4.3: Islam and Art

4.3: Islam and Art Figure 635. This city mural depicts Bamba (in white, posed like the only photograph of him that survives), as well as other Mouride Sufi leaders–Ibrahima Fall (right, blue), and El Hadj Malick Sy (left). as well as the Kaaba at Mecca Goree Island’s House of Slaves. Photo by Erica Kowal, 2006, Dakar, Senegal. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0. Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.1 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 636. This image of Al-Buraq, a reverse-glass painting by Gora M’Beingue in 1975, shows the steed as a Wolof woman with gold jewelry sewn into her hair. Mbengue was a member of a Sufi brotherhood that followed the teachings of al-Hajj Malick Sy, a local Sufi saint. 13.5″ x 19.25″. Brooklyn Museum, 2004.52.21. Gift of Blake Robinson. Creative Commons CC BY 3.0. Islam arose in the 7th century in what is now Saudi Arabia, the result of the monotheistic teachings of the Prophet Muhammed. It quickly spread across the Red Sea to North Africa, where it was already established later in that same century in Egypt, reaching the westernmost regions in the 8th-12th centuries. It rapidly spread southward in East Africa, displacing Christianity in the Sudan’s Nubian states, and attempting unsuccessfully to do so in Ethiopia. In West Africa, its expansion was linked to traveling merchants from North Africa plying the trans-Saharan trade, Islam becoming the dominant religion from the 8th to 15th centuries across much of the Western Sudan–at least in its cities and royal courts. It now prevails in much of the continent While the Koran–like the Torah and the Bible–condemns idolatry, it does not explicitly forbid the creation of figurative art. There are, however, numerous references in the Hadith, or the collection of statements by the Prophet Muhammed, that proscribe images of Allah, the Prophet Muhammed, and other prophets. Over time, this has generally meant that figurative art itself has been banned by many Muslim societies. Although Turkish, Persian, and Mughal Indians, in particular, have historically produced paintings of human beings, these were uncommon in Africa. In Senegal, however, popular urban paintings often depict the local Sufi Muslim saint, Amadou Bamba Mbacke (1853-1927). Known as Bamba, he founded the Mourides Brotherhood, which supported equality, peace, and work in an atmosphere of fraternity; Sufi practices emphasize mysticism, spiritual discipline, and meditation. Initially arrested and exiled by the French, they later awarded him the Legion of Honor. Stories about his miraculous works and piety still inspire painters of both murals (Figure 635) Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.2 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 637. This 1980 calligraphic painting by Osman Waqialla, entitled “Kaf ha ya ayn sad,” is consists of ink and gold on vellum. A prayer from the Koran is written within and around five letters that begin the chapter it is taken from; they are considered to have mystical protective powers. The artist is from Sudan but has lived in London since the 1960s. H 6.89″. © Trustees of the British Museum, 1998,0716,0.1. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.3 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 638. Koranic slate. Hausa male artist, Nigeria, late 19th/20th century. H 26″. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 95.83. Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund. Creative Commons CC-BY-NC. and glass panels; his Senegalese followers today number over three million–more than a third of the country. Popular painters in Senegal, as well as other parts of West Africa, frequently create images of Al-Buraq, the mythical winged white steed that carried the Prophet Muhammed from Mecca to Jerusalem and the heavens and back again (Figure 636). Beginning in the 20th century, Senegal and many other predominantly Muslim countries developed art schools where figurative art was taught and spread; urban and academically-trained photographers also produce many figurative images. Nonetheless, the arts of African Muslim regions has traditionally Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.4 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 639. Koranic board. H 34 7/8″. Possibly a Hausa artist, Nigeria, 1966. Courtesy Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art; University of Florida, 1997.25. Museum purchase, funds provided by museum visitors. Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.5 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 640. Koranic slate with geometric camel illustration. H 26.5″. Hausa male artist, Nigeria, late 20th century. Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2014.44.1. The Christina N. and Swan J. Turnblad Memorial Fund. Public domain. Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.6 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 642. House wall decoration in mud relief. Fali artist, Mubi, Nigeria. Photo by Roger Blench, 2007. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Figure 641. Detail of a Koranic slate on a milk transport calabash. Fulani artist, Bamenda, Cameroon, before 1972. Musée du Quai Branly, 70.2012.31.5. é abjured figurative art in favor of architecture and two-dimensional works that stress calligraphy, pattern, and geometry. Even some academic art movements, such as the Khartoum School in Sudan (Figure 637), have stressed creative ways to employ calligraphic references in non-objective paintings. Calligraphy (“beautiful writing,” from the Greek) has long been a critical art form for Muslims throughout the world. Being literate is an essential part of becoming a scholar, and prayers remain in Arabic no matter where the Muslims concerned are based. Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.7 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 643. This wooden house door includes the motif of a Koranic slate midway on its right side. Probably Sakiwa, Nupe male artist, Lapai town, Nigeria, 20th century. Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-258-14. Gift of the Congregatie van de Heilige Geest. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0. In Africa, Muslim children often attend Koranic schools, frequently in addition to other kinds of Western education. They initially learn to recite prayers and then to write them, often in vegetable-based ink that can be washed off their wooden Koranic slates at the end of the school day, making them fresh for further use (Figure 638). In the hands of mallams or marabouts (the English and French terms, respectively), experts in the use of prayers as medicines or amulets, prayers written on slates in vegetable ink are rinsed off and the water collected for patients to drink. In Nigeria and some other West African countries, some Koranic slates by those who have completed their studies become advertisements for the calligraphic skills of the teacher who created them (Figs. 639 and 640), the slate itself becoming a motif visible in architecture, textiles, and other mediums as a reminder of the piety of maker and user (Figs. 641, 642, 643). Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.8 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 645. This Koran, written in magribi/maghrebi script, includes geometric illuminations that enliven its careful calligraphy. Nupe male artist, Nigeria, 20th century. Private collection. As Muslim students’ scholarship progresses, they learn to recite the entire Koran by heart, and those who wish to become teachers perfect both their calligraphy and the kinds of geometric motifs (Figure 644) that form a part of the marginalia of manuscripts, for a “graduation” project for advanced students is a handwritten and decorated copy of the Koran (Figure 645). These are usually loose sheets kept between two covers, the whole protected by a leather bag. Old centers of Islamic learning, such as the mosque-oriented medieval universities at Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.9 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 644. Detail of a Koran with text and illumination. Male artist, possibly Nigeria, 19th or 20th century. H: 4 5/16″. Walters Art Museum, W.853. Museum purchase with funds provided by Islamic Acquisition Fund, 2000. Public domain. Timbuktu, Mali, had libraries filled not only with Korans and Koranic commentaries, but hand-copied books that were treatises on science, medicine, geography, and mathematics. Figure 646. This is an example of a magic square; its digits add up to 65, no matter the direction of the computation. Some Muslim scholars pursue esoteric studies that seek to extract particular medicinal forms of protection from the Koran and the 99 names of God. These date back to early times and come from a common pool shared by Jewish kabbalists and Ethiopian Coptic debtera, and employ a geometric convention known as a magic square inscribed with numbers that add up to the same sum whether examined vertically, horizontally, or diagonally (Figure 646). Even if the maker is not literate nor mathematically-versed, imitation of the square and associated writing are considered to be efficacious. Figure 647. Amulet for the neck composed of 23 leather packets. Unknown artist and ethnic group, Togo. L 23.62″. Etnografiska museet, Stockholm. 1907.44.0158. Obtained from Hans Meyers. Creative Commons CC-BY 2.5. Kathy Curnow 4/20/2021 4.3.10 CC-BY-NC-SA https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/24196 Figure 648. Leather-wrapped amulet for a horse. Hausa artist, Nigeria, 1860-1889. L 3.5″. Wereldmuseum Rotterdam. RV-739- 1005. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0; museum number trimmed.

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