Artistic culture of the Muslim East. Pray to the Creator; He is powerful, He rules the wind, and on a hot day He sends clouds to the sky; Gives the earth tree shade. He is merciful; He opened the shining Koran to Mohammed, May we also flow to the light. And let the fog fall from your eyes. A.S. Pushkin.
Muslim East. In the 6th century AD The Arabian Peninsula was considered the "end of the world." Most of the population of the village were Bedouin tribes who called themselves Arabs, which meant “dashing riders.” Only in Yemen did the culture exist that created a large number of trading cities. In the 6th century AD The Arabian Peninsula was considered the "end of the world." Most of the population of the village were Bedouin tribes who called themselves Arabs, which meant “dashing riders.” Only Yemen had a culture that created a large number of trading cities.
Islam. Its origin and role in the formation of Arab culture. Translated from Arabic it means “submission, devotion.” It arose at the beginning of the 7th century AD. Translated from Arabic it means “submission, devotion.” It arose at the beginning of the 7th century AD. The followers of Islam were called “Muslims” (“submissive to God”), hence the name “Muslims” (“those who have surrendered themselves to Allah”). The followers of Islam were called “Muslims” (“submissive to God”), hence the name “Muslims” (“those who have surrendered themselves to Allah”). The founder is a real person - Muhammad (g.g.). The founder is a real person - Muhammad (g.g.). In 610, the prophet first preached in Mecca; in 622, he and his followers moved to Yathrib, which would be called Medina, the city of the prophet. In 610, the prophet first preached in Mecca; in 622, he and his followers moved to Yathrib, which would be called Medina, the city of the prophet. Muslim chronicles begin from this year. Muslim chronicles begin from this year.
Arab Caliphate. The first leader is Muhammad. The first leader is Muhammad. The territory included Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, part of Transcaucasia, Central Asia, northern Africa, and Spain. The territory included Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, part of Transcaucasia, Central Asia, northern Africa, and Spain. Arabic has become the language of international communication, a powerful factor uniting all Arab countries. Arabic has become the language of international communication, a powerful factor uniting all Arab countries. In the 10th century AD broke up into separate independent parts - emirates, but Arab culture remained united thanks to Islam. In the 10th century AD broke up into separate independent parts - emirates, but Arab culture remained united thanks to Islam.
Qur'an ("reading"). Muhammad was revered as the last prophet of humanity, who brought the words of Allah to people. His speeches were recorded by his disciples and collected in the Koran. All written sayings in which talking face is not Muhammad, but Allah, are called revelations, while all others are traditions. Muhammad was revered as the last prophet of humanity, who brought the words of Allah to people. His speeches were recorded by his disciples and collected in the Koran. All written sayings in which the speaker is not Muhammad, but Allah, are called revelations, all others are called traditions. The entire Koran was collected after the death of Muhammad. The entire Koran was collected after the death of Muhammad. The second source of Muslim doctrine is the Sunnah, sacred tradition, examples from the life of Muhammad. The second source of Muslim doctrine is the Sunnah, sacred tradition, examples from the life of Muhammad.
General provisions of the Koran Muslims believe in one God - Allah. Muslims believe in one God - Allah. The last and main prophet is Muhammad. The last and main prophet is Muhammad. After a person’s death, God’s judgment awaits him, and then his fate will depend on what deeds he did during his lifetime. After a person’s death, God’s judgment awaits him, and then his fate will depend on what deeds he did during his lifetime. Muslims believe in heaven and hell, but they believe that the fate of man, as well as everything that happens in the world - good and evil - is predetermined by the Almighty. Muslims believe in heaven and hell, but they believe that the fate of man, as well as everything that happens in the world - good and evil - is predetermined by the Almighty. The basis of the Koran is the commandments, sermons, ritual and legal institutions, prayers, edifying stories and parables of Muhammad. The basis of the Koran is the commandments, sermons, ritual and legal institutions, prayers, edifying stories and parables of Muhammad.
Practical ritual commandments of Islam. Mandatory five times daily prayer - namaz, ablution before prayer and in some other cases, annual fasting, which is required to be performed from sunrise to sunset, pilgrimage to Mecca - hajj, at least once in a lifetime. Mandatory five times daily prayer - namaz, ablution before prayer and in some other cases, annual fasting, which is required to be performed from sunrise to sunset, pilgrimage to Mecca - hajj, at least once in a lifetime.
What currents have emerged in Islam? There are three main directions into which Islam split in ancient times: Sunnism, Shiism and Kharijism. There are three main directions into which Islam split in ancient times: Sunnism, Shiism and Kharijism. Sunnis (from Arabic: “people of tradition”) - advocate the power of the caliph, who must belong to the Quraish family, be a theologian of the highest rank, fair and wise. Shiites believe that state and religious power is of a divine nature and can only belong to the heirs of Muhammad. The recognized form of government is the imamate, the imam is the secular and spiritual head of the community. Kharijites believe that any devout Muslim can be elected head of a religious community.
The Omar Mosque was built in the years during the reign of the caliphs from the Umayya clan. The huge building, topped with a golden dome, is located in the Old City, where the grand temple of King Solomon, destroyed by the Romans, once stood, and where Jesus Christ delivered his sermons. The huge building, topped with a golden dome, is located in the Old City, where the grand temple of King Solomon, destroyed by the Romans, once stood, and where Jesus Christ delivered his sermons.
Calligraphic inscriptions became one of the forms of ornament. Calligraphic inscriptions on the walls of mosques are the only decoration; the word and letter of the Koran are the only approach to God. Allah cannot be seen or touched; the power of influence is in the sacred word. Hence the ban on depicting the visible world and living beings in religious art. Calligraphic inscriptions on the walls of mosques are the only decoration; the word and letter of the Koran are the only approach to God. Allah cannot be seen or touched; the power of influence is in the sacred word. Hence the ban on depicting the visible world and living beings in religious art.
Moorish style. Cathedral Mosque in Cordoba. Cathedral Mosque in Cordoba. Its peculiarity is 850 columns made of pink and blue marble, jasper, granite, porphyry, stretching in 19 rows from north to south and 36 rows from east to west. The colonnade was illuminated by hundreds of silver lamps. Islam as a world religion, in order to strengthen its influence, uses the values of artistic culture, i.e. means of aesthetic influence on believers. At the same time, artists are placed within fairly strict boundaries. On the one hand, they must use the means available to them to glorify Allah and the institutions of Islam, on the other hand, these means, i.e. forms and content creative activity
, should not go beyond the requirements of Muslim dogmas. In area visual arts Muslim orthodoxies (from the Greek - straight, correct) prohibit realistic creativity. For the only creator of all things is Allah, and to compete with Him is a sin. This prohibition is also intended to avoid idolatry, i.e. manifestations of polytheism. Therefore, Muslim artists usually depict either stylized (conventional, not existing in nature) objects, or abstract paintings
One of these types of fine art is the arabesque - a unique ornament that includes compositions of interweaving stylized vegetation, geometric shapes and elements of the art of calligraphy (elegant inscriptions in Arabic script). But arabesque is not only an art, but also a science. The drawing of the ornaments was based on complex mathematical calculations. With the help of arabesques, entire panels are created on the walls of mosques and palaces.
