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Islam:
Aesthetics
of a Mystic Religion
Islam is much more than a formal
religion: it is an integral way of life. In many ways it is a more determining
factor in the experience of its followers than any other world religion. The
Muslim ("One who submits") lives face to face with Allah at all times,
and will introduce no separation between his life and religion, his politics and
his faith. With its strong emphasis on the brotherhood of men cooperating to
fulfill the will of Allah, Islam has become one of the most influential
religions in the world today.
 Traditional
Islamic art conveys the spirituality and quintessential message of Islam through
a timeless language which precisely because of its timelessness as well as its
direct symbolism, is more effective and less problematic than most of the
theological explanations of Islam. A piece of traditional calligraphy or an
arabesque can speak much more eloquently of the intelligence and nobility which
characterize Islam than many an apologetic work of Islamic modernists or
so-called activists. It is the serene, intelligible, structured and highly
spiritual character of Islamic art which more than any other element leads to a
correct understanding of the culture that is Islam.
Contrary to modern ideas, Islam
does not consider art and beauty as a luxury. It considers beauty to be a divine
quality (one of god's name being al-Jamil, the beautiful) and says that god
loves beauty. The Islamic aesthetic wishes beauty to be all pervasive and hence
the art that developed made sure that a Muslim encountered the joy of beauty at
all levels of his existence. He experiences deep down in his heart the same
sense of peace and joy when sitting on a traditional carpet, viewing a piece of
calligraphy, or praying within the confines of one of the masterpieces of
Islamic architecture which dot the Islamic world from the Pacific to the
Atlantic.
Here we will explore the spiritual
dimensions of Islamic art through the following elements:
- Sacred Architecture of the
Islamic Mosque
- The Islamic Art of Writing
- Aesthetic Principles and the
Building of an Islamic Community
Sacred Architecture of the
Islamic Mosque
The sacred architecture of Islam par
excellence is the mosque which is but a recreation of the harmony, order and
peace inherent in nature. While praying in a traditional mosque, the Muslim in a
sense returns to the bosom of nature, not externally but through the inner nexus
which relates the mosque to the principles and rhythms of nature.
 The
word mosque derives from the Arabic masjid, which literally means the place of
prostration (sujud). This is the position in Islamic ritual prayers (namaz), in
which the forehead of the worshipper touches the ground in the supreme act of
submission and surrender before God. Before the prostration however, at the
beginning of his prayer, he stands directly as the primordial man, himself his
own priest, facing god without an intermediary. This is a unique and significant
achievement in the development of mystic thought, where man is viewed not as a
fallen being but as god's vicegerent on earth, aware of his theomorphic
substance and competent and 'perfect' enough to correspond directly with God.
It is not, however, only the space of the
mosque within which the faithful pray that is important. It is also the floor
upon which they prostrate themselves that is of crucial significance. But before
attempting to grasp the symbolic significance of the floor, it is important to
understand the position of man himself in Islamic thought.
Man in Islam is considered the
most perfect of god's creations. It is the forehead of this most perfect of
god's creations that touches in prayer the floor of the prayer hall, thereby
sanctifying the floor of the mosque and returning this floor to its inviolable
purity as the original earth at the dawn of creation. The first historical
mosque is believed to have been the house of Prophet Muhammad himself. The first
'official' mosque was at Medina, which architecturally was a prototype of the
house of the Prophet, and in a sense was an extension of it. The Prophet
himself, it is believed, had first prayed before the divine throne (al-'Arsh)
before he prayed upon the ground (farsh), thus sanctifying earth as the mirror
and reflection of heaven. It is this sanctification of the ground by the Prophet
that bestowed a new metaphysical meaning upon the ground and the carpet covering
it. The carpet, whether of simple white color or full of geometric and arabesque
designs and patterns, is a reflection of heaven and enables one to experience
the ground upon which one sits as purifying, and to participate in the sacred
character of the ground.
 As
for the characteristic open space in mosques, its stillness reflects the
pacifying presence of the Divine Word, which echoes through it. The rhythmic
division of space by means of arches and columns is the counterpart to the
rhythms of cosmic existence which punctuate the phases of the life of man. The
space of the sacred structures of Islam rests serenely and nobly in a stillness
which conforms to the inner nature of things.
Architecture is of course the art
par excellence of ordering space, and all sacred architecture achieves its basic
goal of placing man in the presence of the divine through the sacralization of
the space which it forms. In the case of Islamic architecture this sacralization
is achieved by means of polarization of space through the presence of the Ka'ba
which is believed to be the center of the earth, and towards which all Muslims
turn in their daily prayers.
