Chapter 1
ISLAM AS AN ATTRIBUTION
Introduction
Expressions like âIslamic housesâ or âIslamic textilesâ are examples of phrases broadly used in academic literature. The adjective âIslamicâ is attributed approximately to cultural materials in their entirety, not only to indicate the geopolitical connection of objects to an Islam-governed territory, past or present, but also as an attribution to Islam. What does Islam have to do with the ordinary materials of Muslimsâ lives? In other words: âHow are these Islamic materials Islamic?â Islam, or âsurrender into Godâs willâ,1 not only as a religion but as a way of life,2 requests the submission of human life to Godâs will and theoretically covers every aspect of life. What does this supposed totalitarian inclusion bring to the material world of Islamic culture and how does it? Addressing this general question reveals the fundament that enables us to deal with the more specific question of why mosques in the Islamic world were built in the way they were.
Islam knows itself as the last religion in the chain of Abrahamic religions, yet there are nonetheless peculiarities which give Islamic culture an incomparable position in cultural material studies. One of these is the position of visual images in Islam. Functionally, the unnecessary use of any particular object to perform Islamic rituals, and the aniconic attitude of Muslims3 empowered by Islamâs view of visual images, problematises the existence of any Islamic iconography. On the one hand, âIslamic tradition has not distinguished neatly between sacred and secular activities in generalâ;4 on the other, âthe Islamic tradition has drawn an exclusively fine line between divine initiative and human effort ⊠between visual imagery and transcendent reality to which they alludeâ.5 The attribution of âIslamicâ to visual materials is formed between these absolutisms of rejection and acceptance. Rather than being the direct application of Islamic doctrines to visual images, any âIslamicâ attribution can only be applied through the investigation of the conducting principles Islam imposes through and on the everyday life of believers. From this point of view, the attribution of Islamic is contextual.6
Any approach to answering this question with regard to the adjective âIslamicâ has a dual direction. On the one hand, what is sought is an âIslamic yardstickâ7 that defines positions from which to judge visual images in regard to what is within the borders of Islamic and what lies beyond. On the other hand, the attempt is to define the spatio-temporal conducting patterns of Islam and to examine the sociopolitical process by which these outlines are applied in reality. These approaches have positives and negatives. The first view stands outside the real world of Islam and has a theological standpoint. The other looks at on the religious role with a diagrammatic nature8 and suggests that Islamisation happens through a contextualisation, at the end of which the product is not necessarily Islamic. This is the matter of Islam as âthe oughtâ to be and the âisâ.9 The first view positions an Islam outside history,10 while the other fails to establish a rigid core in the process of Islamisation, for as in reality the outlines that represent the borders of Islamic ideals can be potentially surpassed.
Questioning the definition of Islamic attribution could simply lead to a subjective interpretation. On the one hand, the desire for a homogeneous entity of Islam, and on the other the plurality which real life breathed into historical Islam calls for an interpretation which includes both. Islam, like other religions of the world, âintegrates a multiplicity into unity ⊠to create a religious civilisationâ.11 Nevertheless, here the aim is to show how these different views were legitimated, how these differences were lived alongside, and how they materialised in the formative process of Islamic conceptions.
In searching for the islamic12 essence of the Islamic attribution, semantically, and from an art historical viewpoint as well, the issue of âwhat makes Islamic phenomena Islamicâ is fundamental, whether a Muslim seeks direction for her/his Islamic concerns or an art historian searches for a âformative Islamâ. It is a basic request which should investigate the existence of a uni-tary character in the material cultures of the Islamic world primarily, and thereafter investigate if Islam has been a formative feature in this unification, and if possible how. These questions have different dimensions depending on the questionâs intent, be they purely art historical approach which seeks the semantics of Islamic art, to personal, ethical and sociopolitical concerns. In spite of a personal interest, the aim of this book is to find nevertheless a positive point of judgement.
As a first step, I outline the main blueprints of the Islamic worldview, that is, those which influence the formation of material culture, especially visual images. In the second part of this chapter, different characteristics of Islamic art as shaped by these different factors are investigated. The aim of this chapter is to show how visual images reach a valuable position in the Islamic system. Finally, the goal is to suggest an answer to the question, âIn what sense are Iranian mosques Islamic?â
The Emergence of Islam
Islam as a religion came into existence when the archangel Gabriel revealed Godâs message to Muhammad, a 40-year-old man from the western lands of the Arabian Peninsula, praying in a cave in the mountains of Mecca. Gabriel ordered him to read: Muhammad was illiterate but Gabriel repeated:
Read in the name of your Lord who created
Who created man of a clot of blood.
Read! Your Lord is the most beneficent,
Who taught by pen,
Taught Man what he knew not.13
These statements became the first verses of a body of text â the QurâÄn, the very word of God â which was revealed to Mohammad who afterwards âguided his life as the messenger (al-rasul) and Prophet (al-nabi) of Allahâ.14
Mohammad did not immediately proclaim his message in public. Three years later he discussed his mission with a small group of his relatives. Soon after, the âProphet preaching evoked strong opposition from Meccans,â15 which finally lead him to emigrate to Medina through an agreement with the Medinans. This journey, in ad 622, is the starting point of the Muslim calendar. The Prophet established the community of Muslims in Medina with himself as their leader.
Mohammad was a businessman before his Prophecy, known as AmÄ«n because of his honesty. He married KhadÄ«je, whose caravan Mohammad was in charge of. Now in Medina, he was in charge of a fast growing community, and also the army commander in battles between them and the Meccans and other protesters. His residential complex became the centre of the community as well as the place to perform Islamic rituals, mainly salÄt or praying.16 First a businessman, then a prophet and now a politician, Mohammad embodied his religiosity in his everyday life.