At the same time, the realistic direction in painting was not completely lost in Arabic-speaking countries. This primarily applies to countries where the Shiite branch of Islam has established itself.
Realistic drawings became widespread in book miniatures. Many museums around the world house Arabic books from the 10th to 13th centuries. with colorful illustrations of everyday scenes, landscapes, with portraits of epic heroes, in particular Iskander - as Alexander the Great was called in the East. Particularly impressive are the visual motifs of works of decorative and applied art - on fabrics, ceramics, metal vessels and utensils. In this area of art, the greatest manifestations are national characteristics
Arabic-speaking countries, because the traditions of making and decorating such items developed long before the Arab expansion.
Thus, the decorative and applied art of the medieval Arab East did not always agree with the tenets of Islamic dogma, but corresponded to the centuries-old traditions of the various peoples of the caliphate and confirmed the fact that not all art here was subordinated to religious principles.
In the field of architecture, Islam also developed a system of aesthetic categories designed to emphasize the greatness of this religion. These are concepts-symbols: jamal - divinely perfect beauty, which is personified by the dome of the mosque; jalal - divine grandeur, which is emphasized by the height of the minaret; Sifat is a divine name expressed in the beauty of Arabic writing and calligraphy on the outer walls of the mosque.
The mosque (from Arabic “mastjid” - place of worship) as the main religious building has been erected since the 7th–8th centuries. in imitation of Christian churches. It has a rectangular courtyard surrounded by galleries, a rectangular main building with a spherical dome and a multi-columned prayer hall. The mosques are not distinguished by rich stucco decoration; their decorations are flat in nature. But Arab masters achieved great perfection in the design of wall surfaces. They used carved multi-colored bricks and glazed terracotta facing slabs. A majestic and also richly decorated minaret (from the Arabic “manara” - lighthouse), which has the shape of a round, square or polygonal tower in cross-section, is being erected next to the mosque.
The construction of a mosque with a dome tens of meters in diameter and a minaret as tall as a modern high-rise building required very complex mathematical calculations, taking into account the seismicity of the region, wind force, soil density, and the high skill of the builders. And the Arabs achieved great perfection in this. If in the 7th–8th centuries. While mosques were built primarily by Byzantine masters, later Arabs were often invited to build Christian churches in Byzantium.
One of the main shrines of Muslims is the Qubbat al-Sakhra (Dome of the Rock) mosque in Jerusalem.
During its construction, a type of centric-domed mausoleum was used. This is a huge octahedron topped with a dome. In other parts of the caliphate, slightly different architectural principles developed during the construction of mosques. In Persia, the courtyard dominated, with a relatively small covered part.
Maghreb mosques are characterized by an abundance of longitudinal and transverse naves (spaces between columns), located not only in the prayer hall, but also on the sides of the courtyard. The largest minarets were also built here. The minaret of the mosque in Marrakesh (Morocco), built at the end of the 12th century, has a height of 70 m with a base of 12.5 x 12.5 m.
Along with religious buildings, the Arabs built numerous buildings for secular purposes. The palaces of the Arab nobility were particularly splendid. Their windows were decorated with alabaster bars and colored glass; the brickwork of the walls and floors was a mosaic pattern.
Arabic-language poetry flourished in the 9th–11th centuries. At this time, a genre of short lyrical verse was emerging - ghazal, which was created by outstanding wordsmiths of different nations: Abu Nuwas (d. 810) - singer of love, wine and the joy of life; Abu-l-Atahiya (d. 828) – a potter by profession, author of religious and ascetic poems, who denounced the licentiousness of the court of the caliphs in Baghdad; Abu-l-Ala ol Ma'ari (d. 1057) was a blind poet from Syria whose Epistle and Forgiveness influenced Dante's Divine Comedy. The author of numerous rubai - aphoristic quatrains was the classic of Persian-Tajik poetry, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Omar Khayyam (1048-1123).
The basis of his creations was the glorification of worldly pleasures, which clearly did not correspond to the dogmatic principles of Islam:
Give up wine? Yes it doesn't matter
Why give your life! How will you compensate for the wine?
Can I become a follower of Islam?
When is the highest of blessings forbidden to them?
In Spain, thanks to the work of Ibn Kuzman (1080-1160), a unique genre of strophic poetry arose - zajal (melody), which influenced the formation of early Provençal lyrics and the poetry of vagantes (wandering students). Among prose works
The genre of satire is developing, containing attacks against individual rulers and the rich, but not affecting the social system as a whole. This direction should include the maqama (story, short story), which arose in the 12th century. based on urban folklore. It glorifies the type of trickster hero, who combines high education and intelligence with cynicism and trickery. This peculiar prototype of O. Bender was further developed in the short stories of the Italian Renaissance. It is impossible to imagine Arabic literature without the tales of “1001 Nights”. This cycle finally took shape in the 12th century. based on the folklore of many peoples of the caliphate - Egyptian, Iranian, Arab fairy tales and legends.
During the late Middle Ages, a third Muslim literature emerged - Turkish. Thus, national traditions in the field of literature, developed on a common Muslim basis, have yielded brilliant results.
Distinctive feature medieval Arab culture saw a significant development of the exact sciences and philosophy. At this time, scientists from Arabic-speaking countries were significantly superior to their European contemporaries.
Giving a general assessment of the state of Arab science in the Middle Ages, F. Engels wrote: “The Arabs gave decimal calculus, the beginnings of algebra, the modern number system and alchemy. The Christian Middle Ages left nothing." The Arabs, like the Byzantines, diligently studied and translated into their language the works of Greek classics, scientists of India and other countries. Aristotle, Hippocrates, Euclid, Ptolemy were well known to Arab scholars, and Europeans first became acquainted with these authors through translations into Latin from Arabic. In the capitals of different caliphates - Baghdad, Cordoba, Cairo - there were
higher schools
In medicine, the Arabs not only mastered the experience of ancient physicians, but also made significant progress. They used vivisection in their work (an operation on a living animal to study the functions of the body), carefully studied anatomy, the properties of various medications and the characteristics of the course of diseases. Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037), a Tajik by nationality, enjoyed great fame not only in the East, but also in Europe. His main work, “The Canon of Medical Science,” was a reference book for doctors in Europe until the 16th century. Ibn Sina, in particular, suggested that some diseases are transmitted by invisible “smallest animals,” which anticipated the teaching of L. Pasteur on the role of microbes as causative agents of infectious diseases by eight centuries.
The medieval mathematician Al-Khwarizmi (787–c. 850) became famous for his writings on algebra (this word is Arabic). He used algebraic calculations to solve practical matters: land measurements, inheritance divisions, trade transactions.
At the same time, he improved methods for calculating surface areas and volumes of bodies, solving equations of the first and second degrees. The name Al-Khorezmi entered mathematics to designate a system of calculations performed according to strictly defined rules - an algorithm. Al-Khorezmi, at the direction of the enlightened caliph al-Mamun, calculated the size of the Earth, which they recognized as a spherical body.
The achievements of Arab philosophers are generally recognized. There were practically no atheists among them, but the difference in points of view on the problems of the universe and the depth of justification for their views is striking.
