Introduction to Music and Art in the Western World

Introduction to Islamic Fine art

One area where the genius of the Muslim civilisation has been recognised worldwide is that of art. The artists of the Islamic world adapted their inventiveness to evoke their inner beliefs in a series of abstruse forms, producing some amazing works of art. Rejecting the depiction of living forms, these artists progressively established a new mode essentially deviating from the Roman and Byzantine fine art of their time. In the heed of these artists, works of fine art are very much continued to ways of transmitting the message of Islam rather than the material form used in other cultures. This article briefly examines the meaning and character of art in Islamic civilization and explores its main decorative forms-floral, geometrical, and calligraphic. Finally, information technology looks at the influence of the fine art developed in the world of Islam on the art of other cultures, particularly that of Europe.

Rabah Saoud*

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Comparison with Byzantine Art
3. Sources of the Islamic Fine art
iv. The Nature and Course in Islamic Fine art
5. Vegetal and Floral art
6. Geometrical Art
7. Calligraphy
8. Influence of Islamic Fine art in the Westward
9. Determination
10. References

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Note of the editor
This article was first published in July 2004. It is edited hither in HTML, with revision. © FSTC 2004-2010.

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1. Introduction

The art of Islam has attracted the attention of a number of Western scholars [one] who gained good reputations because of their contributions to the study and publicising of the field. Despite this positive aspect, their work independent an element of prejudice as they repeatedly applied their Western norms and criteria to their evaluation of the art produced in Islamic history. In their views, far from contributing to the arts of its society, Islam has restricted, macerated and undervalued creative creativity. Islam is seen as obstructive and limiting to artistic talent and its art is oftentimes judged by its incapacity to produce figures and natural and dramatic scenes. Such arguments illustrate a serious misperception of Islam and its attitude to art. The view that Islam promotes harsh and simple living and rejects sophistication and comfort is an accusation often made by orientalist academics. This false claim is rejected by both the Qur'an and the instance of Prophet Muhammad. The Qur'an, for example, permits comfortable living if it does not atomic number 82 the believer astray:

"Say, who is there to forbid the beauty which God has brought along for his servants, and the skilful things from amid the means of sustenance" (Qur'an seven:32).

This message is emphasised once again in some other verse:

"O yous who believe! Practice non deprive yourselves of the good things of life which Allah has permitted you lot, but do non transgress, for Allah does non love those who transgress." (Qur'an five:87).

The authentic saying of Prophet Muhammad which was narrated by Al-Boukhari:

"Allah is beautiful and loves beauty."

This is perhaps the clearest translation of the position of Islam towards art. Dazzler, in Islam, is a quality of the divine. The great scholar Al-Ghazali (1058-1128) considered information technology to be based on 2 primary criteria involving the prefect proportion and the luminosity, encompassing both outer and inner parts of things, animals and humans.

The other determinant factor influencing Western scholars' views on Islamic art is connected to the Greek-influenced approach which considers the image of human every bit the source of creative creativity. Thus, portraits and sculptures of homo were seen as the highest piece of work of art. According to this view, man is nature's most magnificent and about cute creature and should exist both the beginning and destination of human being artistic endeavour. Successful works of art are those which explore the inner depth and external concrete advent of the human torso. Possibly the highest position given to man, in this art, is when divine beings are represented in his course, or when he is represented as beingness created in the image of the Deity. Islamic art, however, has a radically dissimilar outlook. Here, human is seen every bit an musical instrument of divinity created past a supremely powerful Being, Allah.

2. Comparing with Byzantine Fine art

Byzantine art was fundamentally based on the incorporation of Christian themes into Greek humanism and naturalism. Together, these concepts symbolised and reflected divinity. Man and nature were seen equally the image of the divine. This new figurative fine art was non seeking the aesthetic per se, as in the Greek tradition, but striving to translate concepts in Christian belief such as salvation and cede.

