Stefanie Adcock
Design 189
Introduction
The following paper begins by analyzing the components and principles of Islamic sacred art. Through understanding the elements that combine to create meaning we can clearly identify how the Islamic tradition transmits sacred into the visual format. The later half of this paper departs from the traditional realm translating how the Islamic traditions can be manifest in the digital format. This paper is not arguing a thesis rather is presenting a method for going beyond tradition that acts to bring back a more cosmological view into the scientific realm of technology.
I. Principles of Islamic art
There are specific characteristics of this art, which make it undeniably a product of Islam. The Muslim artist comes from a pluralism of different countries and yet there remains a unifying thematic and aesthetic thread connecting Muslim faiths across race, country and language. The Islamic worldview, La ilaha illa Allah ("There is no god but God") is the most essential aspect of Islam that is echoed in the monotheistic principle of Tawhid. It is a concept suggesting the omnipotent and omnipresent nature of God, as implied in the Qur’an.
The creator of the heavens and the earth, He hath made for you pairs of yourselves, and of the cattle also pairs, whereby He muliplieth you, Naught is as his likeness; and He is the Hearer, the Seer. (Qur’an 42:11)
L.L. Al Faruqi expresses Tawhid as the principle that rejects "figural representation and icons" this ‘aniconism’ poses two possible goals. One is a strict interpretation of the Qur’an that there is ‘no divinity save God’ which inhibits any objectivization of the divine, and the other is to discourage any image or work of art that is limited and one-sided from becoming an ‘idol’ that can come between man and god. What Tawhid is essentially concerned with is creating formulae that communicate the ubiquitous nature of God.
The abstract nature of Islamic art engenders the translation of a god that is other-than the natural world, where nothing from nature could stand as a symbol for God. The use of abstraction in Islam is not to be confused with abstraction in Western art they are different. In the foreword to Titus Burckhardt’s book, Art of Islam, S. H. Nasr clarifies the differences between abstraction in Islamic and Western art.
" The process of so-called ‘abstraction’ in Islamic art is, therefore, not at all a purely human and rationalistic process as in modern abstract art, but the fruit of intellection in its original sense, or vision of the spiritual world, and an ennobling of matter by recourse to the principles which descend from the higher levels of cosmic and ultimately Metacosmic Reality."
According to Nasr, through abstraction Islamic art seeks the archetypes or templates that resonate the metaphysical principles of Islam. Through geometric designs, abstract patterns and calligraphy the artist can visually support the infinite, transcendent and inexpressible qualities of Islam without resorting to icons, representations or objects signifying this world. According to the principle of Tawhid, Divine unity is beyond all representation, its nature, which is total lets nothing remain outside itself. Therefore the arts of Islam emphasize unity in multiplicity, employing the language of geometry coupled with a rhythm that is a repetitive non-developmental current coming back endlessly upon itself.
Experiential Process: Formulae to The Sacred
According to Rajah and Srinivasan (1999), "Sacred Art is a technology or ‘calculus’ with which to transcribe universal truths". By uncovering how art functions to relay meaning specific to the Islamic faith and its principles, such as Tawhid and unity in multiplicity, the science behind Islamic patterning can be known. As Rajah has suggested, sacred art can be viewed as a mechanism transmitting metaphysical knowing into a representational format. The representation is the result of wedding ‘craftsmanship’ with ‘wisdom’ it does not represent in the objective western mode but rather is a reflection of rational data coupled with an unseen unity that is manifest in the human intelligence. The main structure or method employed by sacred traditions to communicate is the experiential process, which transforms and is the medium of ‘awareness’ and ultimate realization. The experiential process implies involvement and Immersion, and requires an intensified concentration that blocks off our awareness of the everyday. This involvement and immersion is the action of connecting our minds in contemplation upon a metaphysical unity. The geometric aspect offers a visual guide or portal to the ‘oneness’, which by Islamic standards are incomprehensible and unrepresentational.
The Islamic model is unique in the absence of idols or representation of elements from the natural world. The very abstract nature of Islamic art is structurally geometric and in essence mathematical, due to the focus and use of proportion and progression in Islamic patterns that adorn the walls of mosques and are echoed in the composition and metaphor of Ka’ba; the center from which all other religions stem and the direction that all Muslims face while in prayer. The abstract, non-developmental nature of Islamic art, are the components that are manifest in the arts of Islam. By looking at the structure of Calligraphy and interlacement we can realize the formula and how it works to express the epistemology of Islamic faith. What becomes apparent is how formula is not a static formal structure, as it is known in contemporary science but rather how the formula inspires an ontological rhythm or dynamic.
Rhythms of Unity: Islamic Arabesque (tawriq)
The arabesque is a combination of ornamentation of stylized plant forms and geometrical interlacing, the emphasis lies not in the motifs rather the structure. I will not elaborate in depth on the nature of the arabesque in this paper but will focus on how the composition of units in a pattern, repetition and non-developmental nature gives expression to the Islamic view of transcendence. In order to exemplify how the arabesque works with regard to Islamic aesthetics, look at the following image and try to locate the motifs or geometric systems that are combined. Al Faruqi (1985) explains how one might ideally view a work of Islamic art that demands a specific means of viewing where the eye ‘moves’ from one leaf or geometric unit to another, and then from systems of units to another "as he seeks to comprehend the infinite pattern and appreciate the message and beauty." There is a duality of purpose that is multidimensional; it is on the surface aesthetic, while underneath infused with deeper meanings of sacred cosmology. The main of difference between the sacred work of Islam and Western art suggested by Al Faruqi (1985) with respect to viewing is that in order to fully grasp the pattern, the viewer can never "lean back and look at the work with the kind of over-all view used to appreciate a painting of Raphael or Rembrandt."