In the 8th century, when Islamic theology was just emerging, the Qadarite movement arose, which questioned the dogma of the fatal predetermination of a person’s fate, and therefore his passivity. Based on the rationalism of Greek philosophers, the Qadarites defended the idea of free will, i.e. a person's responsibility for his actions. The representative of this direction, Al-Kindi, recognized the role of God as the creator of nature, whose absolute wisdom is not given to man to comprehend.
These views were criticized by a supporter of Muslim idealism, Al-Ghazali (1054-1111). He believed that natural phenomena and human consciousness cannot be explained by natural causes. The power of God excludes the independence and independence of the material principle.
The philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1126–1198), who lived in Spain, developing the materialism of Aristotle, defended the ideas of eternity and the uncreatedness of the world, i.e. about the development of matter independent of the will of God; position on the evolutionary development of nature. He denied the immortality of the individual soul, i.e. rejected the dogma of punishment or reward for a person after death. Based on the teachings of Ibn Rushd, the materialist direction of “Latin Averroism” arose in Europe, condemned by the Catholic Church.
The works of Arab historians, geographers, and economists made a significant contribution to the development of world science. Al-Biruni, Ibn Fadlan, Ibn Battuta not only devoted their research to the countries of the East, but also described events related to the existence of the Old Russian state.
The encyclopedist scientist from Tunisia, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1402), in his works tried to explain the history of mankind through the evolution of economic forms, i.e.
The emergence of the religion of Islam and the beginning of Arab expansion in the early Middle Ages contributed to the emergence of a new type of civilization - Arab-Muslim. Its peculiarity is its multi-ethnic composition and at the same time cultural and historical stability. That is, Islam and its religious, moral, aesthetic and legal norms have become an integral component of the life of many peoples of the planet, a regulator of the behavior of hundreds of millions of people of different races and languages.
The liquidation of the Arab Caliphate as a single state led to the loss of decisive influence by the Arabs in the Muslim world. However, the new conquerors (Turks, Mongol-Tatars) themselves adopted the values of Islam and contributed to its spread throughout the world. As a result of Turkish expansion, Islam was spread among some peoples of Eastern Europe: Albanians, Bulgarians, Bosnians, Greeks. Currently, the Arab population predominates in Western Asia and North Africa and amounts to about 140 million people.
The number of followers of the religion of Islam is about 800 million people. In the CIS, Islam is professed by a significant part of the population of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, among Russians - Ingush, Tatars, Chechens, etc. Currently, there is a truly “Islamic boom”, which is expressed by the formula “politicization of Islam and Islamization of politics.” The reason is that capitalist relations, the associated Western way of life and the system of moral values have actively invaded the traditional social structures of Muslim countries. And this caused a corresponding “defensive reaction.” At the same time, socialism with its poverty, class intransigence and atheism turned out to be unacceptable for Muslims. Therefore, in the countries of the East, a search began for the “third way” - a universal Islamic model of social development. Another circumstance that contributed to the revival of Islam was the acquisition of ruling conservative regimes in Muslim countries (Iran, Saudi Arabia
Several types of religious consciousness (trends) have emerged in Islam, whose representatives influence the politics of Eastern countries.
Traditionalists (orthodox) advocate the preservation of pre-bourgeois Islam and its socio-economic, political and cultural institutions. Modernists (reformers) are trying to adapt Muslim dogma to global norms and values. Fundamentalists (revivalism) strive to restore specific norms and institutions of early Islam in modern life, primarily the religious community as a guarantor of equality and justice. Secularists consider Islam an obstacle to progress, therefore in public affairs they propose to rely on universal human achievements, and to treat religion only as a matter of conscience of an individual.
The existence of these contradictory theories prevents the practical implementation of the popular slogan of pan-Islamism among Muslims - the revival of a unified Islamic state (caliphate). Moreover, Muslim countries sometimes cannot coordinate efforts to solve generally significant problems, for example, to combat poverty, illiteracy, national and religious conflicts, and Israeli aggression. The establishment of an “Islamic order” in a number of countries (Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc.) is perceived ambiguously by the world community. This usually leads to a totalitarian form of government - the dominance of the religious elite and the suppression of political opposition, as well as the introduction of medieval prohibitions in culture, the cruelty of Sharia. For example, immediately after the victory of the “Islamic revolution” in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini issued decrees (1980) banning the showing of “incorrect” Western films, entertainment and music programs
, women who do not hide their faces with a veil.
Music and architecture of the Muslim East. Music according to Islamic tradition was considered as one of the forms scientific knowledge
- . Arab music theorists made a great contribution to the development of musicology. Among them is the outstanding scientist Al-Farabi, the creator of the “Great Treatise on Music”, in which the problems of acoustics, instrumentation, aesthetics and philosophy of musical art were developed.
- The musical instruments of the Arabs were very diverse. These include all kinds of percussion (drums, tambourines, timpani), and the oud, the predecessor of the European lute, and the bowed rebab.
- The peoples of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Southern Spain wrote original pages in the history of medieval Muslim culture. The art created by the masters of these countries was called Moorish. Since antiquity, North African peoples related to the Arabs were considered Moors (from the Greek “dark”). The expansion of these peoples into Southern Spain resulted in the formation of a caliphate centered in Cordoba (10th century). The Islamic state of Cordoba became one of the most powerful and prosperous medieval states in Europe with a developed culture and an educated population. The city of Cordoba was distinguished by its beauty and civilization. The houses of the nobility were distinguished by the richness and diversity of their architectural appearance. The Caliph's palace was surrounded by green gardens and strange flowers; Legends were made about the beauty of the inner chambers of the ruler’s house.
- In 785, a cathedral mosque of amazing beauty was founded in Cordoba. Its construction continued until the 10th century. The shape of the mosque corresponds to the columnar classical style. It was surrounded by a wall of large golden honey blocks. The main space of the mosque was given over to a unique prayer hall: about 850 columns, stretching in 19 rows from north to south and 36 rows from east to west, filled its space from the inside. The columns, brought from Africa, France, and Spain itself, are made of pink and blue marble, jasper, granite, and porphyry. The central dome of the mosque is decorated with a huge “flower” - an octagonal star formed at the intersection of two squares. The colonnade was illuminated by hundreds of hanging silver lamps, creating a mood of detachment from everyday bustle and tranquility.
- The last stronghold of Islamic culture on Spanish soil was the Emirate of Granada. “I am a garden that has been adorned by beauty, you will know my being if you look into my beauty” - these lines of the court poet Ibn Zumruk were preserved on the tiled panel of the Hall of the Two Sisters from the palace, part of the famous architectural ensemble of the Algrambra. Striking with the sophistication of its external appearance and the artistic perfection of its interiors, the emir’s residence resembles the scenery of magical oriental fairy tales. Its main buildings are grouped around open courtyards - Myrtle and Lion's. The buildings are dominated by the mighty ancient tower of Comares, where the throne of the Caliph was located.
Lesson plan on world artistic culture.
Teacher: Gabdrakhmanova Liliya Anasovna
Educational institution : MOBU secondary school in the village of Chuyunchi, Davlekanovsky district, Republic of Bashkortostan
Item
: World Art.
