ISLAMIC ART

WHAT IS ISLAMIC ART?

The religion of Islam began in the Middle East during the seventh

century and quickly spread east across Central Asia to parts of China

and Southeast Asia, and west into large areas of North and Central

Africa, and Europe. The term “Islamic art” does not necessarily

indicate that the art is religious in subject matter, but refers to art

produced by cultures that practice Islam.

Islamic art is therefore incredibly diverse, and

influenced by both religion and secular cultural

values. Some of the most common types of

Islamic art include carpets and tapestries,

calligraphy, book decoration, metalwork, and

architecture.
Islamic Tapesteries
Hilye-I Şerif (means Prophet Mohammed’s features: how tall he
was, his face, his beard, his physical characteristics)
 HOW DOES THE RELIGION OF ISLAM
INFLUENCE ART?
Like early Byzantine art, Islamic art is influenced by
iconoclastic views; this means that it is forbidden to
depict idols, or images of God in human form. In Islam it
is also haram (forbidden) to depict the Prophet
Mohammad in art, and this is often extended to include
the image of any human figure and animals.
Much Islamic art, therefore, is characterized by
mathematically complex abstraction featuring organic,
geometric, and vegetal decorative known as arabesques.
There are some exceptions to this: the Islamic art of
Mughal India, as well as Persian art, are both known for
lively narrative paintings featuring characters from stories
and legends. Still, one will not find any representation of
God or Mohammad in Islamic art.
 WHAT IS CONSIDERED BEAUTIFUL IN
ISLAMIC ART?
The Arabic word for “beautiful” is jamil. To be considered
beautiful, Islamic art must be symmetrical, unified, and
balanced. These aesthetic principles are also valued in
classical Greek and Roman cultures, which influenced
early Islamic art. An additional quality of Islamic art is
that it should also be “astonishing.”
The medieval philosopher Ibn-al-Haytham,
known in the West as Alhazen, said visible
objects are appealing due to the “composition
and order of their parts among themselves.”
This attitude towards beauty helps to explain
why Islamic art is often so intricate and detailed,
and yet balanced and harmonious.
 WHAT IS ARABIC CALLIGRAPHY?

