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JALE NEJDET ERZEN
Islamic Aesthetics: An AlternativeWay to Knowledge
i. introduction
One important difference between Islamic andWestern aesthetics is that, in the former, therehas been little if any critical discourse on art andbeauty until very recently. Yet, from the eighth tothe thirteenth centuries, a vast literature relatedto the arts, from architecture to poetry and mu-sic,existedinIslamiccountries.Thisliteraturewasinitially stimulated by the translations of classicaltexts, such as those of Plato, Aristotle, and Euclid.These translations were soon followed by Arabictexts that developed ideas of theory and practice,which have become classical references in the Is-lamic artworld. G¨ulru Necipo˘glu’s
The TopkapıScroll 
, an important modern source on the aes-thetic basis of arts and crafts in the medieval Is-lamic world, gives us detailed information on thisliterature and on the aesthetic implications of thedecorative patterns and the mathematical and ge-ometrical principles at the foundations of thesearts and crafts.
1
These texts were not formulatedas texts about aesthetics, but rather as technicalmanuals or scientific books.Insofar as there has been any criticism of thearts in the Islamic world prior to the modern age,itexistsintheartwork,intheartisticexpressionit-self.Inotherwords,onethinksorcommentsaboutan artwork through another work. There is poetrythat responds to other poetry, musical composi-tions that respond to other music. Indeed, in cul-tures where tradition is a dominating force, artistscompetebyproducingtheirowninterpretationsasawayofcommentingon each other’s work,ratherthan by trying to make something totally originalor new. The work then constitutes both a critiqueandaninnovation.InIslam(asinmanyothernon-Westerncultures)theonlywaytomoveawayfroma tradition, or to be original, would be throughknowingthetraditionitself.Suchmovementsmaycreatenewapproachesinartisticpractice,buttheycanneverberadicalbecausetheymustalwaysstaywithin traditional norms.One limitation of this dependence on tradi-tion is that it does not produce an analysis andevaluation—a theory—of its own arts and aes-thetic approaches. Even when such attempts aremade, the results are often descriptive rather thananalyticalorconceptual.Forexample,evenaslateastheearlytwentiethcentury,therewaslittledoc-umentation and writing on Turkish architectureand its history.
2
What analysis and evaluation of Islamic art and aesthetics there was, was done byOrientalists who viewed Islamic art and aesthet-ics mainly through Western values and concepts.Islamic or oriental forms in general would be ex-plained by their narrative or figurative content or,at best, shown in a positive light through their as-sociation with the values of modern Western art,such as the absence of the appearance of three-dimensionalityinpainting.
3
Eventhemostsympa-thetic approaches rarely ventured into the back-ground and sources of the deep cultural meaningof the forms, but concentrated mainly on his-tory,influences,anddescriptionsofstyleandtech-nique.
4
Basic differences between Islamic and Westerncultures are manifested not only in how languageis—and is not—used to talk about art, but also inprofound differences in their approaches to theworld in general. It is this dimension that I pur-sue in this paper. In Islam, for example, there is a
 
70 Global Theories of the Arts and Aestheticsconviction that the relationships of humans to theworld and human perceptions of it are not fixed,not codifiable, and cannot be captured using lan-guage that expresses generalized concepts. SomeSufiteachingsdenythatdefinitionsoftruthsabouttheworldandhumanrelationshipstoitcanbecap-tured in language.
5
Literal explanations providedby words are considered only superficial, so dis-cussion is conducted in various kinds of riddles,and points of view are best expressed in symbolsor in artistic expression.Taking these constraints into consideration, Iattempt to clarify various Islamic ways of seeingthe world and how they establish meanings forartistic forms.
