Theoretical contradiction between the prohibition of portraying holy religious figures and the artistic representation in the Islamic miniatures
Abd El-Raoof, R. (2022). Theoretical contradiction between the prohibition of portraying holy religious figures and the artistic representation in the Islamic miniatures. EKB Journal Management System, 12(2), 31-51. doi: 10.12816/idj.2022.222500
Reem Wagdy Moustafa Kamel Abd El-Raoof. "Theoretical contradiction between the prohibition of portraying holy religious figures and the artistic representation in the Islamic miniatures". EKB Journal Management System, 12, 2, 2022, 31-51. doi: 10.12816/idj.2022.222500
Abd El-Raoof, R. (2022). 'Theoretical contradiction between the prohibition of portraying holy religious figures and the artistic representation in the Islamic miniatures', EKB Journal Management System, 12(2), pp. 31-51. doi: 10.12816/idj.2022.222500
Abd El-Raoof, R. Theoretical contradiction between the prohibition of portraying holy religious figures and the artistic representation in the Islamic miniatures. EKB Journal Management System, 2022; 12(2): 31-51. doi: 10.12816/idj.2022.222500

Theoretical contradiction between the prohibition of portraying holy religious figures and the artistic representation in the Islamic miniatures

International Design Journal
Article 3, Volume 12, Issue 2 - Serial Number 44, March and April 2022, Page 31-51  XML PDF (2.57 MB)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.12816/idj.2022.222500
View on SCiNiTO View on SCiNiTO
Author
Reem Wagdy Moustafa Kamel Abd El-Raooforcid
Associate Professor., Department of Printed Designs, Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt,
Abstract
The issue of prohibiting the portrayal of holy religious figures is a thorny subject due to the conflicting opinions and ideas concerning it. Miniature art embodies a natural human order, while holy religious figures embody an unnatural phenomenon, which cannot descend to the level of human standards. Hence, the research problem was identified in the study of the theoretical contradiction problem between the prohibition of portraying holy religious figures and what was actually accomplished in the Islamic miniatures. The research objective was to discuss the real motives behind the portrayal of the holy religious figures as a social reality in the Islamic miniatures, despite the religious prohibition of figurative representation in general, the apostles, the Prophets, their families, their companions, and the angels in particular. The importance of the research lies in revealing the reasons for the continuation of the attitude of most Muslim scholars concerning the figurative representation and the holy religious figures imaging prohibition during the Islamic times, which affected the current era. The researcher used the historical descriptive, analytical deductive, and questionnaire method in studying this phenomenon.  Furthermore, the study concluded that the attitude of the artist of Islamic miniatures in terms of the portrayal of the holy religious figures has not been constant throughout the ages. This was governed by a set of political, social, cultural, and ideological factors.
Keywords
Islamic Miniatures; Holy Religious Figures; Portraying Prohibition; Theoretical Contradiction; Artistic Achievement
References
  1. Abdū, Khalīd Muḥammad. 2019. "Al-taṣaūf al-farsī wa-trgamātūh al-arabīah"  www.alfalq.com/?p=7884 [In Arabic].
  2. al-ʾAlfī, Abū Ṣālīḥ. 1998.  Al-Fann al-Islāmī: Uṣūlūh, Falsafatūh, Madārisūh. Lebanon: Dār al-Maʿārīf.  [In Arabic]
  3. Alī, Wijdān. 2001. "From the Literal to the Spiritual: The Development of the Prophet
  4. Muḥammad’s Portrayal from 13th Century Ilkhanid Miniatures to 17th Century Ottoman Art." EJOS, IV. Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Turkish Art. edited by M. Kiel, N. Landman, H. Theunissen,
  5. Utrecht-The Netherlands: August 23-28.1999, no.7: 1-24.
  6. al-Kaḥlāwī, Muḥammad, 2010. Al-Fann al-Islāmī: al-Mafhūm wa-l-Nashʾah wa-l-Gamālīāt. 1st ed. Tunis: Karīm al-Sharīf Publications. [In Arabic]
  7. al-Khafājī, ʿArīf Waḥīd, and Ῑmān Khaẓʿal ʿAbbās. 2018. Al-Manẓūmah al-Qīmīah fi al-Fann al- Islāmī. 1st ed. Amman: Dār al-Radwān for Publishing and Distribution. [In Arabic]
  8. al-Ṣabbāgh, Ramadān. 2003. Al-Fann wa-l-Dīn, 1st ed. Alexandria: Dār al-Wafāʾ Printing and Publishing.
  9. al-Ẓahī, Farīd. 1999. Al-Jasad, wa-l-Ṣūrā, wa-l-Mūqadas fi al-Islām. Morocco, Lebanon: Africa East. [In Arabic]
  10. Arnold, T.W. 1965. Painting in Islam, New York, USA: Dover Publications.
  11. Bloom, J., and S. Blair. 1997. Islamic Arts. Hong Kong, London: Phaidon Press Limited.
  12. Britannica.com. 2019. "Isrāfīl: Islamic Mythology." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 
  13. http://www.britannica.com/topic/Israfil.
  14. Cartwright-Jones, Catherine. 2016. "Ancient Sunrise®Henna for Hair, The History of Henna Hair Dye, Evidence of early cultural henna use in the Arabian Peninsula and along the Arabian Ocean." tapdancinglizard.com/AS_henna_for_hair/chapters/chap2/Arabian_ArabianOcean.pdf,TapDancing Lizard®LLC.