As they do with many fields, Western scholars oftentimes relate Islamic art to Greek and Byzantine origins, claiming that the artists of the Muslim earth simply imitated or borrowed from these ii cultures their art and reproduced it in a Muslim "dress" of Arabesque and calligraphy. Byzantine inspiration started in the early on stages of the Muslim Caliphate when the Umayyad Caliphs Abd-al-Malik [two] and Al-Walid I [3] sent for Byzantine artists to decorate the Dome of the Rock (691-92) and the Groovy Umayyad Mosque of Damascus (705-714). Byzantine influence is seen in the iconographic themes in the Dome of the Rock, as reflected in the mosaics of crowns and jewels of that mosque, which Grabar (1973) believed were emulating Byzantine symbols of ability. These decorations were symbols of holiness, power and sovereignty in Byzantine fine art. Pursuing this theme, he says:

"In other words, the decoration of the Dome of the Rock witnesses a conscious use by the decorators of this Islamic sanctuary of representations of symbols belonging to the subdued orto the stillactive enemies of Islam" (Grabar 1973, p. 48).

Still, Grabar later admits that the Arabs, both before and later Islam, used to offer their precious belongings, including crowns, to the Kaabah and hang them there [4].

In relation to vegetal representations, in Grabar's view, in one case once more the artists of Islam seem to borrow from Byzantine depictions of heaven every bit if they lacked any knowledge or literary description of it. He claims that Byzantine art was then consummate and superior that the Muslims had to emulate it. Faced with the question of why the Muslims did not adopt figurative art, Grabar argued that they had to give it up due to the superiority of the Byzantine fine art which they could not compete with. He says that:

"the Umayyads could hardly in one generation acquire the sophisticated do of imagery which characterised Byzantium. Faced with this dilemma, the Muslims tried both alternatives, but soon discarded imagery, and, equally we have seen adopted the techniques of Byzantium without its formulas".

Grabar clearly overlooked the opposition of Islam to imagery, which is exemplified in a number of the Prophet Muhammad sayings (encounter below).

Von Grunedaum (1955) provided a more than comprehensive view arguing that the lack of imagery was due to the position of man in the Islamic religion. An important aspect of Muslim theology was the prominence of the attributes separating God, the Creator, and human being, his favourite creature. Man is guided by and subject to his fate and therefore cannot reach the position of God, which other religions say he can attain. The fundamental principles of art in Islamic culture are the declared truths that in that location is "no god but God" and "nothing is like unto Him"; His realm is neither space nor fourth dimension and He is known past xc nine attributes, including the First and the Last, and the Seen and the Unseen, and the All-Knowing:

Allah! There is no god but He, the Living, the Self-subsisting' Eternal. No slumber tin can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on globe. Who is there that can intercede in His presence except as He permits? He knows what (appears to His creatures) earlier or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except equally He will. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most Loftier, the Supreme (in glory) (Qur'an2:255).

This is perhaps the main division in the philosophy and approach towards fine art betwixt the Muslims and non-Muslims. With this approach, Islamic art did not need any figurative representation of these concepts. How can he depict God if he believes that He is the Unseen and nothing is like unto Him? Whatever artistic expression of these, either in natural or human forms, would undermine the meanings and the essence of the Muslim faith. Consequently, artists engaged in expressing this truth in a sophisticated system of geometric, vegetal and calligraphic patterns (Al-Faruqi, 1973). Islam was the only religion that did not need figurative art and imagery to establish its concepts (Von Grunedaum, 1955).

3. Sources of Islamic Art

Like other aspects of Islamic culture, Islamic art was a outcome of the accumulated knowledge of local environments [5] and societies, incorporating Standard arabic, Persian, Mesopotamian and African traditions, in addition to Byzantine inspirations. Islam congenital on this noesis and developed its ain unique style, inspired by three principal elements.

