house. In that situation, making a good artwork consistently was hard, and getting supplies like paint and canvas was even harder.

All I had was one old ballpoint pen that worked sometimes and sometimes didn't, and a borrowed page that already had something written on the back. That's it. With that, I started making art.

My therapist had recommended that I make art to relax my mind. So I gave it 3 days, working on it slowly, bit by bit. This artwork made my Imaan (Internal Conviction) in my Divine even stronger, because where a human gets tired, the Divine does His work.

"And whoever relies upon Allah, then He is sufficient for him." (Surah At-Talaq, 65:3)

Difficulties I Faced

_{Inspiration idea sent to me by a friend, image taken from internet}

The whole theme of this artwork was patience and tawakkul, and the pen made sure I learned both. It couldn't do any filling, and sometimes it wouldn't even draw a simple line. It kept testing my patience, which fits the theme perfectly. The whole art-making process became one lesson: trust the Divine and complete the art.

Because of these limited tools, the design my friend sent me didn't work out, so I had to make something simpler.

The Process

Creative Process

Triangles inside a circle

I wanted to draw triangles inside a circle. This idea came from my own mind. Yes, other people do similar things, but I thought of it myself. The reason behind it is that God's divine numbers are the "Golden Ratio", and my patterns look quite close to golden ratio patterns.

First, I drew a circle with a compass using a light pencil. Then I divided it into slices like a pie, just like cutting a cake. In the first slice I made 1 triangle, in the second 2, in the third 3, and kept going until all the slices were filled.

For the first 2 days, I drew everything very carefully and neatly, because the pen was in really bad shape. I didn't want to change it, because of the theme. That pen not working was supposed to give me patience instead of frustration. That was the Divine's will.

Adding Allah and His Last Prophet ﷺ

While I was thinking so much about the Divine, a thought came to me: why not make Allah and His last Prophet ﷺ a part of the artwork itself? So I took direct inspiration from the internet on how to do calligraphy inside a triangle.

Then another thing came to my mind. Triangles are usually linked with the devil. So why not, this time, link the triangle with God instead?

The highlighter and the scanner

I shared the artwork as a puzzle on my WhatsApp, and nobody could find where the names were written. So I marked them with a highlighter. I admit the highlighter was a bad choice, but in the final output the scanner made it light on its own. When the whole artwork was made with tawakkul on the Divine, the Divine knows His own work. Here again I felt the scanner thing was not just a coincidence. Every single step of making this art gave me a kind of peace I can't fully explain.

Final touches

In the end, I added my codename and a few lines of poetry that came from my heart and matched the theme of the artwork.

A Letter to Al Muntaqim

_{Al Muntaqim is one of the names of Allah, and it means "The One Who Takes Retribution." In Islam there is forgiveness, but there is also qisas (just retribution). Society needs qisas so that a series of crimes doesn't keep happening, especially under Pakistan's broken legal system. When some things are simply forgiven, the cycle of crimes and trauma never ends. That is why this name and attribute of Allah, Al Muntaqim, is needed. As Allah says: "And there is for you in legal retribution [saving of] life, O you [people] of understanding, that you may become righteous." (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:179)}

O Al Muntaqim,

You know my intentions and You know everything I am going through. This journey is very hard, and I don't have any real companion or anyone who truly understands. The ones who do understand are still very weak right now.

The zalim (Unjust Person) does zulm (Severe Harm) and then says nothing like that ever happened, while all the evidence says it happened exactly like that. The pain the zalim gave our hearts is one thing. But the people who stood with the zalim and threw their words at us like arrows hurt us even more.

Even when the absolute truth came in front of them, they did not stand for justice and fairness. They take Your name, but they don't follow what You told them. If a mazloom (victim) comes to them, they rub salt in his wounds and say, "If zulm happens in front of me once more, then I will believe. (Taunting the victim)" If they truly believe in one Allah, why do they deny a clear and straight truth and stand with the zalim?

"And do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest you be touched by the Fire." (Surah Hud, 11:113)

They remember huqooq-ul-ibad (the rights of people). They even accept its reality with their tongues, but their actions are completely different.

"O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do? Great is hatred in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do." (Surah As-Saff, 61:2-3)

With their tongues they believe in the 5th stage of Pul-Siraat, but they think that if they put cotton in their ears and tie a cloth over their eyes when it comes to basic human rights, they will not be held accountable.

O Al Muntaqim, You sent angels at Ghazwa-e-Badr who fought in the form of humans.

"[Remember] when you asked help of your Lord, and He answered you, 'Indeed, I will reinforce you with a thousand from the angels, following one another.'" (Surah Al-Anfal, 8:9)

For You, sending new companions to a human is not difficult at all. We are tired of raising our voice against injustice again and again. Help us. Give our hearts peace.

Justice will happen in the Akhirah (the Afterlife), but for the peace and comfort of our hearts, show us Your attribute of Al Muntaqim in this dunya too. Seize the zalim, those who deny the zulm, and those who stand with the zalim. Help us in a way that, tomorrow, nobody does zulm like this and nobody stands with it.

Our goal is to reform society and end these crimes, because this poor justice system lets crimes keep piling up on top of crimes. We have tried our best, and we will keep trying. Now show us a glimpse of You being Al Muntaqim.

"Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured." (Surah Ar-Ra'd, 13:28)

Ameen.