Lesson topic:
Artistic culture of the Muslim East:
the logic of abstract beauty.
Lesson type
: learning new material
Goals: to form in students a holistic understanding of historical traditions and the values of the artistic culture of the peoples of the East.
Tasks:
motivating students to further deep independent mastery of the art and culture of the Arab East;
development of abstract and imaginative thinking;
education of tolerance.
Forms of organizing children's work:
Students complete advanced tasks for the lesson:
Prepare reports on the architecture of the East.
Write down definitions of terms in your notebook.Mosque, minaret, arabesque.
Prepare messages about architecture using the resources of the Unified Digital Collection ( )
At the lesson:
students make a background note on the topic of the lesson;
participate in the analysis of works of architecture.
Forms of organizing the work of a teacher:
Teacher lecture
Accompanying the lecture with an electronic presentation
Involving students in discussing the architecture of the East
-Equipment used:
multimedia projector
computer
screen
electronic presentation on the topic “Art of the Muslim East”
Resources used from other publicly available sources:
–materials of the Federal Center for Information and Educational Resources ( )
Literature:
Encyclopedia on MHC, Moscow, 2005
Oistrakh O.G., Demidova T.L. Toolkit course: “World artistic culture”, Moscow, 2001
Rapatskaya L.A. Art of the East - M., Enlightenment: “Vlados”, 1999
Lesson form: lesson-lecture with elements of dialogue
Lesson structure:
I. Class organization
Learning new material:
Lesson topic message
Setting problem tasks and lesson goals
Teacher's lecture and listening to student messages (anticipating student messages)
II. Consolidation of the studied material.
III. Lesson summary
Introductory part:
Epigraph:
Pray to the Creator; he is powerful
he rules the wind on a hot day
sends clouds to the sky;
Gives the earth tree shade
He is merciful; He is to Mohammed
Opened the shining Koran,
May we also be drawn towards the light.
And let the fog fall from your eyes.
A.S. Pushkin.
Main part:
1. Organizational moment. (Slide 1 and 2)
2. Teacher: Guys,Today we will get acquainted with the artistic culture of the Muslim East.
The Muslim East is a huge region that united different peoples on the basis of the youngest of the world religions - Islam. On the lands of modern states - Syria and Egypt, Iran and Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan, Spain and Israel, Azerbaijan and the countries of Central Asia, numerous monuments of the Middle Ages have been preserved, testifying to a single original artistic tradition. She was born under the influence of a worldview through the prism of the doctrine of Allah - omnipotent and eternal.(Slide 3)
Islam - monotheistic (Abrahamic) world religion. The word "Islam" has several meanings, literally translated as peace. Another meaning of this word is “surrendering oneself to God” (“submission to God”). In Sharia terminology, Islam is complete, absolute monotheism, submission to God, His orders and prohibitions, and exclusion from polytheism. People who submit to God are called Muslims in Islam.
From the point of view of the Koran, Islam is the only true religion of humanity; all the prophets were its followers. Islam was presented in its final form in the sermons of the Prophet Muhammad, who received information about the new religion in the form of Divine Revelation.(Slide 4, 5).
Muhammad -genuswasApril 20 (22), 571 (according to some sources 570), 12th of the month Rabiul-Awwal, on Monday, shortly before sunrise, Mecca - mind. June 8, 632, Medina - Arab preacher of monotheism and prophet of Islam, the central (after one God) figure of this religion; According to the teachings of Islam, God sent down to Muhammad his holy scripture - the Koran. Also a politician, founder and head of the Muslim community (ummah), which, during his direct rule, formed a strong and fairly large state on the Arabian Peninsula.(Slide 6.7).
Student 1
. The main principles of Islam are set out in the Koran. The main dogmas are the worship of one god - the almighty God-Allah and the veneration of Muhammad as a prophet - the messenger of Allah. Muslims believe in the immortality of the soul and the afterlife. Islam rests on the “five pillars” - the basic rules that every Muslim must follow. (Slide 7, 8)
1) Shahada - the belief that there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah;
2) Namaz - daily 5-time prayer (from dawn to sunset). Women and children read it at home. Boys from 12 years old in the mosque.
3) Zyaket - Charity for the benefit of the poor - 1/40 of the annual income.
4) Fasting in the month of Ramadan (from dawn to dusk)
5) Hajj - a 6-day pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), performed at least once in a lifetime. (Slide8)
The Koran (Arabic qur'an, lit. - reading), the main holy book of Muslims, a collection of sermons, ritual and legal institutions, prayers, edifying stories and parables spoken by Muhammad in Mecca and Medina.
It is impossible to translate from Arabic - holiness is lost. The “real” Koran is printed in one of the cities of Saudi Arabia, in a specially consecrated printing house. The Koran has 114 sections - surahs, which are divided into verses. The length of the suras generally decreases towards the end of the book. Most of the Qur'an is written in unrhymed prose.
The Koran was supplemented by the Sunnah, written in the 7th-8th centuries. These are 6 volumes of commentaries on the Koran. The Sunnah served as the basis for Sharia, the body of Islamic law.
Today, the 4 most ancient Korans (VII-VIII centuries) have been preserved: in Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Samarkand.
Teacher: The art of the Muslim East, like the creativity of many peoples in the Middle Ages, was based on canonical principles. These rules developed quite quickly. The leading principle of religious artistic thinking in Islamic culture was the combination of decorativeness and rhythm (slide 9). The beauty of a work of art was seen in the harmony of a strict, logical geometric form with sophisticated abstract decorative embellishments. For the first time, the Islamic artistic canon was most vividly and visibly embodied in architecture. Its prototype was the house of Muhammad in Mecca. Here, on the site of the ancient pagan sanctuary of the Kaaba, where the magical Black Stone (probably a fallen meteorite) was kept, the earliest Muslim shrine arose.
Student 2 . Mosque- "place of worship" - Muslimliturgical architectural structure.(slide 10).
It is a separate building with a gambiz dome; sometimes the mosque has a courtyard (Al-Haram Mosque). Tower-minarets are attached to the mosque as an outbuildingnumbering from one to nine (the number of minarets should be less than in the al-Haram mosque). The prayer hall is devoid of images, but verses from the Koran in Arabic may be inscribed on the walls. The wall facing Mecca is marked by an empty niche, the mihrab. To the right of the mihrab there is a pulpit-minbar from which the preacher imam reads his sermons to believers during Friday prayers. As a rule, madrasah schools operate at mosques.
Al-Masjid al-Haram - the main Mosque, in the courtyard of which the Kaaba is located. Located in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. (Slide 11).
The construction of the first mosque near the Kaaba dates back to 638. The existing mosque has been known since 1570. During its existence, the mosque was rebuilt several times, so that little remains of the original building. At first, the Forbidden Mosque had six minarets, but when six minarets were also built at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the Imam of Mecca called it sacrilege: not a single mosque in the world should be equal to the Kaaba. And then Sultan Ahmed ordered the construction of the seventh minaret in the Forbidden Mosque (slide 12).