The Qur'an is seen every bit the beginning work of art in Islam and its chef-d'oeuvre (Al-Faruqi, 1973). The independence of some verses and the interrelation of others form extraordinary meanings as each verse takes the reader into a unique divine feel feeling its joy and happiness, terror and fearfulness, bliss and anger, and so on. The constant repetition of these experiences in the verses of the Qur'an "winds upward consciousness and generates in it a momentum which launches information technology on a continuation or repetition and infinitum" (Al-Faruqi 1973, p.95). The terminal outcome of this feel makes the reader feel the presence of God as described in the verse:

"when the verses of the Beneficent are recited unto them, they fall down prostrate in adoration and tears" (Qur'an nineteen:58).

Every bit a result, artists drew lessons and methods from their feel of the Qur'an, developing a new approach to art characterised by the independence and interdependence of its determinative elements. The accent was on the presence and attributes of the divine Creator rather than on His creatures, including human being. Islam sees all men equal regardless of colour or form (perfect or imperfect). The merely stardom betwixt them is made on the basis of their piety. Consequently, Islam sees the white-skinned and off-white-haired ideal of human promoted by Western art as racial and misleading.

The 2nd element comes from the Qur'anic verses which criticises poets as:

"As for the poets, the erring follow them. Accept you lot not seen how they wander distracted in every valley? And how they say what they practice not? (Qur'an 26:224-26).

This formula regulates the approach of artists, writers and professionals. Islam simply approves work from

"those who believe, benefit piece of work, and engage much in the remembrance of Allah" (Qur'an 26:227).

With this groundwork, the artist'south work was guided past this criterion and was always continued to the remembrance of God whether information technology was in ceramics, textile, leather or fe work or wall decoration. The ways this remembrance was expressed was, of class, many. Artists worked with many dissimilar materials, from ceramic to iron, and their artistic style took many forms, such as Arabesque designs, geometrical patterns and calligraphy.

The third decisive cistron dictating the nature of art in Islamic culture is the religious rule that discourages the delineation of man or animal forms [six]. The presence of this rule is due to a concern that people would go back to the worship of idols and figures, a exercise that is strongly condemned by Islam. In the early on days of Islam, sculpture and imagery were seen as reminders of the despised idolatrous by. Today, the majority of Muslims still respect this dominion and their attitude extends to dislike the excessive "torso worship" practised in the West. The latter tin can be seen in the revival of Islamic dress among educated Muslim women and in their abstention of the excessive use of brand-up.

Furthermore, Islam is free from metaphysical arguments such as those relating to the trinity, the true nature of Christ, the Holy Spirit and saints bureaucracy, as found in Christianity. Consequently, there was no demand in the mosque for apses, transepts, crypts as well as images and sculptures of saints, angels and martyrs that played a prominent part in didactic fine art in Christian churches. Withal, there were some instances where human and animal forms were used in Islamic fine art, but these were mainly found in secular private buildings of some princes and wealthy patrons. Discoveries made in the Qasre Amra palace, built by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I (705-715) in the Jordanian desert, revealed big illustrations of hunting scenes, gymnastic exercises, and symbolic figures. The most important of these were illustrations depicting the main enemies of Islam, Kaisar (the Byzantine Emperor), Roderick (the Visigoth King of Espana), and Khosrow (the Emperor of Persia). There was likewise an analogy of the Negus, the Abyssinian male monarch, who gave the Muslims refuge when they were existence prosecuted in Mecca in the early days of Islam [vii] (Creswell 1958, p.92).

In relation to the delineation of animal forms, many examples were discovered. Lions and eagles, for case, were plant in illustrations of hunting scenes, and carved in sculptures and heraldic emblems. These emblems were transmitted by the Crusaders to Europe where they were widely copied.

4. The Nature and Course in Islamic Fine art

Islamic art differs from that of other cultures in its form and the materials information technology uses too as in its discipline and meaning. Philipps (1915), for example, idea that Eastern art, in full general, is mainly concerned with colour, different that of western fine art, which is more interested in form. He described Eastern art as feminine, emotional, and a matter of color, in contrast to Western fine art which he saw equally masculine, intellectual, and based on plastic forms which disregarded colour. Of course this reflected Philipps' cultural and artistic bias. Art in Islam never lacked intellectualism fifty-fifty in its simplest forms.

