Ma Sha Allah La Quwwata Illa Billah — Acrylic Islamic Wall Art

A single landscape panel carrying one line of Thuluth calligraphy: وَلَوْلَا إِذْ دَخَلْتَ جَنَّتَكَ قُلْتَ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ — Surah al-Kahf, verse 39: “And why, when you entered your garden, did you not say: what God has willed; there is no power except with God.” The letters are cut away rather than raised, so the wall itself reads through them while the acrylic holds the solid ground behind. Around the text runs a pierced arabesque border of interlaced trefoils and lozenges, drawn in the Ottoman manner and cut as open tracery.

The proportions suit a wall that is wider than it is tall — above a console in the entrance hall, over a sideboard or a headboard, along a stair landing, or centred above the seating in a majlis. Gloss piano black is the quietest of the three and lets the open letterforms carry the contrast against a pale wall. Mirror gold warms under lamplight and catches the room in the border tracery. Mirror chrome silver reads cooler and sharper, and sits well against grey, stone and glass.

• Material: 3mm cast acrylic, cut on the CO2 laser in our own Dubai workshop.
• Finishes: gloss piano black, mirror gold, or mirror chrome silver.
• Sizes: stated by width — 60, 80, 100 and 120 cm. The panel is a long landscape band, so the height runs to roughly a third of the width; the 120 cm size stands about 43 cm tall.
• Mounting: float-mounted — it sits off the wall rather than flat against it.
• Made in the UAE: drawn, cut and finished in our Dubai workshop.
• Gifting: this is the verse people say over a new home, a new car or a new chapter, which makes it a natural housewarming or wedding gift.