An Introduction to Islamic

Art
of the Malay World
Islam
(lit. “surrender” or tawakkal, “reconciliation” or tauhid, from the
word salam, “peace” or “salvation).

A religion that required the worshiper to surrender the self (nafs) to Allah,
to reconcile (tauhid) to Allah to possess life of peace and salvation
(salam).

The religion revealed to the Prophet Muhammad between 610 and

632 C.E.

It is the last of all the Divine revelations before the end of the
world.
The name of the religion was instituted by the Qur’an (Surah Al-
Maa-idah: ayat 3) during the farewell pilgrimage:

“Today I have perfected your religion for you, and I have completed
My blessing upon you, and I have approved Islam for your
religion.”

‘pada hari ini telah Kusempurnakan untuk kamu agamamu, dan

telah Ku-cukupkan kepadamu ni’mat-Ku, dan telah Ku-ridhai
Islam itu jadi agama bagimu.’
• Art
The Concise Oxford Dictionary
defines art as ‘human creative skill or
its application’.

Art is ‘creative activity…resulting in visual

representation’.
• Art

Art is “the production or expression of that which is

beautiful.”

Art is visual or spatial communication

• Art

“Art is some creation of man that appeals to his emotions and his
intellect by means of his senses.”

“All inner feelings, aspirations and spiritual states must be given

some external manifestation in order to be perceived through the
senses by others. This manifestation is art.”
 Art is the aesthetic dimension of the life of a society or civilization, and, in its
larger meaning, co-extensive with the culture of the society.

It includes all the

 spiritual,
 intellectual,
 emotional
 personal facets
of man’s existence: his religion, beliefs, faith, poetry, historiography, manners
traditions, ideals and ambitions.
Art expresses the soul of a people to a
degree beyond the reach of other cultural aspects
and achievements of a society.
 Allah is Most-Beautiful and loves beauty

ISLAMIC ART
Islamic Art
The imagination behind art is human, but the afflatus (inspiration),
the original impulse, is divine.

Man’s effort is almost without limit, and his skill is a thing of

wonder, yet “no work of art inspired by man alone will ever be a
real work of art”, and religion, “ that some otherworldly
inspiration”, is essential to art. inspiration”, is essential to art.
The principle of tradition in religion is the prime mover of the
spirit of the artist.

All believers yearn to be drawn towards the transcendent; the

Divine spirit breathed into us at the moment of our creation is the
cause of this desire.
Every soul is a part of the Divine Creator and pines to be with
Him again.

Hence man’s wish to live among forms that echo the

transcendent archetypes.
Islamic art is:-

“no more than a reflection in the world of matter of the spirit

and even of the form of the Qur’anic revelation”.
The sacred art performs the same function as does the
Revelation itself by becoming

“means of causing repercussions in the human soul in the

direction of the Transcendent (Allah/God)”.
“…Islamic art, regardless in which century or continent it was
produced, reveals a remarkable consistency in content and
form”.

“…the power of the aesthetic values of Islam are such that, even
without the consciousness and pursuance of those value, the
artist and the spectator alike have been guided to an artistic
unity…”.
“…Islamic artist, whether consciously or unconsciously, had his
own criteria for the beautiful and for the artistic expression of his
world and God view”.
Why “Islamic Art”?
“This mean that Islam represents a total order which involves all the planes of
human existence, the body as well as the soul, and which decides naturally the
place which each art occupies and the role it will play in the spiritual and
physical equilibrium of the Dar al Islam-literally the house of Islam.”
It is by conforming to a certain hierarchy of values that arts are
integrated in Islam, and that they become Islamic art, whatever
the source of their diverse elements may be”
Islamic art is the fruit of the marriage between technique (al-
fann) and wisdom (al-hikma)”.

In is purest and most perfect form it is attribute of God who is

called al-hakim. One of the several dimensions of God’s hikma
is beauty, the paramount concern of art.
Thank You….