In Search of the Divine through Sacred Art

In a Qur’ānic parable, Moses asks to see his Lord directly. Though denied such a vision, he is instructed to gaze upon a mountain. The Lord then reveals Himself through manifestation, causing the mountain to crumble and Moses to fall in a swoon of bewilderment (Qur’ān, 7:[143]). At this juncture, the Qur’ān instructs the faithful that there are signs found buried in creation through which one can develop a deeper understanding of the Divine. The first stage of coming to know God, says the Qur’ān, is seeing these signs in creation.

A sahih hadit contains the phrase: “Indeed, God is beautiful and loves beauty” (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Īmān, I, 60-61). Implied in these words are divine subtleties which have come to symbolize a marriage between the Sacred and its manifestation in the world of forms. God expresses His love for beauty through creation; thus, the Qur’ān describes the physical world as a collection of signs (āyāt) pointing to the Divine Architect. Names such as al-Muṣawwir (المصور), which describe God as the Designer-Architect, or al-Jamāl (الجمال), which means “the Beautiful,” are among the 99Names of God invoked by Muslims. For God’s design to be appreciated or his beauty understood, there must also be a manifest medium through which He is known.

In a Qur’ānic parable, Moses asks to see his Lord directly. Though denied such a vision, he is instructed to gaze upon a mountain. The Lord then reveals Himself through manifestation, causing the mountain to crumble and Moses to fall in a swoon of bewilderment (Qur’ān, 7:143). At this juncture, the Qur’ān instructs the faithful that there are signs found buried in creation through which one can develop a deeper understanding of the Divine. The first stage of coming to know God, says the Qur’ān, is seeing these signs in creation: “We will show you Our signs on the horizons” (ibid. 41:53), meaning the world of expression.

So important is Sacred expression in knowing God that for many Islamic thinkers, such as al-Fārābī (d. 951), the natural world, art, music, and symbolism became just as important as the study of theology. It is quite clear that Islamic art and music played a central role in unveiling the Absolute. Whereas the intellectual sciences were a form of acquired knowledge, the path of beauty that art came to represent was a form of knowledge by presence, illuminating the heart of the seeker; it was deemed the presence of the Divine in the Sacred.

The most important visual example of this idea is that of the Ka‘bah(الكعبة), towards which Muslim canonical prayers are directed. No more than a cube, the Ka’bah belongs to what has been termed “proto-art,” its spiritual significance corresponding to the inner dimension of Islamic revelation [T. Burckhardt, Art of Islam, (China, 2009), 1-4.].

The Ka‘bah is often referred to as the ”house of God” (bayt Allāh), signifying that God dwells in the innermost part of man. Similar to the Holy of Holies, which is at the heart of the Temple, the Ka‘bah is positioned in what is referred to as the Holy Sanctuary; inside the Ka‘bah there is a covering called the ”Curtain of Mercy.” The vesture (kiswah) that traditionally cloaks the Ka‘bah suggests its similarity to a living body – a concept foreign to the Greco-Roman world, but found in Semitic tradition. Of importance, too, is the black stone placed inside the Ka’bah’s wall. Whilst having been described as coming from the heavens, it is not at the center of the structure but rather in its corner, signaling the stone’s Sacredness but negating any claim of Divinity.

To prevent idolatry, Islamic art, architecture, and calligraphy are devoid of sculptures or pictures of nature or people. All of Islam’s artistic expressions, from sacred geometry to woven carpets, are designed to hold deep symbolism and to highlight monotheism by showing unity in multiplicity. This is akin to how the Divine names in all their diversity are unified in the name “Allāh.”

It is quite clear that Islamic art and music played a central role in unveiling the Absolute. Whereas the intellectual sciences were a form of acquired knowledge, the path of beauty that art came to represent was a form of knowledge by presence, illuminating the heart of the seeker; it was deemed the presence of the Divine in the Sacred.

An equally important symbol is that of the Qur’ān, or the Logos in book form. Beauty that one experiences in nature and, specifically, in the realm of art can be seen as a physical manifestation of the Qur’ān in the world of form. For Muslims, the Qur’ān represents the  abstract Word of God, yet every detail, from the book’s calligraphy to its melodious chanting, is symbolic of the beauty of God in creation. These art forms are a means of coming to know God through the senses – knowledge that ultimately manifests in the heart, and eventually in the soul of a person.

As Islamic art is an outward expression of an inward reality, a diversity of Sacred art developed in the medieval period, including Qur’ānic calligraphy, Sacred architecture, and geometric patterns. The purpose of each type of artistic expression was to sanctify monotheism in one’s daily life. For instance, the beauty of Islamic dress lay in that it conformed to the primordial disposition of man and woman, representing the Divine names al-Jalāl and al-Jamāl. The garb of Islam was always priestly, representing equality and one’s personal connection to God. Furthermore, Islamic dress came to reflect what it meant to be human by embodying the prophetic nature. In other words, it reflected the names and qualities of God, but not His form.

Similarly, across the Islamic world one finds various styles of carpets and rugs, be they Persian, Afghan, or Turkish. Traditionally, the faithful would pray on their rugs, symbolizing the emergence of the celestial on the material plane of existence. They would also take their meals on the rug or simply sit on it, indicating a union between the spiritual and corporeal realms.

So important was Sacred space that even mosque ceilings, for example in the Grand Mosques of Damascus or Isfahan, exhibit to this day timeless symbols of circles and squares reflecting the eternal archetypes. The symbolism manifested in art form thus became an extremely important method of Sacred expression. We may conclude that the main purpose of such expressions was to guide the observer to the threshold of prayer and Holy Union by stimulating the senses, with a final goal of touching the heart, even if it meant bypassing the mind.

Throughout history, perennial truths have spoken to people through the language of beauty rather than abstract thought. Part of this universal language is an ability to convey divine mysteries. Thus, as abstract theology developed in the Islamic world, so did a theology of Sacred art and beauty.