FORMATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF ART AND CULTURE IN THE MUSLIM EAST
Abstract
The article analyzes, from historical and cultural perspectives, the attitudes formed in the early period of Islam toward architecture, visual arts, and music. It highlights the rapid development of architecture in the formative centuries of Islam, demonstrating how Islamic aesthetics gradually emerged through architectural solutions in mosques, madrasas, and social structures. At the same time, a cautious yet neutral approach toward visual arts is observed – the fact that no harm was done to the statues and the Sphinx in Egypt vividly reflects this stance. Restrictions on depicting living beings are explained in connection with the moral and spiritual upbringing of tribes that had not yet completely freed themselves from the influence of idolatry. The article also discusses how attitudes toward music were shaped during the same period and how its role within the spiritual and religious context was variously interpreted. Thus, the paper scientifically explores the early formation of religious and ethical perspectives on the different forms of art — architecture, visual art, and music within Islamic civilization.
References
1. al-Bukhari, Muhammad ibn Ismail. Sahih al-Bukhari. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 2007.
2. Blair, S. S.; Bloom, J. M. The Art and Architecture of Islam: 1250–1800. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1994. – 648 p.
3. Bloom, J. M.; Blair, S. S. Islamic Arts. London: Phaidon Press, 2003. – 412 p.
4. Demystifying Arab Views of Ancient Egypt. Arab World Studies Journal, 2021. Vol. 18, No. 3. P. 45–57.
5. Ettinghausen, R.; Grabar, O.; Jenkins-Madina, M. Islamic Art and Architecture: 650–1250. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2001. – 448 p.
6. Ettinghausen, R.; Grabar, O.; Jenkins-Madina, M. Islamic Art and Architecture: 650–1250. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2001. – 448 p.
7. Golombek, L.; Subtelny, M. Timurid Art and Culture: Iran and Central Asia in the Fifteenth Century. Leiden; New York: Brill, 2007. – 375 p.
8. Grabar, O. The Formation of Islamic Art. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1987. – 256 p.
9. Hillenbrand, R. Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995. – 624 p.
10. Ibn al-Kalbī, Hishām ibn Muhammad. Kitāb al-Asnām / Ed. by Ahmad Zaki Pasha; Trans. by Nabih A. Faris. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952. – 88 p.
11. Islam’s Prohibition of Drawing Images and Erecting Statues. The Religion of Islam Portal, 2019. URL: https://www.islamreligion.com/ (accessed: 08.10.2025).
12. Jarrar, S.; Riedlmayer, A.; Spurr, S. The Architecture of the Islamic World: Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thames & Hudson, 1994. – 288 p.
13. Muslim, Ibn al-Hajjaj. Sahih Muslim. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1994.
14. Spahic, O. The Islamic Prohibition of Statues and Images: An Analysis of the Underlying Wisdom. Kuala Lumpur: IIUM Press, 2019. – 15 p.
15. The Muslim Artist’s Conflict: Figurative Prohibition in Islam. The Art and Faith Review, 2021. Vol. 7, No. 2. P. 15–23. URL: https://www.artandfaithreview.org/ (accessed: 08.10.2025).
16. The Religious Prohibition Against Images. In: The Islamic Awareness Series. [S.l.]: Islamic Awareness, n.d. URL: https://www.islamic-awareness.org/ (accessed: 08.10.2025).
17. al-Qaradawi, Yusuf. The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam (al-Halal wal-Haram fi al-Islam). Indianapolis: American Trust Publications, 1997. – 358 p.
18. Yusuf Khattar Muhammad. Sufi Encyclopedia. Kazan: Iman, 2004. – p. 83.
19. Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari. Al-Jami‘ as-Sahih. 1 vol., Two Eid Books. Tashkent, 1991. – p. 259.
20. Hanafi, Abdulmunim. Encyclopedia as-Sufiyya [Encyclopedia of Sufism]. Cairo: Dar an-Nahda al-Arabiya, 2006. – p. 1038.