The invitation to observe and acquire is found in both revealed and hidden letters in all its forms. Bourgoin (1879), on the other hand, compared the art forms of Greek, Japanese and Islamic cultures and classified them into three categories involving creature, vegetal, and mineral respectively. In his view, Greek art emphasised proportion and plastic forms, and the characteristics of human and beast bodies. Japanese art, on the other hand, developed vegetal attributes relating to the principle of growth and the beauty of leaves and branches. Still, Islamic art is characterised by an analogy betwixt geometrical design and crystal forms of certain minerals. The principal difference between information technology and the art of other cultures is that it concentrates on pure abstruse forms as opposed to the representation of natural objects. These forms accept various shapes and patterns. Prisse (1878) classified them into three types, floral, geometrical and calligraphic. Another classification was suggested by Bourgoin (1873) involving ornamental stalactites, geometrical arabesque, and other forms. For our decorative involvement, nosotros concentrate on the three forms suggested by Prisse, which announced, either lonely or together, in virtually media, such as ceramics, pottery, stucco or textile.

Figure 1: Item of a floral decoration in the Dome of the Rock Mosque.

5. Vegetal and Floral art

Although, Muslim fine art was not, of grade, developed independently of influences from nature and the environment, their representation was abstract rather than realistic, as in Western art. This is seen clearly in vegetal forms where institute branches, leaves, and flowers were woven and interlaced into and often non distinguished, from the geometrical lines around them as seen in the arabesque. The utilize of vegetal forms in Islamic fine art is as well conditioned to some extent by the Islamic prohibition of the false of living creatures. Nevertheless, this interdiction naturally decreases with the descent from homo to animal to vegetable forms. Art critics depict the floral depictions and ornaments of the artists of Islam as conventional; lacking the effects of growth and the cosmos of life (Dobree 1920). In their opinion, the reason behind the absence of growth was due to the natural surround of the Muslim countries, where the experience of spring, the flavour of plant growth is fleeting. However, the religious prohibition mentioned higher up was behind the absence of lifelike cosmos in much of the Islamic floral art.

Figure 2: Illustration of a tree in a landscape decoration in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

In the Dome of the Stone and the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, which contain the primeval examples of Islamic vegetal art, nosotros find more realistic depictions of plants and trees, but these examples, every bit noted before, are regarded as Byzantine work for the Umayyad patrons. In dissimilarity, the vegetal decoration in Samarra Mosque (Iraq) shows how artists, in contrast, deliberately reproduced the vine leaves and branches in an abstract form. However, by the thirteen^thursday century a more realistic approach gradually gained basis in Muslim Persia and Turkey, influenced past the Chinese and the Mongols (Al-Ulfi, 1969, p.114).

The Muslims used foliage with swell effeminateness especially around the arches and windows. The stucco borders used in the mausoleum of the Ayyubid Sultan Qalawun, built in Cairo (Egypt) in 1284/85, consisted of buds and leaves arranged in a continuous scroll design. The mausoleum also contained examples of other floral illustrations set in rectangular and circular panels, a feature which became particularly popular in the 15th century (Poole, 1886). The use of this type of art extended to many ornamental objects, such as pottery, and wood and leather etching as well as coloured tiles.

6. Geometrical Art

The 2d chemical element of Islamic fine art involves geometrical patterns. The artists used and adult geometrical art for two main reasons. The kickoff reason is that it provided an alternative to the prohibited depiction of living creatures. Abstract geometrical forms were particularly favoured in mosques because they encourage spiritual contemplation, in dissimilarity to portrayals of living creatures, which divert attention to the desires of creatures rather than the will of God. Thus geometry became central to the art of the Muslim Earth, allowing artists to complimentary their imagination and creativity. A new form of art, based wholly on mathematical shapes and forms, such as circles, squares and triangles, emerged.

