Shireen Sardar is the founder of Pen of Mercy. Creating art pieces using black ink on paper or other media such as oil paints and oil pastels, Shireen donates her art and time to Pen of Mercy.

Originally from Peshawar, Pakistan, Shireen was raised with the love of art. She moved to the States when she was seventeen years, and has lived most of her life in Florida.

Shireen has received an undergraduate degree in accounting and an MBA from Florida State University. She is grateful for the opportunity to use her artist skills in helping underprivileged women and children in Asia.

Shireen believes that most of society’s problems will be resolved if everyone was educated. Therefore she is very happy to be part of Pen of Mercy, whose goal is to give hope and whose vision is to educate.

(1988 - 2019)

Hakem enjoyed painting with watercolors and acrylic paints. He had a natural talent for art since childhood and was a self taught artist.

Hakem played a vital role in the inception of Pen of Mercy and later on gave his help and support to it by volunteering for its projects.

Hakem was a very generous and giving person and will always be missed by all of us. It is our hope that Pen of Mercy and its continuing work will always be a source of honor for Hakem.

Originally from Peshawar, Pakistan, Rosy Gul, a physician and mother of four biological children and two adopted children, lives in Malaysia with her husband and family.

“I love nature and find it beautiful. As a young child often gazing upon things in nature, I would lose myself in them. As if there was no longer me as a person or the nature I was gazing upon, whether it was the sky or just a single rose petal. My soul would merge with it and become one with it; an eternal feeling where there is no beginning or end. When asked what inspires her to paint Rosy responded:

"I paint out of love! I never had any formal lessons in art and I know there are probably many errors in my art. If my painting can contribute towards a good cause, it will be like reaching out from my heart to help others.”

Khurram received his education and training in Lahore, Pakistan. He got his one year calligraphy diploma from NCA National College of Arts. After that he got his fine arts degree from Naqsh School of Arts in 2008. Later on he went to Iran to further his skills in Arabic calligraphy from Khana Iran Frhang.

Currently Khurram creates commission calligraphy art pieces as well as teach Arabic calligraphy and illumination to private students online.

Muhammad Nabi is a native of the Baluchistaan province of Pakistan. He creates his calligraphy art under the name Hassaan. Muhammad first became a student of Arabic calligraphy under the tutelage of calligrapher Niaz Muhammad in Quetta in 2006. After receiving his diploma in the "Nasthaleeq" script, he further learned other scripts namely, Naskh and Thuluth. He also learned the art of calligraphy illumination.

Currently Muhammad teaches Arabic calligraphy and illumination in the Hassaan Calligraphy Center in Quetta. Having the advantage of speaking both Urdu and Farsi, Muhammad also creates commission calligraphy art pieces in Urdu and Farsi besides Arabic.

In his own words, Ali says: My family is from India originally but I was born and brought up in Dubai, UAE (which I consider my home). I completed my Bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto. I studied two majors: Architecture-Design and Near & Middle Eastern studies. Something I am really proud of is a recent research-position I completed in Makkah. I was there for three months and worked on facilities development for Hajj and Umrah.

I am interested in a lot of different media, from oil to watercolor to pen to modeling even.

Widad Labban is a nurse technician residing currently in Tampa. She's soon to be a first year medical college student. She relies on her art to relax, re-center her thoughts and regain the much needed energy to focus on her studies. She finds great comfort and solace in the unpredictability of of watercolor. She likes how the colors in watercolor paint moves and shifts as it pleases and how it forces her to learn to be patient while waiting for each layer to dry before she can further continue with each art piece.

Widad's art incorporates Islamic Arabic calligraphy with backgrounds of colorful Islamic Geometric Art designs. Exploring Islamic art has allowed Widad to reconnect with her culture and to ponder deeply into the history, beauty and significance of each shape, paint stroke and tessellation.

Marium Rana is an American-born Pakistani visual artist, who works primarily in ink and aqueous media. She is a graduate from Florida State University, with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Studio Art and a Masters in Art Education.

Marium also studied traditional Mughal miniature painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan. This traditional technique includes painting with a brush made from one hair of a squirrel’s tail.

 Ameena is a mixed media artist and 1st-12thgrade art teacher at
the American Youth Academy. She received her BS, ME, and PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida, but after working for nearly 10 years as an engineer she decided to follow her passion, and traded her calculator for her paintbrush.

Ameena's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the United States, and is represented internationally by Ahlan Art.