چکیده:
The Word of Allah is the origin and principle of Islamic art par excellence.
Just as the Word descends from the unseen and unmanifest order
to the visible and material realm, so too does the art that is based
upon it descend from the ‗formless‘ sonoral level to the formal visual
plane. And just as the Word, once having entered the formal plane of
calligraphy, ‗develops‘ horizontally by becoming ever more complex,
similarly Islamic art unfolds its diverse possibilities through the
course of history and in numerous Muslim cultures. By continuously
reaffirming the presence of the One in the many and Unity in diversity,
Islamic art, through its multifarious forms, allows for all Muslims
to gain access to the spiritual journey back to the Origin from which
the Divine Word issues.
خلاصه ماشینی:
In seeking to understand the relation between the Divine Word (kalimat AllÁh), which for Muslims is of course the revealed text of the Noble QurÞÁn, and Islamic art, it is important to turn our attention to an important reality which concerns the outward manifestation of the Islamic revelation.
Gradually, calligraphy, and also in many cases colour, make their appearance in the mihrÁb, which is like the heart of the sacred space of the mosque and into which the Divine Word is uttered during the canonical prayers, symbolizing the process whereby the QurÞÁn descended into the heart and the mind of the Blessed Prophet.
The depiction of the Word of God in the form of beautiful calligraphy at a later stage of Islamic history is therefore in accordance with the metaphysical laws of manifestation which require the process of externalization to proceed from the invisible to the visible, from the formless to the formed and in this case from the audible to the visible and, on another plane, from the colourless, symbolized by white, to colours.
Of course the external form of the QurÞÁn as written word led to calligraphy becoming a central sacred art of Islam while its content provided for the Divine Law and social conditions within which Islamic art was created.
Islamic art had made use of the void in its architecture, calligraphy, traditional designs and even objects of everyday life as well as on the highest level in the psalmody of the sonoral revelation of the QurÞÁn.