The 2d reason for the evolution of geometrical fine art was the composure and popularity of the science of geometry in the Muslim world. The recently discovered Topkapi Scrolls [8], dating from the 15^th century, illustrate the systematic utilize of geometry past Muslim artists and architects (run into Gülru, 1995). They also prove that early Muslim craftsmen developed theoretical rules for the utilise of artful geometry, denying the claims of some Orientalists that Islamic geometrical art was developed by blow (e.g. H. Saladin 1899).

This geometrical fine art is very much connected to the famous concept of the arabesque, which is defined equally "ornamental work used for flat surfaces consisting of interlacing geometrical patterns of polygons, circles, and interlocked lines and curves" (Chambers Science and Engineering science Dictionary 1991).

Figure three: Floral Arabesque covering the interior of the dome of Masjid-i Shah Mosque, Isfahan (1611­1616).

The arabesque pattern is composed of many units joined and interlaced together, flowing from each other in all directions. Each unit, although information technology is contained and complete and can stand alone, forms office of the whole design; a annotation in the full general rhythm of the design (Al-Faruqi 1973). The most common utilise of arabesque is decorative, consisting mainly of a two dimensional pattern, covering surfaces such equally ceilings, walls, carpets, furniture, and textiles. From his report of 200 examples, Bourgoin (1879) ended that this way of fine art required a considerable knowledge of practical geometry, which its practitioners must have had. In his view, the arabesque design is congenital up on a organisation of articulation and orbiculation and is ultimately capable of being reduced to one of nine elementary polygonal elements. The pattern may be built upward of rectilinear lines, curvilinear lines, or both combined together, producing a cusped or foliated issue. It is reported that Leonardo da Vinci found Arabesque fascinating and used to spend considerable time working out complicated patterns (Briggs, 1924, p.178).

Arabesque tin can likewise be floral, using a stem, foliage, or blossom (tawriq) as its artistic medium, or a combination of both floral and geometric patterns. The expression embodied in its interlacing pattern, cohesive motility, gravity, mass, and book signifies infinity and produces a contemplative feeling in the spectator leading him slowly into the depth of the Divine presence (Al-Alfi 1969). Dobree (1920) explained the impact of Arabesque art as follows:

"Arabesque strives, not to concentrate the attention upon whatever definite object, to liven and quicken the appreciative faculties, but to diffuse them. It is centrifugal, and leads to a kind of abstraction, a kind of self-hypnotism even, so that the devotee kneeling towards Makkah can bemuse himself in the maze of regular patterning that face shim, and free his listen from all connexion with actual and earthly things" (quoted in Briggs1924, p.175).

It is clearly evident that much of the credit for the evolution and the popularity of geometrical art goes to the artists of the Islamic world, although its origins are all the same debated. Claims have been fabricated that primitive geometrical decoration was used in Ancient Egypt as well as in Mesopotamia, Persia, Syrian arab republic, and Bharat. The star pattern, for example, was widely used by the Copts of Egypt (Gayet, 1893), but the artists of the globe of Islam were its all time masters.

Effigy 4: Kufic Lettering (from Al-Jiburi, 1974).

7. Calligraphy

The tertiary decorative class of art adult in Islamic civilisation was calligraphy, which consists of the apply of artistic lettering, sometimes combined with geometrical and natural forms. Every bit in other forms of Islamic art, Western scholars attempted to relate calligraphy to the lettering art of other cultures. The decorative apply of letters in both China and Japan seem to be an area of involvement to them. Theories claiming that the development of Islamic calligraphy was influenced by the Chinese, dubiously based on the pottery found in old Cairo (Al-Fustat), seem to be absurd (Christie, 1922). The lack of any substantiated proof is clear evidence equally are the wide differences betwixt the two languages in the manner and the management they are written. The proffer of whatever link betwixt Islamic calligraphy and aboriginal is also inconceivable. It is truthful that the ancient Egyptians widely used hieroglyphics on wall paintings, but these had no decorative purpose (Briggs 1924, p.179).

