Al Quds

(Jerusalem – القدس)

This is a non-fiction work in which I share my experience travelling to the blessed city of Jerusalem in early 2023. It is merely a glimpse of the brutal occupation of the Palestinian people and land; my story is one of privilege and relative safety, but my visible Muslim-ness did highlight some of the hateful, anti-Islamic systems that are in place. I created this work just before the genocide in Gaza began. Things are so much worse now.

I am hardly a professional artist; these moments are roughly drawn, collaged with photos I took on the journey – and the final piece is photographed on my (very old) phone. But it’s a story from the heart; this city, in its beauty and its hardships, will stay with me forever.

“As long as my soul stays in my body,
I am a slave of the Qur’an and the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen One.
If someone interprets my words in any other way,
That person I deplore, and I deplore his words.”

- Jalal ud-Din Rumi