Art, architecture and literature are important in history because only by observing works of past civilizations that we can somehow comprehend its culture further. Not only it provides us with precious records but as Walter Denny stated, it also gives us a feeling on how past societies lived. True to it, art, architecture and literature have become few of the most fundamental aspect of history. This is true for all civilizations including Islamic civilizations especially so when it is common for Muslims to consider the religion not as mere religion but instead a way of life. As a way of life, everything is governed by the Islamic law. Therefore, an inspection of Islamic art, architecture and literature offers a path to understanding Islam.
Islam is a monotheistic religion. The first pillar of Islam is to acknowledge the oneness of god and Mohamed is the prophet of god. Islam is particular about the oneness of god and is very strict in its punishment for the sin of syirik, the act of acknowledging the existence of any other god than Allah. In sura 6 ‘The Cattle’, verse 74, the Koran says, “And when Ibrahim said to his sire, Azar: Do you take idols for gods? Surely I see you and your people in manifest error.” There are a few other places where the Koran asserts similar wrongness of worshiping idols and other gods.
To prevent idol worshiping especially, the Koran even disallows any figurative representation of living things. In sura 16 ‘The Bee’, verse 74, “So coins not similitudes for Allah. Surely Allah knows and ye known not”. Therefore, there is a lack of figurative sculpture or painting in Islamic art. The destruction of a Buddhas of Bamyam in Afghanistan by the Taliban reinforced the fact that Muslims do adhere to the ban in one way or another.[1] Nevertheless, Islam “does not forbid representation of humans, animals and birds in secular context.”[2]
Since Muslim artists had limited options, they had to find another way to express themselves and they did this by concentrating on calligraphy and decoration. As we observe in history, they have truly mastered these arts.
Of all art forms they excelled in, they take pride and cherish their mastery in calligraphy which is called khat in Arabic. That is so because “calligraphy is one art form in Islam explicitly and positively sanctioned by God.”[3] Oftentimes, calligraphic activities decorate Koranic verses.
Arabic calligraphy is identified by two main features. First, “slant-clipped reed pen” is used in order to write or rather draw the words. Secondly, there are rules to be adhered to and each style has its own rule. These rules are the ones that made each calligraphic style differ from one another.[4]
During the reign of Caliph Uthman (644 — 656 CE), he ordered the gathering of Koranic verses into an official text that we know today. When the gathering of verses finally completed, calligraphy was used as “a form of decoration for the greater glory of Allah’s words.”[5]
While breath of calligraphy was greatly expanded under Islam, it began with the development of the Arabic language during pre-Islamic period. Arabic letters were derived from Semitic scripts.[6] It has 28 letters with 18 basic forms.[7] It was later further developed by the Nabataean, an Arabic tribe originating from northern Arabian Peninsula and adopted by other literate Arabic tribe including the Quraisy. It was around this time that a writing system style called Jazm was popular among the Arabs. Jazm was an advanced version of the scripts.[8]
There were two forms of scripts that were used in those times. The first type was “dry writing” and the other was “soft writing”.
The first type was later known as the kufic style. As the name suggests, the style “received its name from the town in which it was first put into official use”, which was Kufa, located in modern day Iraq.[9] The form can be identified easily by its ”angular and sober” style. Kufic characters also seem to have “geometrical intricacies”.[10] The other type was less angular and thus making it distinctly different from kufic. The soft writing style was more practical than its counterpart and later became the foundation for modern styles.[11]
As Islam spread during its golden age, so did the Arabic language and the art of khat. Societies of newly conquered areas especially Persia and to some extend Anatolia absorbed the language and its arts. Although local language was still used, Arabic characters managed to slip into local writing system. As this happened, local experts in calligraphy came into existence and further revolutionized it. In fact, one of the most important styles in calligraphy the naskh was invented by a Persian calligrapher named Mir Ali Sultan al-Tabrizi. In Turkey, Arif Hikmet created the Sunbuli style, “which had a short vogue.”[12]
Apart from the practice of calligraphy as a work of art, Muslim artists also pursued other areas that do not go against Islam. One of the areas is the art of decoration.
Islamic decoration is unique compared to other cultures and this is simply because of the same reason why calligraphy is pursued by Muslims. This resulted in the rareness of sculpture and painting that were prevalent in Greek and Roman civilizations. However, “this deficit is compensated with a richness in ornamentation on the lavish carved plaster paneling, wall tiling and glazed mosaics.”[13] The main themes used in the decorative art are mainly centered on nature and geometry.
Muslim artisans so frequently used geometry in their works that we now called such work as arabesque. Arabesque is simply a collection of a single geometrical pattern repeated on and on until simple shapes became a complex design. Sometimes, the design is “so complicated that they rarely call to mind their sources of origin.”[14]
Both calligraphy and arabesque were prominently used in Islamic architecture. Walls of all prominent buildings Muslims built are covered with them to no end.
[1] — [Taliban Show Off Remains of Ancient Buddha Statues. Kathy Gannon. The Independent via National Geographic. March 27 2001]
[2] — [Islamic Art. Detroit Institute of Art. April 1 2003]
[3] — [The Islamic Impact. Page 141. Yvonne Haddad. Byron Haines. Ellison Findly. New York. Syracuse University Press. 1984]
[4] — [The Calligraphy of Islam: The Reflections of the State of the Art. Page 6. Mohamed U. Zakariya. Washington D.C. Georgetown University. 1983]
[5] — [The Spread of Islam. Page 119. Information missing]
[6] — [Islamic Arts. Islamic Arts and Architecture Organization. April 1 2003]
[7] — [The Calligraphy of Islam: The Reflections of the State of the Art. Page 2. Mohamed U. Zakariya. Washington D.C. Georgetown University. 1983]
[8] — [Islamic Arts. Islamic Arts and Architecture Organization. April 1 2003]
[9] — [Arabic Writing. B. Moritz. Encyclopedia of Islam. 1913]
[10] — [The Spread of Islam. Page 120. Information missing]
[11] — [The Calligraphy of Islam: The Reflections of the State of the Art. Page 2. Mohamed U. Zakariya. Washington D.C. Georgetown University. 1983]
[12] — [Ibid. Page 29]
[13] — [The Umayyad Page 17. Information missing]
[14] — [Ibid]
I recently rediscovered a box full of short papers I worked on while in Michigan. This is part 1 of a sophomore paper I wrote in 2003. I place it here out of concern these papers might one day lost to harsh elements. For this particular paper, several pages of citation are already lost due to mishandling and my own irreverence for my own work.
At the moment, I am praying to find papers that I vividly remember: econometric paper on foreign exchange, the politics of climate change (this is probably the thickest paper that I remember; the research to produce this paper took months to complete! That is crazy considering it was just a junior paper) and I think, economic model on climate change.
