THE CLASSICAL AND DECORATIVE ARTS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD - Essay Example

Muslims have ruled in different parts of the world beginning from 622 A.D. till the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s. During this long period of rule, Islamic art has gone through various changes rising and falling with the rise and fall of the different empires. Islam is a liberal religion and likewise it allows freedom to its followers within the limits of religion. Keeping this in mind the Islamic art has flourished in different periods and has been able to prove its identity in all aspects.

However there has been a controversy regarding the use of figures in Islamic art and architecture. In this paper I would like to review the history of figural representation in Islamic art. Later I would like to comment on the use of figures in art and architecture from the Islamic point of view. The first examples of Islamic art appear in the period of the Caliph Umer where the amalgamation of classical and Iranian motifs and themes became prominent. The Dome of the rock in Jerusalem is a prominent example in this regard.

The Dome reflects an amalgamation of the Greco-Roman, Byzantine and the Sasanian art. Islamic art emerged during the period of the Caliph Umer (661-750). This period is often considered as the formative period in the history of Islamic art (The Nature of Islamic Art, n.d.). Figural imagery was found in the Umayad palaces of the inland Levant such as Mushatta and the Khirbat al Mafjar (Allen, 1988). With the spread of Islam in different parts of the world, Islamic art continued to flourish under different influences.

Despite the fact that Islamic art came under different changes due to different influences in different periods, the unique thing about it is that it has been able to maintain its individuality and identity. The most salient features of Islamic art are Calligraphy is regarded as the highest form of Islamic art. It is the art of writing Quranic verses in different