Figure 5: Kufic calligraphy combined with floral and geometrical decoration with intersecting horseshoe arches. Plate on Cordoba Mosque façade.

The evolution of calligraphy every bit a decorative art was due to a number of factors. The first of these is the importance which Muslims attach to their Holy Volume, the Qur'an, which promises divine blessings to those who read and write it down. The pen, a symbol of knowledge, is given a special significance by the verse:

"Read! Your Lord is the About Bounteous, Who has taught the utilise of the pen, taught man what he did not know" (Qur'an 96:3-v).

This indicates that the aim of Islamic calligraphy was non merely to provide decoration only as well to worship and remember Allah. The Qur'anic verses by and large used are those which are said in the human action of worship [9], or contain supplications, or describe some of the characters of Allah, or his Prophet Muhammad. Calligraphy is too used on dedication stones to record the foundation of some fundamental Islamic buildings. In this case, a man is referred to every bit the founder, oft a Caliph or an Emir, but he was consciously described as poor to Godor Slave of God, a reminder of his position before Allah.

The second cistron behind the advent of Arabic calligraphy is attached to the importance of the Arabic language in Islam. The apply of Arabic is compulsory in prayers and information technology is the language of the Qur'an and the linguistic communication of Paradise (run across Rice, 1979). Furthermore, the Arabs have always attached a considerable importance to writing, emanating from their appreciation of literature and verse. Information technology is reported that the Prophet Muhammad said:

"Seek nice writing for it is 1 of the keys of subsistence" and the fourth Caliph, Ali commented on calligraphy as:

"The beautiful writing strengthens the clarity of righteousness"
(both quotes from Al-Jaburi 1974).

In addition, the mystic power attributed to some words, names and sentences every bit protections against evil besides contributed to the development of calligraphy and its popularisation.

Arabic calligraphy was mostly written in ii scripts [x]. The first is the Kufic script, whose name is derived from the city of Kufa, where it was invented by scribes engaged in the transcription of the Qur'an who set up a famous school of writing [11]. The letters of this script have a rectangular course, which made them well suited to architectural utilize.

Figure 6: Transcript of Naskhi calligraphy by Mahmud Yazre.

The other script of Standard arabic calligraphy is known as Naskhi. This style of Arabic writing is older than Kufic, nonetheless it resembles the characters used by mod Standard arabic writing and printing. It is characterised past a round and cursive shape to its messages. The Naskhi calligraphy became more popular than Kufic and was substantially adult by the Ottomans (Al-Jaburi 1974).

viii. Influence of Islamic Art in the West

In general, the diffusion of the Islamic art motifs to Europe and the residue of the globe occurred in three different ways. The offset of these was direct imitation through the reproduction of the same theme in the same type of medium. For instance, an artistic theme (or themes) in an Islamic ceramic could have been reproduced in a European ceramic. There are a multitude of examples of this kind of imitation. Perhaps the most widely acknowledged ones are the many instances of copying of Kufic inscriptions in Medieval and Renaissance European art. Co-ordinate to Christie (1922), Kufic inscriptions in the Ibn Tulun Mosque, congenital in Cairo in 879, were reproduced in Gothic art get-go in France, and then in the rest of Europe. Lethaby (1904) also attributed to the carved design of wooden doors in a chapel of the Cathedral of Le Puy (French republic), and of some other door in the church of la Vaute Chillac nearby, which were made by the Master carver "Gan Fredus". This connexion is attributed to the special relationship Amalfi had with Fatimid Cairo at that time. Amalfitan traders visiting Cairo were believed to be responsible for the transmission of these motifs to Europe.

Effigy 7: Tiles in the Alhambra Palace showing geometrical Decorations and Naskhi Calligraphy, Granada, Spain.