 The
Muslim world is spread out like a gigantic wheel with Mecca as the hub, and with
lines drawn from all the mosques in the world forming the spokes. These lines
converge on a city and within that city on a point. The city is Mecca, and the
point is the Ka'ba at its center. Mecca, the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, is
Islam's holy city and the goal of all pilgrimage. The Ka'ba, a cube of stone, is
the axis mundi of Islamic cosmology. It is diagonally oriented, with its corners
facing the cardinal points of a compass. Metaphysically it is the center of the
world, because it is the primordial symbol of the intersection between the
vertical axis of the spirit and the horizontal plane of phenomenal existence.
During their pilgrimage to Ka'ba,
pilgrims circumambulate it seven times, and this gyration of the great crowd
round the Ka' ba, with its curious swirling, liquid movement, when seen from an
aerial perspective resembles nothing so much as an immense whirlpool. This rite
finds its echo in the circumambulation of the sun, or likewise the tomb of a
saint, so as to achieve the maximum exposure to the invisible psychic fluid
believed to emanate from all such sacred places.
The sacred architecture of Islam
is a crystallization of Islamic spirituality and a key for the understanding of
this spirituality. The spaces it has created provide a haven in which man can
savor, by grace of this very spirituality, the peace and harmony of not only
uncorrupted nature but also paradise of which such a nature is a reflection.
This paradise man carries at the depth and center of his being where the divine
presence reverberates.
The Islamic Art of Writing
 Handwriting
is jewelry fashioned by the hand from the pure gold of intellect.
- Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi
Calligraphy is believed to be the
visual embodiment of the sacred word. Islamic tradition states that Ali, the
son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad, was the first calligrapher. The origins of
Islamic calligraphy are traced all the way back to god, who is believed to have
written the celestial archetype of the Quran. According to Qadi Ahmed, a
sixteenth century author on the art of calligraphy and painting, 'creation
itself is the divine calligraphy with which god covered the pages of changing
time with the black and white design of night becoming days and days becoming
night.'
A chapter in the Quran is entitled
'The Pen' (surat al-qalam), qalam meaning pen in Arabic. It opens with the
letter nun. The letter nun in Arabic resembles the inkpot.
It is believed that god first
created the Qalam, then the inkpot or nun. Thus the chapter begins with nun and
the Pen. According to another Islamic text, the qalam symbolizes the tongue and
nun the mouth.
 Islamic
calligraphy reflects through the symbolism of its very forms the intertwining
between permanence and change that characterize creation itself. Hence the
horizontal movement of the script, which is a rippling movement as in weaving,
corresponds to change, whereas the vertical movement represents the permanent
divine essence. Another point of view views the vertical as the symbol of the
unified principle, and the horizontal, the multiplicity of manifestation.
Another important element in the
appraisal of Islamic calligraphy is the concept of a tree. A tree is but a
manifestation of a seed's potential to derive sustenance from earth and water,
and produce one of the most beautiful sights in the world, namely that of a
flowering tree complete with branches and leaves.
Man is much the same as a tree. He
has been put on earth like a seed. But he can only grow into a tree by virtue of
his own efforts. Providence, however, has granted him innumerable sources of
nourishment and opportunities exist on earth to partake of them. Keeping these
conceptions in mind, it was but inevitable that the unifying art of Islam
eventually combined calligraphy with stylized plant forms (arabesques). Many
Islamic monuments from Anatolia to Agra display this intertwining of calligraphy
and arabesque forms.
 In
addition to arabesque forms, Islamic art also combines geometric patterns with
calligraphy. Here the calligraphy, related directly to the divine word (believed
to be the Quran), is said to symbolize the unified principle of creation, while
the geometric element with its immutable patterns is said to represent the
masculine principle.
In a similar vein, the arabesques,
related to life and growth, reveal the maternal aspect of creation. Seen in this
light, calligraphy can be contemplated as the principle from which the other two
elements of Islamic patterns, the geometric and the arabesque (male and female
respectively), originate, and into which they became integrated as all cosmic
dualities become integrated into the ultimate unified Principle.
In a further development of
metaphysical interpretation, each letter is given a personality of its own, and
ultimately linked with Allah, or the supreme god. For example the first letter
of the Arabic alphabet, alif, by its verticality symbolizes a divine majesty.
This divinity is why all alphabet
is believed to have originated from the alif, and it is also the first letter of
word Allah.
 The
second letter of the alphabet is ba. Its very horizontality symbolizes the
receptivity of the maternal and passive principles as well as the dimension of
beauty which complements majesty.
