Some glimpses into our session on Islamic art in #IntroToIslamGU...
To prep, we read an essay by Oludamini Ogunnaike, "The Silent Theology of Islamic Art." The opening of the piece has heavily shaped my own approach to teaching about Islam. renovatio.zaytuna.edu
We also read an article by Christiane Gruber that complicates the common notion (held by many non-Muslims and Muslims) that "Islam forbids images of the Prophet Muhammad."
In class, we pondered questions like "What makes art Islamic?" and "What counts as Islamic art?" We considered different answers from various scholars. Then we looked at some examples of art and the implicit theology that "speaks" through these works.
We also looked at some of @safialatif's contemporary paintings, and talked about how she incorporates elements like geometry and Arabic calligraphy into her works. I especially like her renderings of Qur'anic stories.
We stuck mostly to visual art and architecture in this lesson, but we also listened to different variations of the adhan/azan, or "call to prayer." Here's a sample from Amman, Jordan: youtube.com
Do you have a favorite piece of Islamic artβvisual, musical, etc? Feel free to share it on this thread and I may be able to share it with my students.
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