Islamic Art

Islamic Art

Three Main Modes By Which Persian Painters Depicted The Prophet Muhammad

To many Muslim faithfuls, depicting Muhammad in any form is outright sacrilege. However, the ban on portraying the Prophet has not always been one that was absolute, as there is yet a small though rich tradition that values Islamic art. These types of art go as far back as over 7 centuries and depict the messenger of God (Macedo 813). Islamic art began in the 13^th century as miniatures exquisitely made by Muslim artists. These artists were commissioned by the rich and powerful in society at that time to make these miniature pieces. The art pieces portrayed almost every aspect of Muhammad’s life as recounted in the Quran and other holy texts, including his birth, death, and subsequent ascension into heaven.

The miniature art pieces were used as aids during private prayers and devotion. The detailed scenes in the art pieces targeted Shia and Sunni worshippers, and some pieces are still available for viewing in the major library and museum collections (Hagen 97). Rizvi points out that these pieces of art laid the basis for commonly-used inspirational and devotional images currently used today. These pieces were the foundation of most icons used in homes during prayers and devotions, as well as the mural in Tehran and the street art in Cairo. However, in the government-commissioned mural as well as in the Cairo street art, the Prophet’s face is obscured.

In Gruber’s’ article, three modes are discussed through which the Persians depict the Prophet in their art. The three modes are postcards, stamps, and wall hangings (Gruber 259). Postcards depicting the Prophet were once sold in supermarkets and even exchanged as personal gifts. Postcards could also be framed and mounted on walls in homes or appeared in shrines as well as in musical performances. Stamps comprised a type of mass media and thus offered a visual statement that could be accessed easily. The stamps provided these statements about identity through the government-owned postal services. On the other hand, wall hangings were woven and placed on private homes and other places of worship.

Stamps.

Before the introduction of Muhammad’s image in stamps, they were available in book production only until 1979. When the image was introduced in stamps, they entered the public domain as Muslims overtly declared their identity as befitting the entry of the Islamic Republic’s visual regime. The stamps circulated between the demand seasons in the public domain, where the consumption of goods was a signal of Islamic politics making an explicit stand.

Postcards.

Muhammad, in postcards, was depicted as a Prophet who is inspired and is radiant, cloaked, mature, poised and beautiful, and who has a beard. He stands upright and firm and looks toward the sky with an intent gaze. The sky is perforated with the revelation that is God’s light. In most art, Muhammad holds the Quran-i Majid, translated as the Most Glorious Quran and brims with the divine word’s sparks. Muhammad is also shown to have a halo that flames around his visage. Mecca is also seen in the backdrop, even as the index finger is upheld upwards toward the heavens. Most postcards will also have the writings at the top, which read, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His Messenger.” These writings are curved epigraphs that appear above Muhammad’s head.

Wall Hangings.

One of the common pictorial assemblages that are used on halls in people’s homes and other public places are those used for Ashura gatherings known as majalis. The wall hangings include those of the Prophet Muhammad. In some of the wall hangings, the Prophet is depicted kneeling, and his two grandsons, Husayn and Hasan, are on his lap. Besides, the kneeling Prophet is his daughter Fatima and his son-in-law Ali. Behind the five depicted characters (that are the panj tan) is Angel Gabriel, who stands in devotion. Another of the wall hangings may depict the Prophet Muhammad alongside Imam Husayn. The wall hanging during the manjalis is put up alongside other battle heroes, such as Khamenei and Ayatollahs Khomeini, depicted in a separate portrait. The wall hangings also depict Muhammad holding the Quran-I Majid and his index finger pointing toward the sky.