Following the death of the Prophet, AbĆ« Bakr, one of the closest companions of Prophet, was selected as the âCommander of the Faithfulâ and after him âOmar, âOthmÄn and âAli.17 These four Islamic rulers, known as âcaliphs in the age of the RÄshidĆ«nâ, occupy an important place in the historical consciousness of Sunni Muslims: âtheirs was a transitional age from a simple community established by the Prophet to a major religious tradition that constituted an empireâ.18
A disagreement about the successor of the Prophet led to two different beliefs about who was the legitimate Governor of the Islamic state, represented by the ShÄ«âah and the Sunni. During the fourth Caliph and first Imamâs era, major sectarian conflicts started. KhÄrijites (literally âthose who go outâ) are the first sectarians in the history of Islam. The succession of the Umayyads and Abbasids as the Caliphates of the Islamic world drew the conception of Islamic government into crisis. Different sects gradually emerged, with different ideas about Islamic government arising from the injustices of the Umayyads toward non-Arab Muslims, and the criticisms of Abbasids in regard to Islamic principles.
Before his demise, the Prophet stated in a HadÄ«th (one of the statements of the Prophet) that âI leave you two things and as long as you cling into them, you do not be misledâ. These two things were the QurâÄn and his tradition,19 and this was the main motivation for Muslims to spend a great amount of energy in gathering the sources of tradition and attempting to derive the principles of Islam and the Islamic community from them. This movement became the starting point for the formation of Islamic law or SharÄ«âah. Different methods of derivation lead to the emergence of different schools of law.
By the nature of its rituals and with its focus on community, Islam has a strong social dimension. Its fate is not only self-salvation in the other world but also creation of a living community under Godâs wishes. From early on, Islam introduced social organisation based on Islamic mores as an inevitable part of its ideals. SharÄ«âah or Islamic law helped Muslims to apply the concepts of the QurâÄn and Sunnah (tradition) in the social context. In other words, SharÄ«âah was the channel through which Islam as the religion became Islam as the culture.
Under the Abbasid caliphate Islam experienced a flourishing of science and philosophy, as well as literature and historiography in addition to the religious sciences. Baghdad and KhorÄsÄn became centres in which Greek philosophy, the mystical ideas of the Gnostics, Indian medical science and Persian governance interacted. Islam cultivated the seeds of another system of thought in its soil: Sufism. While the focus of SharÄ«âah was to establish a social structure on the basis of Islam, the efforts of Sufism or Gnosticism (IrfÄn) was to form a personal relationship between believers as Seekers and God as Sought. With its dependent institutions Sufism also had a considerable influence on the social movements of the Muslim community.
Islam, with its sociopolitical aims to establish a community according to its principles, with its mystical viewpoint which seeks an individual connection to God, and with its co-existence of different branches of knowledge which do not necessarily share similar viewpoints, shows a historical existence more than an ideal reality outside its context. If the real islam exists outside the history of Islam, the reality of Islam shows a historical being.
Islamic Ideals and Realities
As the QurâÄn describes, Islam is not a new message but the last in a chain of revelations and Muhammad is the last prophet, from Adam to Jesus. Islam considers itself not as a religion, but as the Religion or dÄ«n al-fitrÄ«, which is the very centre of different religions, especially Abrahamic ones. On this basis, this out-of-time concept of islam â different from Islam with capital âIâ â is the core of human religiosity.
God is the ultimate reality â the Absolute â greater than any description (AllÄh-u Akbar-u min al-YĆ«saf). Everything else is created and relative, thus incomparable to His Almightiness. TuhÄ«d, or the idea of Godâs unity, is the central concept of the QurâÄn, and its application in the belief and behaviour of Muslims makes it the backbone of Islam. It is an unforgivable sin to share this âOthernessâ with others. The confession of âThere is no god but Godâ, and the acceptance of Muhammad as the messenger of God, is one of the five practical pillars of Islam,20 which is the key to membership of the Islamic community.
Man is part of the created world: God chose him as His representative on earth, and breathed His soul into him. He taught him all His names, a gift presented only to human beings. God offered his trust (AmÄnah) to the heavens and earth, they refused it but Man accepted it.21 God asked, âAm I not your Lord?â22 and Man answered, âYes, we testify.â23 This promise brought with it the responsibility of bearing Godâs trust for all humanity which he or she must fulfil while he or she is on earth. Accordingly Man enters history in order to fulfil His promises.
Manâs worldly life is a phase from God to God. This is the field where its fruit marks otherworldly destiny.24 God was like a hidden treasure and wanted to be known25 â the duty of Man â and this familiarity is achieved through knowledge, which is the affirmation of Godâs unity. It is the confession that there is no reality besides God which is actualised only in practice. Ideally, nothing must fill the humanâs heart other than God; this is TuhÄ«d. It is on this foundation that Islam as a religion comes to reality. The QurâÄn as the backbone and the Prophetâs Tradition or Sunnah as the flesh makes the body of the religion of Islam. SharÄ«âah or Islamic law is no more than the application of the QurâÄnâs doctrines and the prototype of tradition into different times and places. It is the law which tries to build a community according to divine wishes. In this social spirit, mysticism emerged to establish first a direct relationship between Man and God and second to maintain the inner core of faith. Historical Islam is the battlefield of these ideals and the real world.
The QurâÄn
The QurâÄn, âfrom the Arabic root âqaraâaâ (to read), or âqaranaâ (to gather or collect)â,26 is both the core and very source of Islam, and diagrammatically, the provocative element of all Islamic phenomena. As Muslims believe in Mohammad as the seal of Prophecy, the QurâÄn is also considered as âGodâs final revelation to manâ.27 âThe basic Ă©lan of the QurâÄn is moralâ,28 and its social and economical implications follow this Ă©lan.29 B...