Islamic art:

Decorative art !
unglazed wares,
molded pieces with
the lead of Hellenistic
traditglaze ion, and
most famous, the
lusterware fragments
CALLIGRAPHIC
TRADITION
“Allah” in Arabic
Script
Cursive Scripts
-Deewani
-Kufi
-Farsi
-Req’aa
-Naskh
-Thuluth
Deewani
“Those who
teach
me have my
everlasting
respect.”
 Kufi
“The Prophet
Mohammed
peace and
blessings be
upon him.”
Farsi
“Sufficient for me is
Allah in Him those
who trust must put
their trust.
Req’aa
"In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the
Most Merciful Say: "I seek refuge with (Allah) the
Lord of the day-break,"From the evil of what he has
created; And from the evil of the darkening (night) as
it comes with its darkness; (or the moon as it sets or
goes away), And from the evil of the witchcrafts
when they blow in the knots, And from the evil of
the envier when he envies."
 Naskh
"He is Allah, (the) One. "Allah As-
Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master,
Whom all creatures need, He neither
eats nor drinks). "He begets not,nor
was He begotten;"And there is none
co-equal or comparable unto Him.
Thuluth
... and if you
count the
Blessings of
Allah, never you
will be able to
count them
Geometric Forms
Abstraction
and unity
are,
therefore at
the heart of
Islamic art
Three fundamental
forms come
out of this:
–1) the triangle
–2) the square
–3) the hexagon
Arabesques .

Alhambra in
Grenada,
Spain.
Floral
decoration
FIGURATIVE ART
Based
on the Hadith
– oral
traditions
relating to
the words and
deeds of
Mohammed.
This kind of art tends to
be non-religious,
though
it also exists as
manuscript illumination
and can depict religious
figures – though never
Allah..
Mughal Painting
The Mughal style of
painting refers to
miniatures produced
mainly as book
illustrations and as single
works contained within
albums.
Note also the
repetitive
decoration on
walls,
furniture, carpets,
fabrics and ceilings
Muslim Carpets

*carpet weaving was

an
important art form in
Islam, and remains
important in the
Islamic world today.
•Two traditions of
carpet weaving are
most important in the
Muslim world.

–Persian
–Turkish