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Can someone who is knowledgeable on the topic enlighten me? I was under the impression (very possibly mistaken) that you couldn't depict human or animal forms

by gjkood 10y ago

Can someone who is knowledgeable on the topic enlighten me? I was under the impression (very possibly mistaken) that you couldn't depict human or animal forms in Islamic Art/Architecture and hence the prevalence of amazingly intricate geometry and calligraphy adorning Mosques. However I see some elaborate murals with human and animal depictions in the 5th and 9th photos in the article. Am I mistaken in my assumption? Are there restrictions on what can or cannot be depicted in Islamic Art?

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
skissane 10y ago
In Sunni Islam, your assumption is largely true today. The majority of contemporary Sunni Islam takes a negative view of images of humans or animals in religious contexts, or even in art in general. However, historically, that hasn't always been the uniform Sunni position, miniature painting was very popular in the Ottoman Empire even among Sunnis. By contrast, Shi'a Islam tends to take a much more lenient view on this issue. In Sunni Islam, making images of Muhammad is considered gravely wrong, whereas many Shi'a authorities consider it permissible so long as the image is made out of respect and devotion. Much of Sufism also takes a more lenient view of religious iconography.
- schoen 10y ago
  There's also a fairly long discussion at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam, but I bet it could stand to be expanded quite a lot. I remember that when I was in elementary school my class had a teaching intern who was an observant Muslim woman and consistently wore a hijab. Our regular teacher told us that we students should refrain from drawing pictures of the intern out of respect to her religious beliefs (this being the 1980s, the prospect of taking cell phone camera photos didn't really come up). I never found out whether this request was something that she specifically asked for, or something that the teacher had assumed or guessed at.
gkya 10y ago
AFAIK the only thing that's expressly forbidden in Quran is worshipping of any likeness, be it an image, a sculpture, or whatnot. The rest is interpretations of different schools. Though all my knowledge is hearsay, as an irreligious son of a mostly non observant family.
- hasenj 10y ago
  There are several hadiths (at least in the Sunni tradition) explicitly forbidden the making of "images".
mpoloton 10y ago
Neither of them are mosques. Picture 5 is a palace [1] and 9 is a public bath [2]. You can see the name of these places here [3] 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chehel_Sotoun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chehel_Sotoun 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vakil_Bath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vakil_Bath 3 - http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/09/25-incredible-photos-that-show-the-beauty-of-iranian-architecture-5805641/ http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/09/25-incredible-photos-that-show...
- gjkood 10y ago
  That is interesting. The title leads one to believe the article is only about mosques and the pictures have no captions explaining what or where they are.

by gjkood 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

skissane 10y ago

In Sunni Islam, your assumption is largely true today. The majority of contemporary Sunni Islam takes a negative view of images of humans or animals in religious contexts, or even in art in general. However, historically, that hasn't always been the uniform Sunni position, miniature painting was very popular in the Ottoman Empire even among Sunnis. By contrast, Shi'a Islam tends to take a much more lenient view on this issue. In Sunni Islam, making images of Muhammad is considered gravely wrong, whereas many Shi'a authorities consider it permissible so long as the image is made out of respect and devotion. Much of Sufism also takes a more lenient view of religious iconography.

schoen 10y ago
There's also a fairly long discussion at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam, but I bet it could stand to be expanded quite a lot. I remember that when I was in elementary school my class had a teaching intern who was an observant Muslim woman and consistently wore a hijab. Our regular teacher told us that we students should refrain from drawing pictures of the intern out of respect to her religious beliefs (this being the 1980s, the prospect of taking cell phone camera photos didn't really come up). I never found out whether this request was something that she specifically asked for, or something that the teacher had assumed or guessed at.

gkya 10y ago

AFAIK the only thing that's expressly forbidden in Quran is worshipping of any likeness, be it an image, a sculpture, or whatnot. The rest is interpretations of different schools. Though all my knowledge is hearsay, as an irreligious son of a mostly non observant family.

hasenj 10y ago
There are several hadiths (at least in the Sunni tradition) explicitly forbidden the making of "images".

mpoloton 10y ago

Neither of them are mosques. Picture 5 is a palace [1] and 9 is a public bath [2]. You can see the name of these places here [3] 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chehel_Sotoun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chehel_Sotoun 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vakil_Bath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vakil_Bath 3 - http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/09/25-incredible-photos-that-show-the-beauty-of-iranian-architecture-5805641/ http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/09/25-incredible-photos-that-show...

gjkood 10y ago
That is interesting. The title leads one to believe the article is only about mosques and the pictures have no captions explaining what or where they are.