This particular image is an example of a disjunctive arabesque that comprises a combination of motifs. There is the floral arabesque, which seems to go on endlessly however in a system of repetition that does not develop but impresses upon the viewer a sense of infinity. The other component, geometric interlacing yields with the arabesque producing a larger element. As a viewer in keeping with Al Faruqi’s methods of viewing, we ideally will cycle through multiple perspectives alternating between seeing each individually and as a whole. This process of seeing connotes an experiential quality that goes beyond the visual realm to act as a catalyst waking our consciousness to the currents of connection between our self and the world. I choose to use the word rhythm as it engenders a sense of temporal development created by the formal construct of the arabesque. This development is kinesthetic in that it is a pattern, with recurring elements and contrasting ones analogous to a rhythm created by music. In all sacred traditions there is a temporal aspect of contemplation, which is rhythmic in its essence. This rhythm is an emergent quality between the subject and object. This rhythm is created when the seer puts their mind in sync with the innate intellectual knowledge manifest in geometry as a science that unifies space and time. Al Faruqui suggests,
"In the visual arts, the creative product is spread out in its entirety before the viewer, at one moment of time. Yet the nature of Islamic art causes him to apply a time technique of viewing. He is drawn from one center to another, from one configuration to another, as patterns within the design reveal themselves to him. This makes the appreciation of an Islamic pattern, even the visual one, a succession of views which can only be comprehended serially."
The Internet and the World Wide Web: Contemporary vehicle for the transmission of Islamic aesthetics and cosmology.
In sacred traditions the choice of materials or structure plays an important role in expressing content and furthering meaning. The Internet metaphorically and structurally expresses the concepts of Islamic art as listed above in a contemporary paradigm that challenges current ways of knowing.
In the Islamic tradition, geometry is the chosen structure allowing an abstract representation of metaphysical transcendence symbolizing variety and unity. In the contemporary arena, the Internet and the World Wide Web are structures that support new ways of expressing the omnipresent nature of Islamic art and its role. The systems of networks that act to interface computers from all around the world support two roles of Tawhid. One is how the Internet brings people of different cultures, religions and languages under a unifying system that is universal in its structure- Networks as a template of unification. The other is in the omnipresent nature of the Internet. The invisible, opaque nature of this technology creates an almost ethereal quality that is not far removed from the transcendent qualities of Islamic art. In post-modern society there was a precedence of simulation over the real, which characterize the Islamic aesthetic; avoiding representation of the natural world in favor of an intelligent abstraction suggesting the inexpressible nature of God. According to Fredric Jameson (1984), what is needed is a " new aesthetic of cognitive mapping" which suggest an ontological shift that would allow us to register the complexities of our world.
On a metaphorical level the Internet is a landscape of simulated virtual communities that are abstract and intangible. These qualities are the very qualities that are essential to the expression of Islamic aesthetics. As stated above, the imitation of any living being is frowned upon, because of respect for the divine secret contained within every creature. The abstract, invisible almost ethereal nature of the Internet provides a contemporary metaphor communicating the infinite, transcendent qualities of Allah. In the past our society had tangible objects to think with that could represent technology, such as the engine and the turbine. However current technology in the form of currents of electricity and ‘chips’ has made technology opaque, unnatural in its abstract form. The abstract, opaque or invisible systems of the Internet and World Wide Web are essentially what the Islamic traditions are expressing through the symbolism of geometry and calligraphy. I realize there is the risk of romancing the Internet by associating it with mystical qualities, yet I believe I this is only one way among many of interpreting the multiple roles the Internet can fulfill in our society.
Muslim as a Neuromancer
In Sherry Turkle’s book, Life on the Screen, Turkle excavates the Internet and computer technologies impact on our lives. In one section she talks about the book Neuromancer by William Gibson.
" Neuromancer was a cultural landmark. In the popular imagination it represented the satisfactions of navigating simulation space. Its futuristic hacker hero moved through a matrix that represented connections among, social, commercial, and political institutions. Neuromancer’s hero yearned to fully inhabit, indeed to become one with, the digital forms of life."
The hero of Neuromancer’s need to integrate and become one in the digital format is evocative of arts role in sacred traditions. What is expressed in modern terms is mans desire to transcend the physical world into the metaphysical realm represented in sacred cosmologies. This is not far removed from the efforts of a Muslim contemplating over an arabesque or architectural structure of a mosque to gain insight into the nature of the infinite, inexpressible God. As stated by Rajah, "…representations in different fields are structured by their respective grounds and that when technological development gives rise to new modes of representation, these new modalities impinge upon and reconstruct the very ground of knowledge from which they emerged." Finally, what becomes apparent is how sacred traditions, as all schools of thought with time will undergo a kind of renovation of transmitting the philosophy and aesthetic principles into a contemporary format.
References
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Burckhardt, Titus, Art of Islam: Language and Meaning, World of Islam
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El-Said, Issam, Islamic Art and Architecture: the System of Geometric Design,
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Jameson, Fredric, Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Capitalism, Journal-
New Left Review 146 ( July- August 1984 )
Lawlor, Robert, Sacred Geometry: Practice and Philosophy, Thames and
Hudson, NY, 1982.
Turkle, Sherry, Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet, Simon and
Schuster, NY, 1995.