We know that Islam is more than a religion. It is a way of life that integrates body, mind, and soul towards living on earth as the ambassador of the Creator of all. Life, politics, faith and religion are not separated. Even the skills one possesses are never isolated from their origin: the Divine. It is this perpetual living in the consciousness of God Almighty that a Muslim tries to achieve in his or her daily life. Islamic art is a reflection or a reminder of this consciousness.

I read Islamic Art And Spirituality  prior to visiting Granada, Spain. The book is rich and warm in regards to its explanations. It deepened my understanding of the link between the Heavens and the earth; thus helping my own work on The Garden.
The writing style Nasr adopts echoes Charles Le Gai Eaton’s chapter on ‘”Art, Environment and Mysticism’ Mysticism” in the best-selling Islam And The Destiny Of Man. Those who enjoy this particular form of writing will enjoy reading this book.

One should also include Titus Burckhardt and Martin Lings in such a discourse; for the work of these two individuals is cited in various places throughout Nasr’s analysis of Islamic art and its spiritual significance.

One should not expect to read about the history or descriptions of Islamic art in this book as in many other art books. Nasr deliberately avoids this and instead goes further than the surface or the apparent. He explores art and architecture (including calligraphy), literature (including Rumi, and Attars’ work), music, and the plastic arts (namely Persian miniatures). The book also includes many monochrome and colourfulcolorful plates which add an element of visual excitement for readers.

Click on the images
to view gallery.

The symbolic meanings he deduces from Islamic art leave the reader desiring to learn more of the artists and the source of their inspirations. For it is fair to state that Nasr attempts at showing the reader what is going on in the mind of the artist, though this is done in an extremely subtle manner.

Nasr thus defines Islamic art saying that “without the two foundations and sources of the Qur’an and the Prophetic barakah there would be no Islamic art.” He continues to talk about a ‘”vision’ vision” that has been made ‘”available’ available” to those who have created objects of Islamic art and how its message is to “provide a climate of peace and equilibrium for society as a whole.”

Whilst discussing architecture, Nasr relates how the earth has been sanctified as a place of worship owing to the fact that this is an extension of the prostrating of the Prophet  in the Heavens. He relates this further to how the house of the Prophet in Medina became the first mosque for congregational prayer.

“The carpet, whether of simple white color or full of geometric and arabesque patterns and ornaments, reflects Heaven and enables the traditional Muslim who spends most of his time at home on the carpet to experience the ground upon which he sits as purified and participating in the sacred character of the ground of the mosque upon which he prays.”

In his discussion of calligraphy, Nasr includes an interesting discourse on the conversation between the Pen and the Inkpot - Nun and Qalam. Here he mentions how the art of calligraphy is attributed to Hazrat Ali. He continues the discussion on calligraphy by saying how it stands to ‘”illuminate” the Qur’an.

Islamic Art And Spirituality is not the simplest read and one must allow time to reflect, ponder or merely digest what Nasr is saying. Thus it requires dedication and patience to understand. It fails to be a ‘”reference point” for those attempting to use it as reference material. End notes are used extensively throughout the book and make reading or grasping of material difficult at times. Finally, Nasr’s greatest failure is that his examples are almost always Persian which means that there are elements of bias in this work. However, this book has been a boon for me, as a practitioner of Islamic art, in helping understand the meaning of art.