The last reconstruction of the mosque took place in the late 1980s, when a huge building with two minarets was added to it on the southwestern side. It is in this building that the main entrance to the mosque is now located - the King Fahd Gate. Currently, the Haram Mosque is a huge structure with an area of 309 thousand square meters. meters. The mosque has 9 minarets, the height of which reaches 95 m. In addition to 4 gates, there are 44 more entrances to the mosque. There are 7 escalators in the building. The air in the rooms is refreshed by air conditioners. There are special rooms for prayers and ablutions, and these rooms are divided into men's and women's. Al-Masjid al-Haram can accommodate up to 700 thousand people at a time, although believers are even accommodated on the roof of the building.(slide 13).
Student 3 . Qubbat al-Sakhra MosqueDome of the Rock , sometimes translated asDome over the Rock - monument (not ) on V , Near .
Qubbat al-Sakhra, in addition to its religious significance, is one of the oldest and most beautiful monuments of early Islamic architecture, having regular proportional outlines and an internal richly decorated patterned ornament.(slide 14).
By order (65-86 g / 684-705 n. BC) in Jerusalem on the site destroyed by the Romans in 687-691 two engineers, from And from Jerusalem, appointed , erected the Qubbat al-Sakhra mosque (“Dome of the Rock”). Inside the dome there is a rock ledge, from which, according to legend, the prophet committed . It was thanks to this protrusion that Qubbat al-Sakhra received its name.(slide 15).
Very often in literature architectural monument Islamic history is mistakenly identified with (Al-Aqsa). Although Qubbat al-Sakhra (Dome of the Rock) and the Caliph's Mosque - two completely different Islamic temples, but they form a single architectural complex .
Now this building is used as a “women’s” mosque. Although according to the original plan, this is not a house of prayer, but an architectural monument protecting the stone from which the prophet ascended , on which stood during the times and from which, according to traditions began (cm. ).
Access to the Dome of the Rock is prohibited by Muslims for all “infidels.”
On February 15, 2008, an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale left its mark on . Near the Dome of the Rock there was a noticeable hole in the ground 1 m deep, 1.5 m wide and about 2 m long.
Student 4. Great Mosque of Damascus , also known asMosque , one of the largest and oldest in the world. Located in one of the most sacred places in the old city , is of great architectural value.(slide 16).
The mosque contains a Treasury which is said to contain the head ( ), revered both Christians and Muslims. The head may have been found during excavations during the construction of the mosque. There is also a grave in the mosque , located in a small garden adjacent to the northern wall of the mosque.
Shrine of John the Baptist (or Yahya) inside the mosque. The place where the mosque now stands, in era was occupied by the Temple . The Aramaic presence was attested by the discovery , depicting and excavated in the north-eastern corner of the mosque. Later, in the Roman era, a Temple was located on this site , then, in Byzantine times, , dedicated to John the Baptist.(slide 17).
Initially the Arab conquest of Damascus in did not affect the church, as a structure revered by both Muslim and Christian parishioners. This preserved the church and worship, although the Muslims built an extension from bricks opposite the southern wall of the temple. At Khalifa However, the church was purchased from Christians before it was destroyed. Between And the existing mosque was built on this site. According to legend, Al-Walid personally began the destruction of the church by introducing a golden spike. From this moment on, Damascus becomes the most important point in the and later became the capital of the Umayyad State.
The mosque is separated from the noisy city by thick walls. The huge courtyard is paved with black and white polished slabs; to the left of the entrance stands an impressive wooden cart on huge wheels. Some say that this is a ramming device left after the assault , others consider the cart to be the war chariot of times . The floor of the prayer hall is covered with many - there are more than five thousand of them here.
Interior plan of the Umayyad Mosque
In the prayer hall there is a tomb with the Head cut off by order of the king . The tomb is made of white , decorated with niches made of green relief glass. Through a special opening you can throw a memorial note inside, , give as a gift to the prophet Yahya (so called John the Baptist) money. One of the three minarets of the Umayyad Mosque (the one located on the southeast side) bears the name Isa ben Mariam, that is, “ , " According to the prophecy, it was according to him that the day before will come down from heaven to earth . The hands of the Savior, dressed in white robes, will lie on the wings of two angels, and his hair will appear wet, even if it has not been touched by water. That is why the imam of the mosque lays a new carpet every day on the ground under the minaret, where the Redeemer’s foot should step.
Relics of John the Baptist (Yahya)
History with relics has not been fully clarified. As Archimandrite Alexander Elisov (representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' under the Patriarch of the Great) says and the entire East), we can only talk about part of the head of the Baptist. There are three more fragments of the saint's head - one is kept on , the other is in French , the third - in , V .
In the mosque. The parishioners behave relaxed - they not only pray, but also read, sit, lie, some even sleep. Every day, except Friday, representatives of any faith are freely allowed into the mosque, and no ill will towards guests is felt here.
Student 5. Great Mosque of Hassan II - was built under the rule of the king . She is in on the ocean shore. The Great Mosque is the second largest mosque after the main Muslim temple located in . It is noteworthy that the architect of the mosque is French , was not a Muslim.(slide 18).
Height mosque 200 meters. This is the tallest religious building in the world. The minaret is 30 meters higher than the famous one and at 40 meters - . (slide 19).
At the same time in the mosque 20 thousand believers and another 80 thousand can pray in the square near it. The total cost of this structure was about $800 million. Moreover, these are donations from believers. Hassan II Mosque is one of the few religious buildings in , where non-Muslims are allowed. Inside, the prayer hall is decorated with 78 pink columns , the floors are covered with golden slabs and green , in winter the floor is heated, and the central part of the roof can be moved apart. Paying 100 (about 10 US dollars), anyone can get inside and take photos.
Student 6.
Alhambra
- architectural ensemble mainly period ( ), consisting of ,
And in the south , located on a hilly terrace in the eastern part of the cityGive it to him, lady, give it to him,
For there is no fate more cruel,
What to do with being blind in Granada.
This palace was built conquerors. Representatives of the Moorish culture, they wished for solar create a piece of heaven on earth. Thus, among the shady gardens, the Alhambra arose - the administrative center and ».
Student 7. Minaret (Arab.منارة , manara , “lighthouse”) - in Islamic architecture, a tower (round, square or polyhedral in cross-section) from which the muezzin calls believers to prayer. The minaret is placed next to the mosque or included in its composition. Early minarets often had a spiral staircase or ramp on the outside (spiral minarets), later ones - inside the tower. (slide 23).
There are two main types of minarets: tetrahedral (North Africa) and round (Near and Middle East). The minarets were decorated with patterned brickwork, carvings, glazed ceramics, and openwork balconies (sherefe).
Small mosques usually have one minaret (or none at all), medium ones - two; the large Sultan's mosques in Istanbul had from four to six minarets. The largest number of minarets, nine, is at the Al-Haram Mosque in Mecca.
Teacher. Arabesque (Arabesque) - a type of ornament: a bizarre combination of geometric and stylized plant motifs, sometimes including a stylized inscription (like Arabic script or handwritten). Arabesque is based on the repetition and multiplication of one or several fragments of the pattern. The endless movement of patterns occurring in a given rhythm can be stopped or continued at any point without violating the integrity of the pattern. Such an ornament actually excludes the background, since one pattern fits into another, covering the surface (Europeans called this “fear of emptiness”). Arabesque can be placed on any surface configuration, flat or convex. There is no fundamental difference between compositions on the wall or on the carpet, on the binding of a manuscript or on ceramics. (slide 24).
