Islamic art and calligraphy are without a doubt, the most original contribution of Islam to
the visual arts. While Western calligraphy is just an art, the Islamic calligraphy is a religious
experience. Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty, according to one saying of the Prophet
Mohammed (PBUH). Thus, as we open our eyes and see the beauty of nature intrinsic to our own
body (anatomy) and extrinsic in the form of flowers and natural phenomena, we immediately start
recognizing and appreciating the Al-Mussavir, the Fashioner, one of the attributes of Allah.
The sacred nature of the Quran as the word of Allah, and proof of Tawhid, gave the initial
impetus to the great creative outburst of art and calligraphy which began in the Seventh Century C.E.
Islamic art is an expression of Quran in color, in line, in movement, shape and sound on three
levels. The first level defines Tawhid (oneness of Allah), in expressing the word Allah in different
Arabic scripts and forms. Repetition in design of the word Allah is no different than the dhikr of
Allah on the lips. Then it is further expressed with bismillah and la illaha illa Allah. The aesthetic
expression of Tawhid are abstraction, modular structure, successive combination, repetition,
dynamism and intricacy, all expressed in the geometry of the spirit.
The Quran is also seen as the artistic model having attained the literary perfection (ijaz). The
Quran also provided the Islamic civilization with an ideology to be expressed in art, to be manifested
by ornamentation of plates, carpets, swords, pottery, furniture, mihrab, minarets and mosques. All
these adapted to the different lands Islam visited and settled down. Decorating every item of use
with Quranic verses was a way to remind the humans of the Creator and the Al-Mussavir. Muslim
scientists who pioneered algebra and geometry developed nonfigurative or abstract motifs in
architecture.
From the simplest writing of the early Quran, when Islam and Muslims traveled in every
direction to different lands in time and space, and developed many different Arabic scripts, the kufi
(angular), the naskhi (rounded), andalusi, maghribi, taliq, diwani and even sini (in China), all
expressing the beauty of the words of Allah in their own way.
Through slides, some of the examples of the glorious art and calligraphy are presented. At
the end the calligraphy of Surah ar-Rahman by the Pakistani artist Sadeqeen, is combined with the
recitation of the same by Qari Shakir Qasmi of Pakistan. Indeed, Allah is beautiful, and He loves
beauty.
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