Male (1928) institute traces of Islamic influence in many religious buildings of Southern French republic, in the region known as the Midi. The list of Islamic motifs, which he collated from these buildings, included horseshoe and multifoil arches and polychromy. Male believed they were copied from Andalusia. Islamic influences were also traced in Westminster Abbey in London, in bands of ornaments in the retable every bit well equally in the before stained glass windows (Lethaby 1904). This was not all. Motifs such as the eight pointed star, the stalactite, the Ottoman blossom (tulip and carnation) and Alhambra geometrical and colour schemes are but a few items that form an essential part of about European works of art (see Fikri 1934) [12]. In addition, it is widely held that Gothic geometrical medallions such as polyfoil, quatrefoil or the foliated square were too of Islamic origin (Marcais, 1945).

The second style Islamic art motifs were transferred to Europe was through the transposition of source or media. In this case, an Islamic theme in a particular medium was reproduced in a European work of art in a unlike type of medium. For case, a theme in an Islamic ceramic work could accept been reproduced in European furniture, textile, sculpture and so on. Examples of this type of transfer are over again very extensive, and nosotros cannot cover them all here. The instance of arabesque must suffice. Co-ordinate to Ward (1967), the fecundation of European ornamental art during the Renaissance (16^th century) was at the hands of arabesque. Arabesque and other Islamic geometrical patterns invaded European salons, living rooms, and public reception halls.

Figure 8: View of Al-Azhar mosque courtyard in Cairo.

The 3rd way of transfer is the virtually difficult to explain. Here, the motif was non copied or reproduced but gradually inspired the evolution of a item fashion or fashion of fine art. At that place is increasing evidence that Islamic art, and the arabesque in particular, was the inspiration for both the European Rococo and Baroque styles which were popular in Europe between the sixteen^th and eighteen^thursday centuries (Jairazbhoy, 1965). The Rococo manner consisted of light curvilinear decoration composed of abstruse sinuosities such every bit scrolls, interlacing lines and arabesque designs. Information technology was adult in France in the 18th century, and later spread to Germany and Republic of austria. The germ of this style is found in the Islamic Aljaferia Palace (also known as Hudid Palace), congenital in northern Kingdom of spain in the xi^thursday century, where a number of bullheaded arches and squinches in a style very like to Rococo decorate its pocket-sized mosque (Jairazbhoy, 1973). Other examples of this early "Islamic Rococo" are found in the Great Mosque of Tlemcen, Algeria, which was congenital in 1136.

Baroque architecture has also been traced back to an Islamic origin. According to some sources (for example Jairazbhoy 1965), the give-and-take "baroque" is ultimately derived from the Arabic word of burga, significant "uneven surface", which was the source of the word barrocco in Portuguese, which meant "irregularly shaped pearl".

Figure ix: Decorative arcade in Aljaferia showing elements that subsequently inspired the Bizarre style.

Muslims used motifs such as curviangular arches and squinches, which characterise the Baroque manner, in their decorative fine art equally early equally the 12^th century. They became especially popular under the Almoravid rulers (al-Murabitunin Standard arabic) who ruled North Africa and Andalusia between 1062 and 1150.

Effigy 10: Northern entrance of the Ulu Cami Hospital (13th century) showing a close up view of "Baroque" features.

In add-on to the above, a more complicated decorative fashion, consisting of a combination of multifoil arches intersecting with i some other like a screen mesh, is establish in the Aljaferia Palace likewise every bit in mosques of Tlemcen (1136) and Qarawiyyin, built in Morocco betwixt 1135 and 1143. Some other example is the Ulu Cami Infirmary in Divrighi, Turkey, completed in 1229, which shows a remarkable resemblance to Bizarre in its ornamentation and décor, even though information technology predates it by four hundred years.

9. Conclusion

The principal objective of this paper has been to emphasise the uniqueness of Islamic fine art, which was divers past religious beliefs and cultural values prohibiting the depiction of living creatures including humans. The other most important feature is the absence of religious representation. In Islam, worship is due just to God, a feature common to many cultures, although they approach it in different manners. Art critics propound the neutrality of Islamic fine art, which made it easily adaptable to these cultures. Due possibly due to its geographic proximity and religious "mutual basis", no other culture was more exposed to the themes and motifs of Islamic art than the European. Despite their differences, Islam and Christianity share most of their fundamental beliefs which are connected to the same God, the same origin (of the message), and sometimes the aforementioned moral message. It is non surprising that vestiges of Islamic art were repeatedly traced in major European artworks, a fact which denotes its significance in the historical evolution of European fine art.