6
I concentrate here mostly on theSufi tradition, which can be taken as representa-tive of various heterodox Islamic traditions afterthefifteenthcentury,whenmusicians,miniaturists,calligraphers, and poets were often believers inone of those traditions
—
whether Alaoui, Sufi, orBektashi
—
and in transcendentalism. In the finalsection of the paper, I discuss some consequencesfor the possibility of an Islamic aesthetics in con-temporary art.
ii. time and space
The ways of conceiving and perceiving space andtime underlie the most basic symbolic forms of a culture. According to Islam, for example, theworld is perceived from a constantly moving andchanging vantage point. Cafer C
¸
elebi, in admira-tion of the work of Mehmet A
 ˘
ga, the architect of theBlueMosque(SultanAhmetMosqueinIstan-bul, c. 1605), describes this well:
“
When looked atfromoneangle,onetypeofformorcirclewasseen,and when one looked again from another angle,other types of designs and patterns emerged, andotherformsappeared.Howevermuchthepointof view changed, that many times forms were trans-formed into other shapes.
”
7
Because the world isaccepted as constantly changing, freedom of ex-pressionisnotanimportantissueforartorfortheartist.
8
Neither does the artist lay claim to someprivilege or priority in how his or her work is tobe seen, as the work might if it were conceived ascreated from a fixed point of view.Similarly,theIslamicviewoftheworldcontainsno assumption that the world itself is fixed or sta-ble. In Islamic aesthetics, no definitive final stateof an artwork or of an utterance (as in criticism)is pursued as a value. In domestic architecture, nofixedfunctionisgiventoaspace,andthedivisionsof the spaces themselves are not fixed. Architec-ture is taken to be constantly changing, accordingto light and to function; the way one acts in a cer-tain space, the way one lives in it, transforms it.The constant transformability of space is insteadpursued as a value.
9
Similar implications hold forthewaypicturesandvisualimagesareconstructedand seen. Several different points of view can betakenwhendrawinglandscapesorcityscapes,asisobvious in miniatures.
10
Various forms or aesthetic structures for artis-ticexpressionintheIslamicworldcanbetracedtocertain underlying principles of belief. These be-liefs concern the deeper, metaphysical aspects of a worldview, and they impact one
’
s sense of art
’
smeaning and expressiveness in a profound man-ner. These principles are: (1) the principle of con-stant change within permanence, (2) the principleof the uncertainty of human cognition, and (3) theprinciple of love, or understanding with the heart.Theseprinciplesarementionedandelaboratedondirectly by ancient Islamic philosophers such asIbn-Arabi and Hallac Mansur, as well as by morerecent commentators on Islam and Sufism. Theunderstanding of some of these principles, suchas
“
uncertainty of the human condition,
”
can alsobe derived from allegories and symbolism in theartworks.
11
1. The Principle of Constant Change WithinPermanence
What is typically seen as
“
merely decorative
”
oras
“
arabesque
”
from the Western point of viewis actually an expression of the constant flux of the world and of how all creation is interrelated.Various visual arrays are designed to reflect theconstant movement of the world. For example,the basic forms of movement that are reflectedin painted, mosaic, or stalactite stars are based onthe understanding that the human world, whichis symbolized by directionality and the orthogo-nal (a square or a rectangle), is constantly mov-ing within the permanent universe, the spiritualworld, which is symbolized by the circle. In classi-cal Ottoman architecture of the sixteenth century,the two dominant structural forms, the cubic baseand the domical cover, express this relationship.Stars and constellations that appear on domes are
 
Erzen
Islamic Aesthetics: An Alternative Way to Knowledge
71hardly merely decorative, but have deep signifi-cance in their reference to the orientation of hu-mans and of the human world in relation to theuniverse. They also refer to the breath of the uni-verse, and the expansion and contraction of thatbreath: the universe and the world and the envi-ronment take shape from the breath of God.
12
In the Sufi tradition, the stimulation of all fivesenses is crucial to attaining truth. Consider Avi-cenna, who wrote:
“
Know that access to that bywhich our soul becomes knowing begins by wayof the senses.
”
13
Here, the emphasis is on senseperception; however, Avicenna also mentions theimportance of the imagination and of emotion.
