Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba in his poem Midādi wrote:

I traversed the path of the people [the Sufis] The moment I began to write his praises.
He fulfilled my needs with care and liberality. [Sulus calligraphy]

Mansur al-Hallaj wrote:

I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart,
I said, ‘Who are you?’ And He said, ‘you’.
Thus, no where has a place for you
Nor is there for you, a where.
You give imagination no image
For it to imagine where you are,
You are He who has filled all where,
And beyond, so where are you? [Nesih calligraphy]

Translated by Oludamini Ogunnaike in his fantastic book ‘Poetry in Praise of Prophetic Perfection.’

Soot ink on hand-dyed ahar paper, bordered with hatip ebru. Gouache was used in the koltuk panel illuminations, whose design draws from 20th century Prairie-style patterns.

This piece is available for purchase.