In the art history of many European countries, the term arabesque also has a narrower meaning: an ornament made only of stylized plant motifs (as opposed to the so-called seasque - an ornament made of geometric motifs). (slide 25).
The very idea of an arabesque is consonant with the ideas of Islamic theologians about the “eternally continuing fabric of the Universe.”
Arabesque is based on the repetition and multiplication of one or several fragments of the pattern. The endless movement of patterns occurring in a given rhythm can be stopped or continued at any point without violating the integrity of the pattern. Such an ornament actually eliminates the background, because one pattern fits into another, covering the surface (Europeans called this “fear of emptiness”).
(Slide 26) Arabesque can be placed on a surface of any configuration, flat or convex. There is no fundamental difference between compositions on the wall or on the carpet, on the binding of a manuscript or on ceramics.
Arabesques became widespread in Europe during the Renaissance. Later european art More than once I turned to this bizarre and intricate, very complex and exquisitely refined type of painting. Beautiful examples of arabesques were created by modernist artists (late 19th - early 20th centuries), especially Aubrey Beardsley.
Final part:
Arab art as a whole was a bright, original phenomenon in the history of world artistic culture of the Middle Ages. His influence extended throughout the Muslim world and went far beyond its borders.
Homework
First level: topic 5, read, answer questions.
Second level:
prepare an essay on the art of the East.
Asked: Good afternoon. Please illuminate the topic of fine art in Islamic culture. If possible, include calligraphy in your review. Arabic languages. Thank you.
Here's how you can talk about it...
During the era of feudalism, the peoples of Arab countries made a major contribution to the development of world civilization. The medieval culture of Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Moorish Spain was an important progressive step in the development of mankind. In addition, the Arabs preserved (especially in the field of science) and passed on to subsequent generations many valuable achievements of antiquity. The culture of the peoples who inhabited the Arabian Peninsula has been known since ancient times. Ancient geographers called southern, agricultural, Arabia “happy.” Here, back in the first millennium BC, there were rich slave states.
In the 7th century. the Arabs conquered Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Iran. In 661, Muawiyah, the Arab governor in Syria, having seized power and laid the foundation for the Umayyad Caliphate, moved the capital to Damascus. At the end of the 7th and beginning of the 8th century. gigantic territories were annexed to the caliphate, including the Iberian Peninsula and the entire North Africa in the west, Transcaucasia and Central Asia to the borders of India in the east. The Arab Caliphate became a large early feudal state, although in some of its areas slavery and even primitive communal relations persisted for a long time. In 750, the Umayyad dynasty was overthrown, and the Abbasids, who founded the Tigris River, seized power. new capital- Baghdad. The rule of the caliphate caused the liberation struggle of the conquered peoples and the uprising of the exploited masses of the working people. In the 9th-10th centuries. the caliphate broke up into a number of virtually independent states; came out from under his authority middle Asia, Transcaucasia, Egypt and Maghreb.
Already in the middle of the 10th century. The Bunds, Iranians by origin, seized power in Baghdad. The caliphs remained only Muslim high priests, strengthening the power of the feudal rulers with their religious authority
In the 9th-13th centuries. Arab, Iranian and Central Asian cities - Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, Bukhara, Isfahan, etc. - were the largest centers of learning, famous for their universities, schools, and libraries.
Pushkin Museum
Religion had a certain influence on the development of medieval art of peoples who professed Islam. The spread of Islam meant the establishment of monotheism - the belief in one God. The Muslim idea of the world as a whole created by God was important for the formation of the aesthetic idea of a certain, albeit abstract, unity of the universe, characteristic of the medieval era.
Islam, like all medieval religions, justified feudal exploitation and called for submission to the ruler of the state - the caliph. However, the views on the world, as well as the aesthetic attitude of the people of the medieval East to reality, cannot be reduced only to religious ideas. In the consciousness of a man of the Middle Ages and in his artistic views, religious-scholastic tendencies and a real idea of the world were contradictorily combined. One of the greatest scientists and philosophers of the medieval East, Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna), recognized the divine origin of the universe and at the same time argued that scientific and philosophical knowledge exists independently of religious faith. Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Ferdowsi, Navoi and many other outstanding thinkers of the medieval East, in whose works and poetic works the progressive features of the worldview of the era were especially clearly manifested, affirmed the power of human will and reason, the value and wealth of the real world, although, as As a rule, they did not openly speak out from an atheistic position.
Fine arts in Islam
For the fate of fine art in Arab countries, as in the countries of the Middle East, the iconoclastic tendency of Islam was important. Islam denied the possibility of depicting a deity. In the Koran, idols (probably images of ancient tribal gods) are called an obsession of Satan. Images of people were not allowed in religious buildings. The Koran and other theological books were decorated only with ornaments. But initially in Islam there was no prohibition on depicting living beings, formulated as a religious law. Only later, probably in the 9th and 10th centuries, was the iconoclastic tendency of Islam used to prohibit a certain category of images on pain of punishment in the afterlife. History has shown that these restrictions, which left their mark on the development individual species art, were not always observed and not everywhere. They had significance and were strictly carried out only during periods of particularly intensified religious reaction.
Islam never allowed the possibility external resemblance God with a person or other earthly creature, therefore fine art turned out to be excluded from the religious life of a Muslim, remaining the property mainly secular culture. Although the Koran did not prohibit the depiction of people and animals, some hadiths stated that Muhammad condemned such artists. By giving the image a real form, man thereby seemed to challenge God for his exclusive right to creativity, violating the main tenet of Islam “There is no God but Allah...”. Since the 9th century. similar statements appeared in theological works, but each time there was an interpreter who explained that the ban did not apply to images as such, but to their use as objects of worship.
If there are no images of a person (“surat”), then there is no subject, portrait, or landscape painting (exceptions include book miniatures). There was and could not be anything like icon painting or temple sculpture in Muslim art.
However, there was secular art to which this unspoken ban did not apply. Luxury items were created, books were copied and decorated with wonderful, delicate miniatures. The art of miniatures flourished in Central Asia, as well as on the territory of the Mughal Empire.
Bahram Gur in the fight against the Dragon Shah-name. Shiraz, 1370. Hazine 1151, folio 206B
In subsequent times, the unspoken ban on painting and sculpture was not particularly strictly observed, but the few portraits and statues created as an exception could not have much influence on the development of art. In addition, such works, as a rule, were entrusted to Christian artists. These include works of art that later caliphs commissioned for themselves personally. So, Caliph Perfidy placed statues in his palace depicting himself, his wives and slaves playing the musical instruments. Abdurrahman II erected a statue of her in honor of the beautiful Azarra at the entrance to Medina Azarra.
And yet, the main carrier of the idea of Islam was not an image, but a word, artistically designed in the form of an inscription or symbol. The basis of Muslim artistic creativity is calligraphy and ornament (arabesque) - the art of depicting a word and the art of depicting a symbol, respectively.