The intersection of the two
letters alif and ba constitutes the point which is visualized as the supreme,
non dual center from which everything issues and to which everything returns.
The esoteric doctrines enveloping
the nature of calligraphy, combined with the beauty of its immediate presence,
provide the key for understanding its privileged position in the hierarchy of
Islamic art as well as its important role in Islamic spirituality itself. For
centuries Muslims have practiced calligraphy as a means of disciplining the
soul. In contrast to the general pattern in various scripts of the world which
move from left to the right, Arabic script (the language of the Quran) moves
from right to left. Hereby a Muslim calligrapher believes that in drawing a line
from right to the left, man is moving from the periphery to the heart which is
also located in the left side of the body, and that by concentrating upon
writing words in beautiful forms, man is bringing back the dispersed elements of
his soul to their center.
The heart and soul of a Muslim is
constantly made aware of the majesty, harmony, rhythm and flow of calligraphic
forms, which surround all spheres of his existence, unveiling their beauty upon
the pages of the Quran, on walls of mosques and other forms of architecture, on
carpets and curtains, and even upon objects of daily use from dress to plates
and bowls in which food is taken.
Aesthetic Principles and
the Building of an Islamic Community
Islam is pre-eminently the religion of
unity on all levels: ontological, social, and political. The term used to
describe that unity is 'umma', which is not susceptible of translation by a
single word. Socially it denotes the Muslim community, while politically the 'umma
Muhammadiya' denotes 'Muhammad's nation', a revolutionary concept whereby, for
the first time in history, the criterion of belief replaces the genetic accident
of birth as the criterion of nationality.
Islamic art is more than just a
spectacle of domes and minarets, dazzling illuminated manuscripts and exotic
carpets; it is a true expression of a rich culture that has unified countries as
far apart as Spain and Java, Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, over some
thousand years and more. Islamic art expresses the religious beliefs, social and
economic structure, political motivation and visual sensibility of a pervasive
and unified tradition. Underlying the variations from century to century and
from region to region, a cohesive unity of aesthetic conception testifies to the
power and breadth of Islam.
Whether in the great courtyard of
the Delhi mosque or the Qarawiyyin in Fez, one feels oneself within the same
artistic and spiritual universe despite all the local variations in material,
structural techniques, and the like. The creation of this artistic universe with
its particular genius, distinct characteristics, and formal homogeneity
underlying distinctions of a cultural, geographical or temporal nature requires
a cause, for no effect of such immense dimensions can be considered as simply a
result of chance or the agglomeration of accidental historical factors.
Community is a delicate but
durable bond that grows among people who discover that their core identities
intersect with those of others. People find community and support, for example,
in groups of individuals who cope with similar problems, who send their children
to the same school, or who teach in the same department at a university. Shared
experience, ethnic background, social purpose, citizenship, religious faith, and
various combinations of these are among the more obvious bases for human
community. The formation thus of such a community, unified by an adherence to
common spiritual percepts and ideals, is the higher aim of Islamic aesthetics.
Islamic art was the means whereby the spirit of Islam penetrated into all types
and modes of activity, into all the moments of man's life reminding him wherever
he was of his Islamic identity. A whole civilization and culture deeply
impregnated by the spiritual values of Islam surrounds the Muslim, and aids him
in living Islamically.
Some principles of
Islamic Aesthetics that strengthen the development of a communal unity are:
1. Islamic 'Hidden
Architecture' and the Principle of Wholeness
One of the most striking features of all
Islamic architectural monuments is their focus on the enclosed space, on the
inside as opposed to the outside, the façade or exterior articulation of a
building.
This disregard for the outside
appearance of a structure is often developed to an extreme whereby even a
monumental structure, such as congregational mosque, is completely hidden by
being totally surrounded by secondary adjacent buildings (for instance a
bazaar).  This
'hiding' of major monuments goes hand in hand with a total lack of exterior
indications of the shape, size, function or meaning of a building. Even if a
structure has a visible façade or a portal, these features tell us little, if
anything, about the building that lies behind it. In other words, rarely does a
façade give any indication of the inner organization or purpose of the building
in question, and it is rare that an Islamic building can be understood, or even
its principal features identified, by its exterior.
To give but one example: a dome
looms over the mass of a building, it is generally visible from afar but sinks
into the maze of small cupolas and roofs of surrounding structures as we
approach.
The dome may indicate a mosque, a
palace, a school or a tomb. It may be the principal feature of a structure
designed around it; alternatively, it may be only a minor element in a vast
structure that surrounds the domed area; it may also be only one of several
domes hidden, or half hidden, by other structures - parapets or inner portal
frames. Instead of defining a specific kind of architecture, or a special
building with a particular function, the dome appears to be a general symbol,
signifying power, the royal city, the focal point of assembly; it can therefore
serve both religious and secular purposes.