14
Education, as in early Greek culture, begins withthe discipline of the body and hence with musicanddance.Oneisconstantlymovingandinvolvedin exercising all the senses rather than in concep-tualizing about them or about a supposed stable,external object of perception. The involvement of all the senses, moreover, is taken to lead to a pro-found knowledge of the Absolute, a knowledgethat is therefore in the most basic or fundamen-talwayaesthetic.Anykindofartisticinvolvementmay be a path to the knowledge of God, who ismanifested in the physical, sensible appearance of theworld.Fortheartist,thegoalistocreatesome-thing worthy of the creation of God.The sensory or aesthetic means to knowledgeis best understood by the fact that, in Sufi, itis through symbols that one is awakened; it isthrough symbols that one is transformed; and it isthrough symbols that one is expressive. Symbolsare realities contained within the nature of things.The entire journey to God is a journey in symbols,whichrefertoboththeuniversalaspectofcreationand the particular aspect of tradition. In fact, thewhole of the visible, sensible world and its manymanifestations is the symbol of God. Symbols arethe
“
placeofencounter
”
betweenthe
“
archetypesor the intelligibles and the sensible, phenomenalworld.
”
15
Thus, the sensible becomes the link be-tweenmeaningandform,whetherthesymbolsaregeneral
—
such as basic geometric forms and thepatterns resulting from their relations, or spirals,ornumbers
—
orparticular,suchasthosethatarisein individual works of visual art and music. Exam-ples of particular symbols are the image of therose petal in painting, which refers to the skin of the prophet, and the use of certain musical keysor orders (
maqam
) in certain rhythms to refer tolove or separation or death.In Sufi, as in Islam in general, one can neversay that an artist creates a symbol. Symbols aregiven; they are there to be discovered. The artistdoes not claim originality; it is a gift that the artistcan see the value and beauty of the universe. Theartist attempts to put forward sensible forms thatare worthy of the beauty of creation and that willattract one to the original beauty created by God.Artistsmayputforwardsensibleformsalmostun-consciously, as if in a trance, or by giving them-selves to the act of creativity. In this selflessness,which is a kind of unconsciousness, tradition cre-ates the bond to the spiritual or to God.
16
Theprocess, as a whole, of presenting sensible formsas a work of art, as a beautiful thing, as a symbol,isapathforcomingclosertothespiritual.Thisdy-namic quality of the process is not only character-isticofIslamicartsandofSufism;itbelongsalsotomanyothernon-Westernartistictraditions,includ-ing the traditional Japanese approach to the arts,where artistic practices are defined as
“
ways.
”
17
Ultimately, it is the
process
of 
making
a work thatis important.Artistic expression through symbols is a wayof coming closer to the spiritual and to a state of peace. Through this act, this
“
invocation,
”
as onemight translate it, the soul attains peace:
“
the re-sistance of the restless is gradually worn down
”
byartistic expression, such as in dance, music, chant-ing, or poetry.
18
The Islamic world is known as theworld of peace: Dar el Sulh
—
or Dar el Salam. Is-lamic arts, including architecture, strive to attaincomplete harmony through the synthesis of oppo-sites, such as dark and light, inside and outside,square and circle. Though the architecture, for ex-ample, is sometimes seen as being overly decora-tive or as having a quality of 
“
horror vacui,
”
itsdecorative qualities are a reflection of the beautyand richness of the universe, and with them thetensions of architecture, the tensions of structure,are brought into balance.Oneofthemostimportantsymbolic,structural,and compositional forms is the spiral. It has intro-verted and extraverted movement; it is both con-centricandeccentric.Itrepresentstheinnerbeingand the outer world; it signifies constant changeupon permanence. In miniatures, the basic com-positional principle is the arrangement of majorvisual movements in the spiral form.
19
At archi-tectural sites, this principle is also in operation.In the site organization of the Imperial Complexof Suleiman the Magnificent (Istanbul, c. 1557),
of 00

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