Islam transformed geometry into an art form by constantly applying the principles of symmetry, proportionality and changes in scale to create amazing artistic effects. Apparently, every weaver was familiar with the basics of geometry on a plane (if this is not so, then an intuitive sense of mathematics is apparently inherent in the genotype of Muslims). The architects of Islam knew and applied spatial geometry very well. In addition to the most accurate mathematical calculation, each work of art of the Islamic world is distinguished by a subtle, refined taste. That is why even things that have a utilitarian meaning - for example, carpets or books - go beyond the scope of arts and crafts or book graphics and become works of high art.
The sacred word of the Koran, inscribed on entrance portals and walls of buildings, written on bindings and pages of manuscripts, included in patterns on fabrics, carpets, ceramics, glass or metal, woven into ornaments on fountains and tombstones, accompanied the Muslim all his life. This word contained a whole world of spiritual experiences for the believer and gave him genuine aesthetic pleasure. Calligraphy and ornament - decorative forms of embodying ideas about the endless diversity and beauty of the world created by Allah - have become the foundations of Muslim artistic creativity.
Since in the Koran itself there is no clearly expressed prohibition of images of living things, it is proposed to look for the orthodox religious expression of the prohibition in the interpretations of the Koran, which flourished magnificently after the death of the prophet. Hadiths, which represent a kind of frame for the Koran. However, this point of view is incorrect, because it does not reveal not only the psychology of the origin of the prohibition of images in Muslim orthodoxy, but also does not explain the reasons for the negative attitude towards monumental painting among peoples brought up by the Muslim religion, who were under its strong influence in the medieval era. Finally, banning images of cult painting and figurative art are not the same thing. Hadiths prescribed to depict nature, landscapes, but not humans, not to depict God, saints, martyrs, for God was thought of as pure spirituality, purified from everything human and random. The idea of Allah - this spiritual substance - is the end result of critical thinking.
How did it happen that the ban on images led to the cult of ornament, to the freezing of all figurativeness for several centuries, until painting, through the internal force of its development, nevertheless developed a new artistic language based on artistic traditions and won the right to independent existence (in particular, in the genre book miniatures) in the late Middle Ages?
The negative attitude towards images, which later resulted in the persecution of figurativeness, was born along with the Koran, evolved, and became more specific with the development of Islamic orthodoxy. It represents a logical consequence of the entire philosophy of this religion - a specific understanding of God and the concept of man, which brought the polarization of the spiritual and material, heavenly and earthly to the extreme.
God, understood in Islam as pure spirituality, purified from any earthly elements, having no human, anthropomorphic features, could not be depicted. Islam offers a rationalistic way to comprehend God. By sharply contrasting the heavenly and the earthly, Islam, like any religion, metaphysically breaks their unity and exaggerates the meaning of the heavenly. The principle of interaction between the spiritual and the material, God and man is based on dependence. Excessively thorough purification of the spiritual is intended to highlight the meagerness and insignificance of the material. This contradiction, which is slowly growing in Islam, is resolved through the absolute dissolution of the individual in the deity. Islam, as a world religion, is all the more tenacious, adapted to existence, and all the more reactionary and dangerous because it fetters a person’s initiative and his creative potential.
The prohibition of the image of God and idolatry had the consequence of the prohibition of the image of man, for man in Islam does not represent any value outside the divine idea. Allowing the image of a person meant in Islam to compromise to some extent with the pagan understanding of God. The Koran, consistently pursuing the idea of monotheism, ultimately came to prohibit images of all living things, because this was seen as imitation of the actions of Allah.
The alienation of fine art from the religiously charged “ideal” in Islam led to the ban on fine art in general. The categorical prohibition of art by Islam is a reflection of the conflict between two forms of social consciousness, a reflection of the contradiction between the internal essence of religion and art, for painting and sculpture are types of art where a mystical idea hardly finds the possibility of material embodiment.
The removal of the opposition between religious faith and art, that is, the artistic form of knowledge, occurs in Islam not through the use of art by religion, but through the rejection of fine art. And yet, despite the “taboo” imposed by the Muslim religion on the fine arts (painting, sculpture), despite the hostility openly shown by Islam towards images, the creative spirit of the people, their aesthetic consciousness, artistic vision peace could not be completely and completely suppressed.
The progressive tendency of social life, which feeds art, reveals the contradiction that develops between religious ideology and the artistic development of “Muslim” peoples. The remarkable wall paintings of the first two centuries of Islam (VII-VIII centuries), discovered in Penjikent, Varakhsha, Afrasib, stylistically shaped the art of book miniatures and influenced the development of folk forms of decorative and applied arts and the artistic industry in medieval Central Asia.
Miraj-name (Ascension of Muhammad).
From Sarai Albums.
Tabriz, early 14th century.
Hazine 2154, folio 107a
Bourgeois scholars, studying oriental fine art, say that it represents a departure from religious norms. However, they did not strive to penetrate into the depths of this contradiction, to consider it as an objective pattern in art that did not arise out of nowhere, but had its roots in the artistic culture of previous eras. They do not see the organic connection of fine art with progressive medieval ideology, with the worldview of the great medieval Muslim thinkers, scientists, classical poets of the so-called Muslim Renaissance, as well as with the aesthetic theories of this time.
At the same time, some of them also take opposite positions. Thus, at the VI Archaeological Congress of Arab Countries in 1957 in Baghdad, Muhammad Mustafa stated that portraits of people, as well as images of birds and animals, are available on Muslim works of art of all eras, since the emergence of Islam, and in all countries. Therefore, M. Mustafa concludes that muslim art is not religious and therefore there are no statues or paintings of religious subjects in the mosques.
However, the artists of medieval Central Asia, sometimes without going beyond the boundaries of medieval ideology, and often boldly stepping over them, created wonderful examples of painting, applied and decorative art. The main features of this art were determined not so much by religion as by the ideological and aesthetic tasks that were put forward by the progressive development of society in the era of feudalism.
Thus, Islam, on the one hand, taking under its auspices all forms of social consciousness, all areas of everyday life, government structure, created a totalitarian closed system of medieval religious thinking, determined the specifics of psychology, especially the aesthetic element of social consciousness, and thereby created the alienation of the culture of the East from the West. Connected with this is the specific perception of antiquity in the era of the Muslim Renaissance, when, due to religious restrictions, neither the ancient Greek epic, nor the ancient tragedies, nor the ancient plastic arts were accepted by the Muslim world, as well as the rejection of the artistic achievements of the art of Christian medieval Byzantium, contempt for this art, which gave rise to Islam among its believers. This affected the peculiarities of the art of Muslim peoples, both of a religious nature (architecture, manuscripts of sacred scriptures) and secular content (book miniatures), as well as the decorative and applied art of the people, which determined the further paths of its development.
The internal development of art took place here in line with progressive social and aesthetic trends. Two trends in social development - socially relevant and folk-mythological - influenced the art of Muslim peoples of the Middle Ages. The conflict between the nature of art and Islam led to the prohibition of representation in painting, sculpture, and reached its culmination in Islamic culture. However, the development of art is explained not only by the influence of inhibiting religious ideology, but also occurs according to the internal laws of its development, determined by social necessity, in confrontation with the dominant religion, and sometimes in external compromise with Islam. The influence of progressive social and aesthetic trends restored decoratively accentuated visual trends in art - they determined, for example, the secular nature of book miniatures. These unique trends in representation in art, pushed aside by the conquests of the Arabs and the pose of religion, acquired new strength in Central Asia in the 15th-16th centuries.
