Islamic art [antikvár]

Numbers in the margin refer to illustrations The Islamic world comprises a vast area stretching from Morocco to India and beyond, extending as far as the East Indies and reaching down into Africa below the Sahara. The present area of the Islamic world has contracted marginally from what it was in the Middle Ages, but basically it still embraces the same regions of Asia and Africa as it did at the height of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Many peoples and races inhabit this area, speaking languages which are quite distinct, and yet there is a fundamental unity about the Islamic world which is apparent to any visitor. It is a unity brought about by an allegiance to common religious ideals and, to a lesser extent, the sharing of a common history. Islam is one of the three great Semitic religions, sharing with Christianity and Judaism a religious tradition stemming from the patriarch Abraham: a belief in the One God, creator of the universe; of humanity responsible to that creator for its actions; and ui the certainty of the Final Judgement. Islam was established in western Arabia by the Prophet Muhammad in the early 7th century, making it the most recent of the three 'revealed' religions. Nevertheless, the new faith claimed a historical mandate going back to the time of the creation; it saw itself as the original faith of mankind whose purpose had always been the communication of a divine plan for humanity and its implementation on earth. This divine plan was made known to Adam at the dawn of history, and then by successive prophets or messengers (among whom Islam numbered Abraham, Moses, Christ and finally Muhammad) to all the nations of the earth. Muhammad differed from the earlier messengers, who had been only partially successful, in two important respects. For the first time mankind received the true revelation of the divine plan in the form of the Koran, which Muhammad believed to have been communicated to him by supernatural means; and with his acceptance by the inhabitants of Medina in 622 ad, an Islamic state was established to put the divine plan into practice. It is with this momentous event that the Islamic era commences. Within a century ofthe Prophet's death in 632 ad, Muslim armies had extended the borders of the Islamic state to Spain in the west and Central Asia in the east. The head of the state was the caliph, temporal successor of Muhammad, whose function was to protect the domain of the believers and ensure that the divine law, the Shari'ah, was observed. The Shari'ah was based on the Koran and the actions and decisions of Muhammad which were assumed to have been divinely inspired. There was no division into secular and religious spheres and the law was all-embracing, codifying the minutest detail of the Muslim's daily life. It was observed by all members of the state except Christians and Jews, who on payment of a tax in lieu of military service lived a separate existence as protected communities. Conversion to Islam was a simple matter; aU that was necessary was to repeat the formula, 'There is no deity but God (Allah) and Muhammad is his Messenger.' But with these simple words the convert acknowledged the Islamic interpretation of history as an unending endeavour to establish an ideal society based on the divine plan, and in so doing he committed himself to a community of believers dedicated to the observance of that plan.