AAs you know, Muslims see God as perfect and therefore, it is, impossible to have an image of him. In a mosque, there are no pictures, statues or images. This is because, from the very beginning, Islam has been against idolatry. Only Allah is to be ‘worshipped. To make an image would be shirk (association), the terrible sin of regarding something as equal to Allah. There are also no likenesses to Allah because Allah is beyond human tation and too great to be portrayed by human hands. To make an image of any living person or animal would also be insulting Allah because Allah is the sole creator. Some Muslims are stricter than others and they forbid all representations of the human form including photography. Th the Mosque, instead of pictures and statues, decorative patterns are used instead, The patterns are geometric, abstract or taken from plant life but they are deliberately not realistic. Often the patterns are decorative designs and made up of calligraphy with declarations in Arabic, which are the very words of Allah from the Quran. Islamic artis often vibrant and distinctive. Unlike Christian art, Islamic artis not restricted to religious work, but includes all the artistic traditions in Muslim culture. Its strong aesthetic appeal transcends time and space, as well as differences in language and cculture. This is because of common features in al Islamic art, which give ita remarkable coherence, regardless of the country or the time in which it was created. There are, regional characteristics, and influences from other cultures are also The essentials of Islamic art Includes all Muslim art, not just explicitly religious art Islamic art seeks to portray the meaning and essence of things, rather than just their physical form Crafts and decorative arts are regarded as having full at status Calligraphy is a major ar-form because writing has high status in Islam and writing is a significant decoration for objects and buildings ‘Geometry and patterns are important A.common feature of Islamic Artis the covering of surfaces covered with geometric patterns. This use of geometry is thought to reflect the Tanguage of the universe and help the believer to reflect on life and the greatness of creation So how is geometry seen to be spiritual? 4 Because circles have no end they are infinite - and so they remind Muslims that Allah is infinite. Complex geometric designs create the impression of unendi repetition, and this also helps a person get an idea of the infinite nature of Allah, The repeating patterns also demonstrate that in the small you can find the infinite... a single element of the pattern implies the infinite total The use of patterns is part of the way that Islamic art represents nature and objects by their spiritual qualities, not their physical and material qualities. The repeated geometric patterns often make use of plant ‘motifs, and these are called arabesques. Stylised arabic lettering is alsoIslamic Patterns Islamic patterns help pupils to observe different shapes within the pattern such as triangles, quadrilaterals, squares, kites and parallelograms. The noun tessellation comes from the Latin, tessellare, to pave with tiles. In til atterns, shapes that tessellate are used extensively. Muslim artists also use symmetrical patterns extensively in their carving. Many Islamic patterns represent the infinite, repeating themselves forever Ask CK. this pattern, draw a square, four squares ig and four squares wide. Draw one vertical, one horizontal and two diagonal lines. Join the midpoints of these lines. Make sure you keep the shapes symmetrical in all four axes. 4. Decide which lines you want to rub out to make your pattern, Make Sure you still keep to the rules of symmetry If you would like to develop your skills, tessellate your completed pattern to make a larger design Creating Islamic Patterns The original pattern has been tessellated to make an intric design. The gaps have formed new shapes so the original pattern difficult to identify. Colour in the original pattern so that it stands out Can you make your own pattern and create a tessellation. Why do Muslims decorate their mosques with Ho are the geometric patterns seen to be spiritual? calligraphy and geometric designs?