Source: Religion & Ethics Newsweekly:"Art Feature: Islamic Art"
The Islamic Empire once stretched from the Atlantic Ocean in the West, to India and the borders of China in the East. Over many centuries, the artistic traditions of these different regions merged into an identifiably Islamic style. The traveling exhibition "Palace and Mosque" from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum features a world-renowned Islamic art collection. In this video from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, a guided tour of the exhibition by Tim Stanley, senior curator for the Middle East at the Victoria and Albert Museum, provides a historical perspective and cultural context for understanding Islam through religious art.
Download and ShareIslamic art can be described as art created in the service of Islam or art made under Islamic rule or influence. The common elements that distinguish Islamic art are calligraphy, arabesques, scrollwork, and floral and geometrical designs. Figural imagery in a religious context is not used in Islamic art as Muslims fear that the use of figures may lead to idolatry, which is explicitly forbidden in the Qur’an, the divinely revealed holy book of Islam. Muslims also believe that God is unique and without associate and therefore cannot be represented.
The most prevalent feature in Islamic art is calligraphy. In Islam, the glorification of God’s word has always been considered the noblest form of art. Muslim calligraphers have expressed their faith and love for God with beautifully written verses of the Qur’an, often accompanied by arabesques, designs in which plants grow according to the laws of geometry rather than nature. This form of ornate writing extends itself to other non-religious arts, such as secular manuscripts, building inscriptions, textiles, ceramics, glass, and woodwork.
Islamic art, as mentioned, commonly features complex geometric designs. Artists often create intricate geometrical patterns that express the Islamic principles of unity, logic and order. The impression of unending repetition is believed by some to be an expression of the infinite nature of God. Muslim designers and artists have used these motifs as a decorative element on all types of surfaces.
Not all Islamic art is religious. Secular Islamic art was produced by Muslims and non-Muslims alike in a time and place where Islamic culture played a dominant or influential role. Objects such as ceramics, textiles or carpets can be found decorated with human and animal imagery. Artists created canvases out of objects of daily use, such as bowls, carpets and cushions, turning them into pieces of craftsmanship and beauty.
Islamic Art
TIM STANLEY (Senior Curator for the Middle East, Victoria and Albert Museum, London): Islam, as a religion, actually has very little to do with the material world. Islam itself does not prescribe how art should be, apart from very broad rules such as that you shouldn't use human or animal images in a religious context.
The religious objects that we've got in the exhibition include, for example, a minbar.
A minbar is the pulpit that was used by the preacher in the main mosque of the city to deliver the sermon at the noonday prayer on a Friday. It's decorated with very grand patterns and with calligraphy.
We've actually got some of the scientific instruments that were used by Muslims in order to establish both the time of the daily prayers but also the direction of the Ka'bah in Mecca so that they could say their prayers in the right direction.
The Middle East is the focus of piety for Muslims. The ceramics workshops began to produce large tiles which were decorated with a sort of diagram of the holy places in Mecca. And above this diagram, there's actually a quotation from the Qur'an that makes the statement that Muslims should go on the hajj if they have the resources to do so.
Muslims are buried so that when they rise again on the last day, they will be facing the Ka'bah in Mecca. And in the exhibition, for example, we have three tiles that make up a large tomb marker that covered a distant descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Qur'an is the thing which God sent into the world which created Islam and, therefore, it is very highly valued in Islam, very highly esteemed. The very highly trained calligraphers would be writing in special scripts that were particularly decorative and beautiful ... on papyrus and parchment, using reed pens.
There aren't enormous numbers of religious symbols in Islam and, of course, there's no religious iconography that's used in mosques. In Islam, everyone was responsible for worshipping in places that were in order, that weren't offensive in any way to God.
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