At all times and in all regions of
the Muslim world we can find 'hidden architecture' - that is, architecture that
truly exists, not when seen as monument or symbol visible to all and from all
sides, but only when entered, penetrated and experienced from within.
 This
indistinguishibility between buildings serving different functions is an
important effort in furthering the development of a community. By making the
various architecture serving the cause of religion, domesticity, education,
funerary etc., indistinguishable, or by making the religious and secular
inseparable, the Muslim aesthete was but driving at the unity of these two
principles. The final aim of all Islamic aesthetic is thus to create a unified
wholeness. The mosque in a traditional Islamic city is not only the center of
religious activity but of all community life, embracing the cultural, social and
political as well as, to a certain extent, economic activities. It is therefore
related organically to the bazaar or center of economic life, the palace or seat
of political power, schools where intellectual activity takes place etc. Private
homes are always nearby and in the same way that work, leisure, prayer and care
of the family are integrated and not totally separate in the traditional Islamic
pattern of life, the architectural spaces related to these activities are also
intertwined. Even within the home, a single room is often used for several
functions including eating, sleeping, socializing and praying, while prayers can
take place in shops in the bazaar, transactions in the mosque, and teaching in
both the mosque and home.
When one looks at the traditional
Islamic city, one observes that this unity and inter-relatedness are reflected
directly in the architecture. At the center there is always a mosque or tomb of
a saint with the city growing in an organic manner around it. Moreover, the city
seems to be covered by a single roof emanating from the sacred center. In a
profound sense therefore, the sacred architecture of Islam casts its light and
influences the formation of an Islamic city, bestowing upon it the character of
reflecting sacred presence. In the same way that the floor of the mosque,
sacralized by the Prophet himself, stretches into the floor of every home, every
roof of the city emanates from and is an extension of the roof of the sacred
structure at its heart. The space of the whole city is enveloped by the periodic
chanting from the minarets of the mosque, calling for a collective prayer, and
the regular voicing of Quranic verses from the mosque itself; are all extremely
effective and strategical towards building of a deep-rooted Islamic community
bound fundamentally at the core.
2. Concept of Unity and
Islamic Decorative Arts
The role of decoration is central to any
analysis of Islamic art. It is one of the unifying factors that, for thirteen
centuries, have linked together buildings and objects across the enormous
geographic span that makes up the Islamic world.
 There
is never any one type of decoration for one type of building or object; on the
contrary, there are decorative principles which are pan-Islamic and applicable
to all types of buildings and objects at all times (whence comes the intimate
relationship in Islam between all the applied arts and architecture). Islamic
art must therefore be considered in its entirety because each building and each
object embodies identical principles. Though objects and buildings differ in
quality of execution and style, the same ideas, forms and designs constantly
recur. These patterns clearly demonstrate the fascination of Islamic artists
with the visual principles of repetition, symmetry, and continuous generation of
pattern. Thus the objects and their decoration seem to reflect only a fleeting
impression, being but a portion of a design which seems capable of extending
itself beyond the form it decorates and by implication beyond the world of
reality. And if a definite spatial limit is reached, such as a terminal wall in
a piece of architecture, which stops the progress of anyone moving through the
building, it will be decorated with patterns that repeat themselves, leading on
visually beyond the given limit of the wall surface. This is symbolic of an
endless, infinite extension beyond ordinary, mundane reality into a higher
invisible realm.
It is also significant that these
infinitely extensible designs are themselves made up of individual,
self-replicating units. In the Islamic context these have been interpreted as
visual demonstrations of the singleness of god and his presence everywhere. They
represent 'unity in multiplicity' and 'multiplicity in unity'.
 The
elements of Islamic decoration are mostly limited to calligraphy, geometry and
foliation, and their manipulation results in a rich and sumptuous effect. An
interesting example is found at the base of Friday Mosque in Herat, Afghanistan.
It is covered with areas of pattern, as a wall or floor would be covered with
hangings or carpets. Each area has its own logic, and there is a larger logic
that relates them all together.
The same logic, the same
principles, apply to any medium - textiles, ceramics, woodwork, metalwork, books
- and on any scale. In the image, without the figure of the man it would be hard
to tell the whether the subject of the photograph was very large or very small.
Flexibility of scale is matched by the interchangeability of the designs, which
can contract or expand to fill different areas, indicating the all-pervasiveness
of the one, unified divine principle.