Ways Devotional Practices And Mystical Conceptions Of The Prophet Inform Such Artistic Depictions

In the three modes discussed earlier, Muhammad is depicted as a Nur (light), an Authoritative Leader, and a Comforter. As the light, Muhammad existed as a light that was incarnated. This description is also found in the Quran Genesis. The Quran mentions the nur (light) and a kitab (Book) that was sent to the people and which would lead them away from the darkness. From the revelation in the Hadith, Persian paintings, eulogistic poems, world histories, and prophetic biographies, Muhammad is repeatedly likened to the glowing radiance of the sun. Nur Muhammad, which is translated as the ‘light of Muhammad,’ is depicted as one that engenders all creation from the very start to the end. The light of Muhammad is also a sign that the Prophet emanated from God’s holy domain. The light of Muhammad transcends place, time, and physical matter, and these all endow Muhammad with a transubstantial quality. This quality is an attribute that is often associated with holy figures and saints. Consequently, metaphors of light found in Persian art offer a potent argument that the Prophet is ontologically linked to divinity and, more so, as the spiritual philosophy of the Iranians developed.

As an authoritative leader, Muhammad is depicted in some postcards and wall hanging as pointing his finger toward the sky while holding the Quran-i Majid. In Islam, the index finger is referred to as the witnessing finger. The tahlil is a declaration that God is only one, and hence, the one finger that Muhammad points out declare that indeed God is only one. The monotheistic creed that is written above the image of Muhammad confirms the message that ‘There’s only one God and Muhammad is His prophet.’ Similar to Jesus in the Christian religion, Muhammad addresses the audience directly in the portrait and invites them to be witnesses that God is only one through his connection to the divine. Muhammad uses sign language to address the viewers. This engagement through gesture is supposed to engage the viewer and help them reaffirm their faith through an encounter that is both visual and spiritual at the same time with the shahada. The shahada is externalized through embodied prophethood, gestured symbols, and the written word. Additionally, postcards that are pocket-sized are purchased by Muslim faithfuls, which are then kept on tabletops, mantles, and shelves or given as gifts. The pocket-sized postcards are supposed to convey special blessings to the viewers or those that possess them.

Lastly, images of the young Mohammad are put above relic cases of young martyrs who died in the Iran-Iraq war. These images help grieving families to reconcile with the fact that just like the prophetic call of Muhammad, the boy martyrs died in the cause of fulfilling a calling in their lives. The purity of Muhammad is projected to the martyrs even as their relic cases contain personal objects which recall the lives they lived. Specifically, on the holy day of Friday, friends and families of slain young war heroes come to the cemetery and hold picnics together. The family and friends also wash the tombstones of their loved ones and place fresh flowers. Sometimes the visitors will kiss and rub the images of the young Prophet as well as their dearly departed. When they do so, they say they feel close and intimate toward their departed loved ones and the Prophet. These people treat Muhammad as a family member through visual and physical engagement. Hence, within the agonizing reality that is brought by the presence of death, the young Prophet’s image provides grieving families a sort of comfort.

Works Cited

Gruber, Christiane. “Prophetic products: Muhammad in contemporary Iranian visual culture.” Material Religion 12.3 (2016): 259-293.

Hagen, Gottfried. “The imagined and the historical Muhammad.” (2009): 97-111.

Macedo, Stephen. “Toleration.” A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (2017): 813-820.

Rizvi, Kishwar. “Prefacing the Image: The Writing of Art History in Sixteenth-Century Iran.” (2003): 800-803.

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MIDTERM ESSAY

Date due: To be submitted on Blackboard by 11:59 p.m. (end of day) of Tues. November 3.

Islamic Art

In approximately 1000 words, answer any ONE of the following:

• Using the articles by Leo Steinberg from Weeks Four and Eight, analyze the ways in which Christian theology informs Renaissance painting and sculpture in the depiction of Jesus Christ. Make sure to use Steinberg’s essay in The Reader, pp. 73–80, from Week Four in addition to the Steinberg materials in Week
• Using Christiane Gruber’s article from Week Seven, analyze the three main modes by which Persian painters depicted the Prophet Muhammad. In what way do devotional practices and mystical conceptions of the Prophet inform such artistic depictions?
• Using Vidya Dehejia’s article from Week Seven, analyze the ways in which the Buddha was depicted in early Buddhist stories etched in

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