Islamic Art

Islamic art is the broad body of art coming from the world's many Muslim cultures. Given that the religion of Islam has been around for over 1400 years and is practiced all over the world, Islamic art covers a diverse range of styles. Despite wide variations in form, some concrete things can be said about Islamic art as a whole. Perhaps the most unique trait of Muslim art is its rejection of images featuring human figures. This principle, which comes from Islamic teachings, is a manifestation of aniconism, the belief that human beings should not be reproduced in art. As such, Islamic art is very often non-representational, meaning it depicts abstract forms rather than recognizable figures or objects. Stemming from this foundational restriction, Islamic artists have come up with countless creative ways over the centuries to conceive and create art in every medium which adheres to Islamic religious doctrine or is otherwise closely bound to Muslim culture. Islamic art is a modern concept created by art historians in the 19th century to facilitate categorization and study of the material first produced under the Islamic peoples that emerged from Arabia in the seventh century. Today, the term Islamic art describes all of the arts that were produced in the lands where Islam was the dominant religion or the religion of those who ruled. Unlike the terms Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist art—which refer only to religious art of these faiths—the term Islamic art is not used merely to describe religious art or architecture but applies to all art forms produced in the Islamic world.