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• Rice, D.T. (1979). Islamic Art. Tharnes & Hudson, Norwich.
• Von Grünebaum, G. East. (1955). "Idéologie musulmane et esthétique arabe", Studia Islamica, vol. iii, Larose, Paris, pp. 5-23.
• Walker, P. M. B. (editor), (1990), Chambers Science and Technology Lexicon. Chambers Harrap Publishers, Hardcover.

Footnotes

[one] Notably R. Ettinghaussen, E. Herzfeld, K. A. C. Creswell, and A. Grabar.

[2] Reigned between (685-705).

[3] Reigned between (705-715).

[four] Until the fourth dimension of Ibn Zubayr, who ruled Makkah between 678-693, The Kaabah was adorned with the horns of the ram sacrificed by the Prophet Ibrahim, in place of his son Ismail. The Caliph Umar Ibn Al-Kahttab also hung there ii crescent shaped ornaments from the Western farsi Capital, Al-Madain. Nigh of the successive Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphs also sent precious items to the Kaabah as gifts, to decorate the Business firm of Allah.

[v] Read (1937), for example, talked about environmental determinism in art. He argued that there are two primary approaches to creative expression: organic and geometric. The former appears mainly in areas of natural beauty and favourable environment. In this case, the artist is more attracted to depicting cute landscapes, seashores, plants, animals and humans. Geometric art, on the other hand, appears in societies of harsh natural and environmental conditions such as deserts or tundra.

[6] Although no reference to their prohibition is constitute in the Qur'an, a number of authentic sayings of the Prophet Muhammad did forbid them. An instance of this is the Hadith reported by Muslim who narrated that Ibn Abbas: "I heard the Messenger of Allah saying: 'All those who paint pictures volition exist in the Fire of Hell. The soul will be breathed in every picture prepared by the man and it punishes them in Hell" (Narrated by Muslim, 3945). Muslim scholars take different views on this matter. Some of them, especially those from the Shia school of thought permit the imaging of living beings. Others, such as Mohammed Abdu, allow imagery and photography as long they exercise non conflict with one's beliefs or worship. Al-Ulfi (1969) reported that he said of photography: "In general I am inclined to think that Islamic law (Shariah) does not forbid one of the best ways of learning, peculiarly if information technology does non conflict with the Islamic beliefs and worship" (see Al-Ulfi, 1969, p.84).

[7] It is believed that he converted to Islam. It was reported that on hearing about his decease, the Prophet Muhammad performed prayers for his soul.

[8] The scrolls, idea to be a Timurid manuscript, contain 114 individual geometric patterns for wall surfaces and vaulting.

[nine] Surah Al-Fatiha, for example, is particularly favoured since it is the opening of the Qur'an and is said in all prayers.

[10] From these ii master styles, a number of other sub-styles emerged as calligraphers introduced new modifications to the original style. The most familiar ones are Thuluth, Al-Rakaa, Al-Diwany, Jali Diwany, and Persain.

[11] Co-ordinate to Al-Jaburi (1974), after the establishment of Kufa, some Yemeni tribes who knew an early form of this lettering style settled in that location. This style attained its complete shape nether the reign of the fourth Caliph (Ali), between 657 and 661, who was a calligrapher himself.

[12] This excellent PhD thesis published by A.Fikri was devoted to the influence of Islamic art and compages on southern France, especially in the Auvergne region.

*Dr Rabah Saud wrote this commodity for world wide web.MuslimHeritage.com when he was a researcher at FSTC in Manchester. He is at present Assistant Professor at the University of Ajman, Ajman, UAE.

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Source: https://muslimheritage.com/introduction-to-islamic-art/

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