And yet “the wide spread of the art of ornament, which has entered into people’s lives in an extremely multifaceted way and is closely connected with folk artistic traditions, was one of the specific expressions of decorativeness, characteristic of medieval artistic culture in general” and for “Muslim” peoples in particular.
This had a huge impact on visual trends in art, since “in the art of the peoples of the Near and Middle East in the era of feudalism, a special figurative system was developed, imbued with a decorative principle...”, which became the dominant one, determining the originality and uniqueness of the art of these peoples.
That is why even works of fine art proper are marked here with “a peculiar and bright decorative quality that meets the aesthetic needs of ... time.” But at the same time, “under the rule of Islam, figurativeness in art was no less a heresy than rationalism in philosophy: it violated the norms established by religion...” and thereby showed the strength and indestructibility of the artistic culture of the peoples of the “Muslim” world.
CALLIGRAPHY
According to one hadith, Muhammad said: “Writing is half of knowledge.” In the medieval culture of the Muslim East and West, the degree of mastery of the “beauty of writing,” or calligraphy, became an indicator of a person’s intelligence, education and spiritual perfection. The origins of Arabic calligraphy lie in the subordination of the written word to the logic of a clear, measured, rhythmic recitation of the Koran.
Calligraphy sample. Sulsa handwriting. Iran. XVII century State Museums, Berlin.
The basics of calligraphy were taught in primary schools and religious schools (madrassas). However, only a select few calligraphers (“khattats”), skilled in all the subtleties of Arabic handwriting and style, were true virtuosos. “The beauty of a person is in the beauty of his writing, and even better if it is written by a wise man” (a well-known Eastern aphorism).
It is also not surprising that writing styles have been canonized.
Early handwriting - ku'fi, which gravitated towards rectilinear, geometric forms of letters, dominated in Muslim calligraphy until the 12th century. and was canonized as the handwriting used to write the titles of the suras of the Koran.
Name of Allah, Kufi handwriting (mosaic, Samarkand)
At the end of the VIII-IX centuries. The naskh handwriting (“correspondence”) stood out and gained popularity among book copyists. It later became one of the "six styles" of classical Arabic script, along with five other handwritings. Mukha'kkak ("correct") was distinguished by the expressiveness of clear letters, and raikha'ni ("basil") was distinguished by sophistication, which was compared to the delicate aroma of blooming basil. In the solemn sulsa (“one third”), curvilinear and rectilinear elements were in proportion 1:3. Tauki' ("decree") was more neat, and rika' was the most cursive of all handwritings.
Sample of handwritten decorative letter “Sofa of Poetry” (pers.)
Andalusian Maghreb handwriting (2-volume Koran, Spain, XIII-XIV centuries)
3 lines - muhaqqaq, in cartouches - kufi. Ilkhanid Ahmad ibn al-Suhrawardi al-Bakri (1308, Baghdad)
Talik's handwriting
The six writing styles were based on the “standard writing” system - khatt mansub, invented by the Baghdad calligrapher Ibn Muqla (886-940). This is a system of proportions that determines the relationship between the vertical and horizontal elements of letters, as well as letters in a word and line. Based on classical Arabic handwriting, Persian calligraphers developed new styles - talik and nasta'liq, which in turn gave birth to many decorative and exquisite handwriting. In Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey in the XV-XVII centuries. A special genre of calligraphy, kita, spread: a miniature painting, a sample of one or more handwritings.
The writing instrument was the kala'm - a reed pen, the method of sharpening which depended on the chosen style and traditions of the school. Author of a treatise from the 14th century. instructed: “The kalam is sharpened obliquely, and know that the tip of the kalam should correspond to the length of the phalanx of the thumb, but the Baghdad scribes sharpen it along the length of the nail...”. The materials for writing were papyrus, parchment and paper, the production of which was established in Samarkand (Central Asia) in the 60s. VIII century, and from the end of the X century. - and in some other cities of the Muslim world. The sheets were covered with starch paste and polished with a crystal egg, which made the paper dense and durable, and the letters and patterns printed with colored ink were clear, bright and shiny.
In the 15th-17th centuries. spread throughout the Muslim world special kind art - whale - a miniature painting, which at the same time represents an example of one or several handwritings.
The architects of Islam knew and applied spatial geometry very well. In addition to the most accurate mathematical calculations, each work of art of the Islamic world is distinguished by a subtle, refined taste. That is why even things that have a utilitarian meaning - for example, carpets or books - go beyond the scope of decorative arts or book graphics and become works of high art.
Ornament (from Latin ornamentum - decoration) is a pattern built on rhythmic alternation and organized arrangement of elements. Depending on the nature of the motifs, the following types of ornaments are distinguished: geometric, floral, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic.
A geometric pattern consists of dots, lines (straight, broken, zigzag, intersecting mesh), and figures (circles, rhombuses, polyhedra, stars, crosses, spirals, etc.).
The floral ornament is made up of stylized leaves, flowers, fruits, branches, etc.
Zoomorphic ornamentation includes stylized images of real and/or fantastic animals (sometimes such an ornament is called “animal” style).
Anthropomorphic ornament uses male and female stylized figures or individual parts of the human body as motifs.
Not every pattern can be considered an ornament. A pattern that freely fills a plane is not such a pattern. Based on the nature of the composition, the following types of ornament can be distinguished: the ornament can be multi-colored (polychrome) or single-colored (monochrome), made on the surface of the object in a convex, relief or, conversely, recessed manner.
In the Islamic world, the art of ornament was brought to the highest degree of perfection, which made it possible to distinguish it into a special type of art - arabesque.
Arabesque (Italian arabesco, French arabesque - “Arabic”) is the European name for a complex oriental medieval ornament, consisting mainly of geometric, calligraphic and floral elements and created on the basis of precise mathematical calculations. The very idea of an arabesque is consonant with the ideas of Islamic theologians about the “everlasting fabric of the Universe.”
Arabesque is based on the repetition and multiplication of one or several fragments of the pattern. The endless movement of patterns occurring in a given rhythm can be stopped or continued at any point without violating the integrity of the pattern. Such an ornament actually eliminates the background, because one pattern fits into another, covering the surface (Europeans called this “fear of emptiness”).
Arabesque can be placed on any surface configuration, flat or convex. There is no fundamental difference between compositions on the wall or on the carpet, on the binding of a manuscript or on ceramics.
Arabesques became widespread in Europe during the Renaissance. Later, European art more than once turned to this bizarre and intricate, very complex and exquisitely refined type of painting. Beautiful examples of arabesques were created by modernist artists (late 19th - early 20th centuries), especially Aubrey Beardsley.
Medieval Iranian miniatures
sources
http://www.bibliotekar.ru/Iskuss2/0.htm
http://mirasky.h1.ru/islam/kally.htm
http://do.gendocs.ru/docs/index-352583.html
http://www.bibliofond.ru/view.aspx?id=75093