  15. (CBL) Chester Beatty Library. Accessed 23 September 2021. https://cbl01.intranda.com/viewer/image/Per_231_227/1/LOG_0000/
  16. Elassal, I. M. I. 2003. "The Veiled Faces of Prophets in the Islamic Miniatures-Application on Illustrated Manuscripts of XVI Century in Konya Mawlānā Museum". Vol.1. Issue 1 of Journal of the General Union of Arab Archaeologists.
  17. Ettinghausen, R. 1962. Arab Painting, Treasures of Asia, Skira, USA: Editionsd’Art Albert. 
  18. Farghalī, Abū al-Ḥammad Maḥmūd. 2000. Al-Taṣwīr al-Islāmī: Nashʾatūh wa-Mawqif al-Islām minhū wa-Uṣūlūh wa-Falsafatūh, 2nd ed. Cairo: The Egyptian Lebanese Dār.
  19. Feminae Medieval Women and Gender Index, 2014, http://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/DetailsPage.aspx?Feminae_ID=31303).
  20. FGA (Freer Gallery of Art). Arthur M. Sackler Gallery & the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. 2021. Accessed 25 September 2021. https://asia.si.edu/object/F1954.51/.
  21. Grabar, O. (1973) 1987. The Formation of Islamic Art. Reprint, New Haven & London: Yale University press.
  22. Gruber, C. 2009. "Representations of the Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Painting." Vol. 2 of Muqarnas an Annual on the Visual Cultures of Islamic World, edited by
  23. G. Necipoğlu, and K. A. Leal, 229-262. Leiden. Boston: Brill.
  24. Gruber, C. 2012. Questioning the 'Classical' in Persian Painting: Models and Problems of Definition. The Journal of Art Historiography. Corpus ID: 54974191. p.18. https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/gruber.pdf.
  25. Gruber, C. 2017. "What would a Muslim want with a portrait of Christ." www.newsweek.com/what-would-muslim-want-portrait-christ-758008, 23/12/2017.
  26. Haberler.com. 2020. "What is Israfel?. " https://www.haberler.com/israfil-nedir-sur-nedir-sura-ufleme-nedir-13121212-haberi/.
  27. ʿῙsā, Ᾱhmad Muḥammad. 1996. Al-Taṣawīr fī al-Islām bīn al-Taḥrīm wa-l-karāhīa. Istanbul: The Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture.
  28. Kamāl, Muḥammad. 2003. "Mu'tazilah: The Rise of Islamic Rationalism." Australian Rationalist, no. 62 (autumn): 27-34. URL: http://hdi.handle.net/11343/34082.
  29. Mahdī, Muḥsīn S., Faẓlur Raḥmān, and A. Schimmel. 2019. "Islam Religion." Encyclopaedia Britannica,   http://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam/Doctrines-of-the-Qur-an
  30. MIA (Mohammed Image Archive). 2019. "Islamic Depictions of Mohammed with Face Hidden". Mohammed Image Archive. Accessed 27 June 2019. http://web.elastic.org/~fche/mirrors/zombietime.com/mohammed_image archive/islamic_mo_face_hidden/index.html.
  31. MIA (Mohammed Image Archive). 2019. "Islamic Depictions of Mohammed in Full", Mohammed Image Archive. Accessed 27 June 2019. http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/islamic_mo_full.
  32. MMA (Metropolitan Museum of Art).2002-2021. US: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/454625?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=Islamic+miniatures&offset=120&rpp=20&pos=125.
  33. Muḥammad, Suʿād Māhīr. 2009. Al-Fnūn al-Islāmīah. 2nd ed. Giza: Library of Fine Arts. Halā Publishing and Distribution.
  34. Lewis, B. 1976-80. The World of Islam, Faith. People. Culture. London: Thames and Hudson.
  35. Lūʿaybī, Shākir. 2001. Al-Fann al-Islāmī wa-l-Masīḥīa al-ʿArabīah. 1st ed. Beirut-Lebanon: Riad El-Rayyes Books S.A.R.I.
  36. Okasha, S.1981. The Muslim Painter and the Divine, London: Park Lane Press.
  37. Papadopoulo, A., and R. E. Wolf. 1979. Islamic and Muslim Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishers.
  38. PX (Pixels. Com). 2019. Eastern Accents Art, USA, pixels.com/profiles/eastern-accents.html?tab=artwork&page=2.
  39. Renda, G. 1978. "The Miniatures of the Zubdat Al-Tawarikh." Turkish Cultural Foundation. Accessed 5/16/2019.  http://www.turkishculture.org/fine-art/visual-arts/miniatures/miniatures-16th century/zubdat-altawarikh-728.htm.
  40. TDC (The David Collection). 2014. Miniature Painting. DK: http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/materials/miniatures/art/14-2014.
  41. UMMA (Universty of Michigan Museum of Art). 2020. "Sikandar Builds a Barrier Against Yajuj and Majuj, from the Shahnama of Firdausi." http://www.quod.lib.umich.edu./m/musart/x-1963-sl- 1.66/1963_1.66_jpg.
  42. Webster. R. 2009. Encyclopedia of Angels. Woodbury. Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications.
  43. Wellfleet Press. 1985. Treasures of Islam. Musée d’art et d’histoire, Stuart Cary Welch, Philip Wilson Publishers, Geneva. Singapore: Wellfleet press.
Statistics
Article View: 284
PDF Download: 308