Islamic arts

Introduction
General considerations
Islamic literatures
- Nature and scope
  - The range of Islamic literatures
    - Arabic: language of the Qurʾān
    - Persian
    - South Asian
    - Turkish
    - Turkic languages
    - Other languages
  - Islamic literatures and the West
- External characteristics
  - Rhyme and metre
  - Genres
    - Qaṣīdah
    - Ghazal
    - Qiṭʿah
    - Robāʿī
    - Mas̄navī
    - Other poetic forms
    - Maqāmah
  - Imagery
  - Skills required of the writer
- Historical developments: pre-Islamic literature
  - Poetry
  - Prose
- Early Islamic literature
  - Age of the caliphs
  - Umayyad dynasty
  - The Abbasids
    - The “new” style
    - Development of literary prose
  - Achievements in the western Muslim world
    - Philosophy: Averroës and Avicenna
    - Geographical literature
    - Poetry
    - Historiography: Ibn Khaldūn
  - Decline of Classical Arabic literary style
- Middle Period: the rise of Persian and Turkish poetry
  - The new Persian style
    - Influence of Maḥmūd of Ghazna
    - Epic and romance
    - Other poetic forms
    - Scholarship: al-Bīrūnī
    - Robāʿiyyāt: Omar Khayyam
    - The mystical poem
    - Importance of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī
    - Zenith of Islamic literature
  - Turkish literature
    - Influence of Yunus Emre
    - Religious poetry
  - Persian literature: 1300–1500
    - Lyric poetry: Moḥammad Shams al-Dīn Ḥāfeẓ
    - Parodies of classic forms
    - Eclecticism of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī
    - Prose works: the “mirrors for princes”
    - Belles lettres
  - Popular literature
- The period from 1500 to 1800
  - Decentralization of Islamic literatures
  - New importance of Indian literature
    - Indian literature in Persian
    - Pashto poetry: Khushḥāl Khān Khaṭak
  - Ottoman Turkey
    - Poetry of Fuzuli of Baghdad
    - Later developments
    - Folk poetry
- European and colonial influences: emergence of Western forms
  - The rise of nationalism
  - Arab literatures
    - Poetry
    - Prose
    - The diaspora
  - Turkish literatures
  - Persian literatures
  - India: Urdu and Persian
- The modern period
  - Prose
  - Poetry
    - Arabic
    - Persian
    - Turkish
  - General considerations
- Study and evaluation
  - Early Islamic criticism
  - Modern criticism
Music
- Nature and elements of Islamic music
  - The relation of music to poetry and dance
  - Music and religion
  - Aesthetic traditions
    - Melodic organization
    - Rhythmic organization
    - Musical forms
  - Instruments of music
    - Percussion instruments
    - Wind instruments
    - Stringed instruments
  - The relation of Islamic music to music of other cultures
- The history of Islamic music
  - The pre-Islamic period
  - The beginning of Islam and the first four caliphs
  - The Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties: classical Islamic music
  - Islamic music in Spain
  - The modern period
Dance and theatre
- Types and social functions of dance and theatre
  - Dance
    - Folk dance
    - Dance as entertainment
    - Dance as an art form
    - Dervish dancing
  - Theatre
    - Mime shows
    - Ortaoyunu
    - The marionette theatre
    - Shadow plays (Karagöz)
    - Iranian popular theatre
    - Passion plays (taʿziyyah)
- Dance and theatre in modern times
  - Developments in dance
    - Arab countries
    - Turkey
    - Iran
  - The contemporary theatre
    - Arab countries
    - Turkey
    - Iran
Visual arts
- Origins
  - Earlier artistic traditions
  - The mosque
  - The prohibition against images
- Early period: the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties
  - Architecture
    - Early religious buildings
    - Three great mosques
    - Other classic mosques
    - Other types of religious buildings
    - Secular architecture
    - Palaces
    - Urban design
    - Building materials and technology
    - Architectural decoration
  - Decorative arts
  - Assessment
- Middle period
  - Fatimid art (909–1171)
    - Architecture
    - Book illustration
  - Seljuq art
    - Characteristic architectural forms
    - Architecture in Iran
    - Architecture in Iraq, Syria, and Anatolia
    - Other arts
  - Western Islamic art: Moorish
  - Mamluk art
    - Architecture
    - Other arts
  - Mongol Iran: Il-Khanid and Timurid periods
    - Architecture
    - Painting
- Late period
  - Ottoman art
    - Architecture
    - Other arts
  - Safavid art
    - Architecture
    - Painting
  - Mughal art
- Islamic art under European influence and contemporary trends

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Al-Ḥākim Mosque

Persian arabesque carpet

Blue Iznik ceramic tile wall with an ornate mihrab niche and a decorated marble minbar platform inside the Mosque of Aqsunqur, Cairo, Egypt.

Behzād: The Building of the Famous Castle of Khawarnaq

See actors discuss their roles in a play based on a poem by Farīd al-Dīn al-ʿAṭṭār, The Conference of the Birds

Whirling dervishes in white robes perform the Sema ritual in a circular hall with a wooden floor, as a large audience watches from balconies in Yenikapi Mevlevihanesi, Istanbul.

At a Glance

Arabesque decoration on the dome of the Mādar-e Shāh madrasah, built by Ḥusayn I, early 18th century, at Eṣfahān, Iran.

Islamic arts summary

Related Questions

Al-Ḥākim Mosque — Al-Ḥākim Mosque Al-Ḥākim Mosque, Cairo.

Islamic arts

Written by

J.T.P. de BruijnAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Islamic arts, literary, performing, and visual arts of the vast populations of the Islamic world from the 7th century onward. Adherents of Islam and those living in Islamic settings have created such an immense variety of literatures, performing arts, visual arts, and music that it virtually defies any comprehensive definition. In the narrowest sense, the arts of the Islamic peoples might be said to include only those arising directly from the practice of Islam. More...

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