1. Islamic Art and Spirituality

2. What makes art ‘Islamic’?/Is there such thing as ‘Islamic’ art? Essentially Islamic theme/s? –Ideological –Imagery (ex. Quranic imagery of Paradise) Inherent in Quran or in reaction to NE? Question of intention Is it any art produced by Muslims?Muslims A reference to the artistic styles that ended up predominating in Islamicate civilization?

3. 1- Tawhid permeates and drives Islamic art Designed to orient viewer towards God’s unicity and transcendence Not mimetic, rather symbolic of what lies behind nature  hiding matter & nature Abstract: stylization, geometry, non- individuation, repetition, boundlessness No focal point or dramatic evolution (Quran)

4. 2 - ‘Traditional’ Islamic Cosmology Notion of emanation and return drives artistic representation Geometry/Math as links to Reality Sura and Ma’na: form and content as inseparable, irrepressible Mosque as recreation of cosmos Crafts as expression of traditional worldview

5. 3: Islamic art is merely attempt at beautification in Islamicate World Hadith: God is beautiful and loves beauty. Focus on Word of Quran  calligraphy in mosques Adoption of some aspects of Byzantine & Persian art, rejection of others Sinization of art after Mongols Persianate style of Timurids  Safavids, Ottomans and Mughals

6. Going overboard: Arguing from results… ‘Muhammad’ looks like person bowing in prayer لا إله إلا ألله is made of vertical characters bridging the divine and temporal worlds Islamic art has a “fear of empty space” because 1) urban life of the NE was crowded 2) the deserts were the wastelands that the Muslims had left

7. Common Artistic/Architectural Elements Calligraphy: form and content Arabesque (tawriq) Courtyard, dome, riwaq (arcade), iwan (portal niche in courtyard), mihrab, muqarnas (squinch adornment)

8. Representation of Living Things? Original or acquired? Why? –Early representational art (Umayyad mosques, palaces and coins)  reaction to Christian and NE representational traditions? –Miskawayh (d. 1030): aesthetic enjoyment is dangerous  stylization of nature –Aversion/prohibition merely one factor Hadiths: –on the Day of Judgment those who have represented living things will have to breathe life into them or face damnation –Angels do not enter houses where there are images Islamic law