Sometimes, in the case of floors,
the decoration actually reproduce carpets. The tomb of I'timad ad Dawla in Agra,
for example, has an inlaid marble floor that exactly reproduces the designs of
Mughal carpets. In a similar manner, prayer carpets reproduce, in two dimensions
and on a small scale, the sense of the sacred space of the mosque as well as its
cosmic orientation towards Mecca. Carpets and mosques alike are places of
prostration. This unifying decorative streak thus extends over the whole realm
of Islamic art.
Interpreted at a practical level,
by confronting the Muslim with similar, parallel, and identifiable images
permeating every level of his existence, a definite cohesive feeling of
community is slowly but convincingly and continuously imbibed into his heart,
which goes a long way in serving the higher spiritual purpose. Also significant
here is that Islamic decorative motifs are all characterized by a soothing and
calming harmony. Constantly 'in touch' with these images, the 'comfort level' of
a Muslim is greatly conditioned by them, nay even habituated to them.
Technically the term for this
'Oneness' is tawhid. Though opinions on how best to interpret the essential
Islamic message of visual arts varies widely, from an almost denial of any
symbolic content to a penchant for discerning symbols in the slightest curlicue
and variation in color, theories at both ends of the spectrum purport to derive
their theological aesthetic from this same principle, namely, tawhid - a belief
in God's uncompromised unity and transcendence.
The best known
expression of this Divine Unity is 'La-ilaha-ill-Allah', (Quran 112:1).
It is made up of four words:
La = No
Ilaha = that which is worshipped
Illa = except
Allah = God
Literally translated, it states
'There is no god but God'. By Oneness of Allah we understand that he is the only
Eternal Being, Pure and Simple. The Quran also draws our attention to nature,
its laws and phenomena - the gathering of clouds, the fall of rain, the growth
of plants, the existence of animal and human life, the movements of the stars,
the rise and fall of nations, the change of seasons, life, death, historical
events and mythical wonders. In all these, the same law is believed to prevail.
In all apparent diversity there is a unity of purpose and therefore the unity of
the originator. It thus expresses a concept which annihilates all multiplicity,
all separate entities. It is to see, in a sense, the common denominator in all
the multiplicities of forms, to see the 'unity in multiplicity' of flower, tree
and bird; to see that all circles have a center, regardless of size. The
realization of this concept annihilates multiplicity so that unity subsists.
The unity of Islamic art is
related not only to the unity of the cosmos and beyond that to the unity of the
Divine Principle itself, but also to the unity of the life of the individual and
the community. By refusing to distinguish between the sacred and the profane, by
integrating religion into all facets of life and life itself into the rhythms of
rites and patterns determined by religion, Islam reflects a wholeness which is
abundantly reflected in its aesthetic ideals.
Conclusion
 Islamic
art was the means whereby the spirit of Islam penetrated into all types and
modes of activity, into all the moments of a man's life, reminding him wherever
he was of the divine presence. Art was, and continues to be, a most precious
support for the Islamic ideals of life and living.
Islam, throughout its history and
within the depth and breadth of all its authentic manifestations, from
architecture to the art of dress, has emphasized beauty and been inseparable
from it.
Have those who claim to speak in
the name of Islam today created any form of beauty? Can the qualities of
serenity, peace, harmony and equilibrium which characterize both the Islamic
religion and the artistic and cultural manifestations of Islam be seen in what
these present day groups create and produce? The criterion of art remains a
powerful one in deciding the real nature of the forces involved in these groups.
Nothing authentically Islamic can be devoid of the inner qualities discussed
earlier, qualities which have emerged from spirituality and have manifested
themselves over the ages in many different climes in the various traditional
arts of Islam from pottery to architecture to the fine art of writing.
References and Further Reading
- Bakhtiar, Laleh. Sufi
(Expressions of the Mystic Quest): London, 1997
- Blair, Sheila, and Jonathan
Bloom. Islamic Arts: London, 1997
- Hanifi, Manzoor Ahmed. A Survey
of Muslim Institutions and Culture: Delhi, 1988
- Hughes, Thomas Patrick.
Dictionary of Islam: New Delhi, 1999
- Khan, Maulana Wahiduddin. The
Garden of Paradise: New Delhi, 1998
- Masud Khaidar, and Andrei
Sakharov. Afghanistan Today, Kabul, 1981
- Michell, George. Architecture
of the Islamic World: London 1995
- Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Islamic
Art and Spirituality: Oxford, 1990
- Renard, John. Seven Doors to
Islam: New Delhi, 1998
- Williams, John Alden (ed.)
Islam: London, 1961
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2000, ExoticIndiaArt
www.exoticindiaart.com
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