Islamic Art Is Intended to Suggest but Not to Portray the Divine Presence
"Islamic art is intended to suggest but not to portray the divine presence" (G.Eaton). Discuss
Islamic art is unlike the art of many other cultures. The main reason for this difference is that the subjects of Islamic art are strictly controlled by the religious beliefs held by Muslims. Any Muslim artist must work within strict guidelines, largely set out in the Qur 'an, when producing any work of art. These guidelines define what is acceptable as a subject for a work of art and also the form that any work of art may take. The forms of art that are deemed acceptable and their symbolism give an indication of the intention of Islamic art. I will attempt to show through examples of different types of Islamic art that the intention of Islamic art is merely to suggest and not to portray the divine presence. The Prophet Muhammad made several comments concerning art "God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty" (Muhammad), he also said "God likes that when you do anything, you do it excellently."(Muhammad). These Prophetic sayings (hadiths) among other things may have provided the driving force for Muslim 's desire to embellish and beautify not only their places of worship, but also their homes and even objects commonly used in everyday life. The main focus of Islamic art appears to be on ornamentation rather than art for art 's sake, whereas the focus of art in other religious frameworks has quite often moved away from ornamentation and towards art for art 's sake. The principles of Islam mean that certain types of art are prohibited for religious reasons. Firstly, any portrayal of God is strictly forbidden as Muslims believe that God should be the subject of worship, not his physical manifestation. Hence, any physical representation of God could be seen as worship of God 's manifestation. This would be seen as a form of idolatry which is strictly forbidden by the Qur 'an "God does not forgive the worship of others beside Him though He does forgive whoever He will for
Islamic art is unlike the art of many other cultures. The main reason for this difference is that the subjects of Islamic art are strictly controlled by the religious beliefs held by Muslims. Any Muslim artist must work within strict guidelines, largely set out in the Qur 'an, when producing any work of art. These guidelines define what is acceptable as a subject for a work of art and also the form that any work of art may take. The forms of art that are deemed acceptable and their symbolism give an indication of the intention of Islamic art. I will attempt to show through examples of different types of Islamic art that the intention of Islamic art is merely to suggest and not to portray the divine presence. The Prophet Muhammad made several comments concerning art "God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty" (Muhammad), he also said "God likes that when you do anything, you do it excellently."(Muhammad). These Prophetic sayings (hadiths) among other things may have provided the driving force for Muslim 's desire to embellish and beautify not only their places of worship, but also their homes and even objects commonly used in everyday life. The main focus of Islamic art appears to be on ornamentation rather than art for art 's sake, whereas the focus of art in other religious frameworks has quite often moved away from ornamentation and towards art for art 's sake. The principles of Islam mean that certain types of art are prohibited for religious reasons. Firstly, any portrayal of God is strictly forbidden as Muslims believe that God should be the subject of worship, not his physical manifestation. Hence, any physical representation of God could be seen as worship of God 's manifestation. This would be seen as a form of idolatry which is strictly forbidden by the Qur 'an "God does not forgive the worship of others beside Him though He does forgive whoever He will for
References: Papadopoulo, A. Islam and Muslim Art, Thames and Hudson Ltd. London, 1980 Rippin, Andrew. Muslims : their religious beliefs and practices, 3rd ed. Routledge, 2005 The Qur 'an (translated by M.A.S Abdel Haleem) 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 20005 http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/ij/islamic.html http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/MSA/find_more/islart.html http://www.lacma.org/islamic_art/intro.htm www.wikipedia.org