The Islamic World Chapter 1 Summary

Throughout chapter ten and eleven, one learns about the differences in manuscript writing. Likewise, one also becomes illuminated to the fact that various cultures capture art, history, and religion quite differently. More to the point, certain values hold a higher regard than others when comparing the different cultures. In chapter ten “The Islamic World,” one learns about the style, medium and reason for which the Koran was created. The Koran was a sacred book created which captured the word of Allah written in Arabic. During the creating of the Koran, Muslim scribes diligently practiced the art of decorative writing formally known as Calligraphy; however, they used an older style of calligraphy called Kufic. When language was written from
right to left, which is quite the opposite of contemporary English. The medium for this was ink and gold on vellum and gives it a sacred/holy appearance. When looking at chapter eleven “Early Medieval Europe,” one can see similarities between the Islamic manuscripts and the Gospel Book of Charlemagne. For instance, both focus on making the letters aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. However, in the Gospel Book of Charlemagne they used pictures of humans and animals, whereas, in the Koran and the Islamic religion the painting of such figures was forbidden. Moreover, since the images of humans and animals was taboo, the Islamic culture sought to beautify their holy manuscripts elegantly draw Kufic words. On the other hand, the Carolingian Empire did not find the paint of animals and humans as taboo, therefore, it was encouraged. Over the years, radically changes took place in the style for which the pictures were painted. Back to the main focus of chapter eleven’s manuscript, the Gospel Book of Charlemagne was made of ink and tempera on vellum. Even though the Gospel Book and the Koran both used vellum as a medium, each were fashioned quite differently. For example, the Koran used Ink and gold but the Gospel Book used Ink and tempera. The use of ink and tempera consists of ground up color pigments and the binding agent consisting of egg yolks. The use of ink and gold was the ground up gold bound to a glair or gum agent. So each culture chose various ways to capture holy writings and with the differences in beliefs, each fashioned their manuscripts around the very culture and fundamentals of each owns religious facets.