Local Athlone resident and renowned Islamic calligrapher and artist, Achmat Soni, recently completed his latest artwork at the Darul Islam Mosque in Surrey Estate.
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The artwork comprises 34 panels, each 2.1m x 700mm, done on three layers of canvas. All his work is done in his garage, with a 2x3m workstation in Soni Road – it was named after him upon request that the nameless street be recognised in 1978. He has about 150 paintings at home, according to Cape Argus.
The 74-year-old has completed 25 domes over his career as an artist. One of them took between two and three months to complete. Soni has painted domes, mihrabs (the prayer niche in the mosque in the direction of Makkah), and the walls of several South African mosques and across the globe. He is credited with starting the Islamic movement in 1982, and he started the South African Foundation of Islamic Art to promote the art form.
‘Islamic art is an art form of discipline because Islam is a disciplined way of life. You’ve got your five prayers that you’ve got to do, you’ve got to fast and you can’t skip and say, I’m not going to make salaah today. There’s no such thing. It’s a very disciplined form and that is why this art was created.’
His career started when he was just 16 years old after he obtained an apprenticeship at the Simon’s Town Naval Base. He was redirected to the art workshop, where he created naval badges, certificates and signage for 25 years. ‘While I was in the dockyard, I was still painting and doing artwork at home, painting flowers and anything that comes to mind,’ says Soni. ‘Arabic calligraphy was never really part of my life until one night (while experiencing art block) I was reciting the Qur’an and when I saw the first page of the Qur’an, I said I want to paint that and that is where it started.’
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Then he was approached by Abdullah Gangraker, a trustee of Masjidul Quds in Rylands, in 1989 to paint the dome of the masjid. ‘He heard about me doing Islamic art that was only after a year or two, and he heard about me and found me and said I would like you to do a dome. I said I haven’t done a dome yet. Nobody in South Africa has ever done a dome yet. He said we can sort things out as we go along. We will work it out, and take up this challenge.
‘My experience in domes is also a conversation that I had with God. I refused part of the payment but said let there be more. And true to God’s plan, 72 (mosque art pieces) came after that.’
He says his work at Masjidul Quds received both positive and negative feedback. ‘Negatives will always come along. There are always people that will sort of try and pull you down. But if I had to listen to them, I would’ve been a hopeless artist for the rest of my life. I ignored them and carried on, whether right or wrong, I carried on.’
Today, 73 pieces of art created by Soni are in mosques across the world, and 1 500 individual pieces are in South Africa. Soni is assisted by his son, Shaheen, also an artist, during installations. He has produced art for mosques every year since 1989. ‘We don’t want to copy other people all the time. I don’t think art is supposed to be like that. I did a mosque in Khayelitsha and I did it in Ndebele art and that is what I want to see. I want to see our mosques looking more African. It’s got to look African. But to convince the people to do that type of thing is going to take a long time, but I’m planting the seeds already so that one day, we can have our own style and not be confused.’
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Picture: @s.o.n.i_art / Instagram