Beautiful calligraphy is very important in Islamic

art and is a primary form of fine art and
decoration. Calligraphy, or decorative
handwriting, is used to decorate not only books
and manuscripts, but also carpets, tapestries,
and even architectural surfaces.
The dome of the Great Mosque at Cordoba, for
example, is covered in mosaics which feature the
curvilinear Arabic script. In Islam, writing is one of
the most elegant and honored forms of art, and is
linked to God’s revelation to the Prophet
Mohammad. In the Qur’an, God declares: “Recite!
Thy lord is the most generous, who hath taught by
means of the pen, Hath taught man what he knew
not.”
Calligraphy
 WHAT IS KUFIC?
Named after the town of Kufah in Iraq, Kufic is an early
form of Arabic script that evolved from a style of
inscription used for coins and stone monuments. The
Kufic script features large letters as early Qur’ans were
often shared by multiple readers, and are characterized
by long horizontal lines and thick rounded curves. Kufic
was the style of calligraphy used most often until the
twelfth century.
Kufic is an early form of Arabic calligraphy noted
for its long, horizontal lines. Calligraphy is one of
the highest forms of art in the Islamic tradition.
 WHAT IS A MOSQUE?
A mosque is a Muslim place of public worship, known in
Arabic as a masjid. One of the most prominent features of a
mosque are its minarets, or calling towers, in which a crier
known as a muezzin, announces the time for prayer (which
occurs five times per day as commanded in the second Pillar
of Islam). Inside a mosque, the qibla is the wall of the building
that faces the city of Mecca, the most important city in Islam.
The mihrab is a centrally placed, decorative niche which
identifies the qibla to the worshippers. Other common
architectural features of mosques include the minbar, or
pulpit, and a fountain for ritual washing, which is done
before prayer. Mosque architecture often features grand
domes and pointed arches; however, as the religion of
Islam is practiced throughout the world, mosque
architecture varies greatly depending on culture and
geography.
WHAT IS THE DOME OF THE ROCK?
The Dome of the Rock is one of the earliest surviving mosques, built at
the top of Mount Moriah in Jerusalem during the Umayyad Period
(661-750 C.E.). The location is holy for Jews, Christians, and Muslims
alike, and is thought to be the location of the creation of Adam, the
place where Abraham (Ibrahim, in Arabic) brought his first-born son to
be sacrificed, and the location of both Solomon and Herod’s temples.
In Islam, the location is also associated with the Prophet Mohammad’s
physical and spiritual journey to heaven known as the Isra and Mi’raj.
The Dome of the Rock is the third holiest site for Muslims, after the
Sacred Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) in Mecca, and the Mosque of the
Prophet (Al-Masjid al-Nabawi) in Medina. The building itself features
two large ambulatories that circle 66 exposed rock, which allows
enough space for the many pilgrims who visit the shrine. Similar to the
structure of a centrally planned church, this circular structure was
commonly used in Christian religious architecture in Jerusalem at the
time. The center of the building is topped with a large, golden dome
supported by inner and outer wooden shells, sixteen arched windows,
stone piers, and interior columns.
The columns, and their capitals, were
constructed using recycled material from other
Classical monuments. The interior and exterior
of the Dome of the Rock is covered in highly
stylized mosaics, with vegetal and floral designs
as well as calligraphic inscriptions. The Dome of
the Rock is a powerful monument to Islamic
faith, exuding both permanence and elegance.
The Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem)
The Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem)
The Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem)
The Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem)
The Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem)
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRISTIAN
AND ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE?
When looking at examples of Christian and Islamic religious
architecture, one might be surprised that there are often many
similarities. Both churches and mosques often feature central
domes, and some early mosques, like the Dome of the Rock,
resemble centrally planned churches in their use of the
ambulatory. While the nave of a basilica-plan church is often
filled with pews, mosques have open floor plans, which allows
Muslims to kneel and pray using prayer rugs.
The exterior of a mosque is notable for its tall minarets, which are
not used in church architecture, though both styles emphasize
monumental height and grandeur. In terms of decoration, many
(though certainly not all) Christian churches are filled with mosaics,
painted narrative scenes, and stained glass windows featuring
stories from the Bible. Mosque decoration also features passages
from the Qur’an; however, this is visualized using calligraphy, due to
Islam’s iconoclastic approach to art. Both early churches and
mosques rely heavily on mosaics for decoration.
 WHAT ARE THE FIVE PILLARS OF
ISLAM?
The Five Pillars of Islam are five essential acts that a
Muslim believer must carry out during his or her lifetime,
and serve as the foundation of the faith.
They include:
1. Shahada, a declaration of belief in one God spoken by
Muslim believers
2. Salat, five daily prayers
3. Zakat, almsgiving
4. Sawm, fasting during Ramadan, the holy month
5. Hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during a
lifetime”
 WHAT IS THE GREAT MOSQUE AT
CORDOBA?
During the eighth century, the Umayyad Caliphate reached as far
east as India and as far west as Spain and Portugal, a region known
in Arabic as al-Andalus. The city of Córdoba was the capital of al-
Andalus, and was home to one of the most impressive examples of
mosque architecture in the Islamic world. The Great Mosque of
Córdoba was one of the largest mosques ever built. It has no central
altar or shrine, but features a prayer hall that reaches over 250,000
square feet.
Besides its large size, the Great Mosque’s prayer hall is notable
for its use of hypostyle, creating the effect of a forest of columns
that supports double rows of horseshoe-shaped arches made up
of red and white bricks, called voussoirs. As a result, the Great
Mosque’s hypostyle hall feels immensely large. Artists and
architects continued to work on the Great Mosque for over two
hundred years after its initial construction, adding geometric
marble carvings, grand mosaics, public fountains, and gardens.
After Spain was conquered by Christians in the fifteenth century,
the Great Mosque was converted into a cathedral.
Great Mosque at Cordoba
Great Mosque at Cordoba
 WHAT IS THE MOSQUE LAMP?
Mosque lamps are oil lamps, most closely associated with the
medieval period, and characterized by a bulbous middle and
flared top. Often enameled or made of glass, they are
extremely fragile but well cared for because the light of a
mosque lamp was associated with the light of God. Many
mosque lamps were commissioned by Mamluk sultans in
Egypt during the thirteenth century and were inscribed with
verses from the Qur’an.
Mosque Lamp made for Sayf al-Din
Tuquztimur 1340 (Egypt)
 WHAT IS THE ARDABIL CARPET?
The Ardabil Carpet is, believe it or not, actually two carpets, one in the
collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the other at
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Named for the city of Ardabil
in northwestern Iran, the pair of carpets were made in the sixteenth
century and used to decorate the funerary mosque of Shayk Safi al-
Din, a Sufi leader. The carpet design includes a sunburst medallion at
68 its center, surrounded by sixteen leaf-like pendants. Mosque lamp
motifs can be seen above and below the sunburst.
The lamp images on one of the carpets are slightly
smaller is size than the other, a trick of the eye that
makes the lamps look the same size when viewed
from entrance of the room. The creation of these
textile masterpieces was a huge undertaking—
made of silk and wool, the V & A carpet is
approximately 35 x 18 feet and consists of around
twenty-five million knots.
Ardabil Carpet (Victoria and Albert
Museum, London) 1539-40