(9.2) Chapter 14, Literature and Arts

1. (9.2) Chapter 14, Literature and Arts How Islamic culture has expressed itself in visual art and mosque architecture

2. Arabesque • Floral or geometrical • Often no central focus • (not so true of the floral arabesque from Topkopi) • Abstract from nature something more regular and harmonious • Possibly the world of “images” that one may perceive in contemplation • Points toward the ultimate unity underlying the diversity of the world • May be “arbitrarily” cut off and thus trigger an intuition of infinity

3. Geometrical arabesque, Fez, Morocco. Courtesy Peter Sanders/Saudi Aramco World/ SAWDIA.

4. Floral Arabesque in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul. Also shown is the “tree of life”, a frequent theme from early Islamic times.

5. Window in the Hospital of Sultan Qalaun in Cairo (completed c. 1293). The windows present geometric arabesques arbitrarily cut off as al-Faruqi suggests.

6. Calligraphy • Provides a way of making the Word of God visual • Has been compared to Orthodox Christian icons • Writing as “a distant shadow of the divine act” (Burkhardt) Examples following: Aftab Ahmad: Surah Ikhlas in a modern Kufic (angular) Surah Fatihah: in Nasta‘liq, a script developed in Iran Badī‘ in Mausoleum of Rumi

7. Surah Ikhlas of the Qur’an (112) in a modern Kufic (angular) script by Aftab Ahmad of Pakistan. (Courtesy: Calligraphy by Aftab Ahmad/Saudi Aramco World/SAWDIA)

8. Surah Fatihah: in Nasta‘liq, a script developed in Iran.

9. Shahāda in the form of a toughra, by Aftab Ahmad of Pakistan. The toughra was originally a stylised signature of the Ottoman sultan but now is used in other ways. (Courtesy: Calligraphy by Aftab Ahmad/Saudi Aramco World/SAWDIA )

10. The Arabic word badī‘ (Originator, a name of Allah) written in calligraphy (thuluth), in the normal direction on the right and in mirror image on the left. Rumi's Mausoleum at Konya

11. Pictures Opposition to depiction of living beings • “O you who believe, wine, games of chance, idols (or statues) and divining arrows and abomination of Satan’s handiwork” (5:92). [“idols (or statues)” may be taken to include all forms of pictoral art.] "Who is more wicked than the man who sets out to work to imitate the creative activity of God" (Bukhari, summarized by Arnold, 5) • “Those who will be most severely punished on the Day of Judgment are the murderer of a Prophet, one who has been put to death by a Prophet, one who leads men astray without knowledge, and a maker of images or pictures.” (Bukhari, quoted by Arnold, 8)

12. Pictures, ctd “The learned authorities of our school and others hold that the painting of a picture of any living thing is strictly prohibited and is one of the great sins because it is threatened with the above grievous punishment as mention in the Hadith, whether it is intended for common domestic use or not. So the making of it is forbidden under every circumstance, because it implies a likeness to the creative activity of God . . . . On the other hand, the painting of a tree or of camel saddles and other things that have no life is not forbidden.” (al-Nawawi, 13th century Shafi‘i faqih, quoted by Arnold 9).

13. Pictures, ctd On the other hand • The Prophet preserved a picture of Jesus and Mary in the Ka‘ba • Pictures appear in Islamic civilization, especially from the 12th century • In secular contexts particularly • Religious topics and figures, including Muhammad, sometimes appear. • Usually prophets’ faces are veiled; there may be a fiery nimbus • Among Shi‘is figures such as Husayn are depicted • Pictures (not of the Prophet) are regularly used in entertainment, advertising, propaganda today.

14. Wine, women, song. Wall paintings in the Chehel Sotun (Forty Columns) Palace in Isfahan, completed in 1646 by Shah Abbas II. They include scenes of battles and other historical events as well as entertainment. Notice the Chinese influence on the mountains in the background.

15. Mughal copy of Firdowsi’sShahnameh (Book of Kings). The figure depicted is Prince Esfandiar son of Goshtashp, fighter in the cause of Zarathushstra, who accomplishes a number of herioic exploits but is finallly killed in combat with Rustom. (Courtesy Hussain A. Al-Ramadan/Saudi Aramco World/ SAWDIA)

16. “Jahangir’s Dream” Allegorical representation of Mughal Emperor Jahangir and the Safavid Shah ‘Abbas of Persia, Mughal, ca. 1618. (Courtesy of Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.)

17. Reflections on “Jahangir’s Dream” • Sense of confidence, stability and dominance • Mughal Emperor’s dominance claimed over Safavid: relative size, position of lion and lamb. In fact, Shah Abbas took Kandahar from the Mughals in 1622, a few years after this was painted • Western influence (?): cherubs, lion and lamb. • Messianic (?):, lion and lamb

18. Architecture: Mosques • Masjid (lit: place to prostrate oneself in prayer) the most common term. • Jāmi‘ (Lit: That which gathers [people] together) larger mosque, especially for Friday noon ṣalāh ; “Friday” mosque • Muṣalla (Lit: place for performing ṣalāh), small mosque, not normally used for Friday noon ṣalāh. Main features of mosques: • Miḥrāb: indicates the direction to Mecca (qibla) • Minbar: pulpit from which khuṭba is given • Minaret: from which adhān is given

19. Mosque as sacred space: • Purity: Remove footware • Generally calm, peaceful • Orients one toward Ka‘ba (presence of God, center of umma) • Relatively undifferentiated space (God is present everywhere) • Nothing done in mosque that cannot be done elsewhere

20. The Great Mosque of Sousse, Tunisia. The open court yard with columned area is typical of early mosques. The mihrab is approximately under the small dome at the far right of the picture. (Picture is taken from the ribat, see figure 4.1.)