{Islamic Art – The Word (1) [continued (4)]}[14th April 1991]

[Redbook9:98][19910414:1104d]{Islamic Art – The Word (1) [continued (4)]}[14th April 1991]

19910414:1104

[continued]

‘The accumulation of large amounts of material, which is carefully organised up the present, seems typical of all branches of Islamic scholarship, from theology to natural sciences. There are many minute observations and descriptions* but rarely a full view of the whole process. Later, especially in the Persian, Turkish, and Indo-Muslim areas, a tendency to **over-stress the decorative elements of prose is evident; and the contents even of official chronicles are hidden behind a network of rhymed prose, which is difficult to disentangle.

‘This tendency is illustrated in all branches of Islamic art: the lack of “architectural” *** formation.**** Instead, there is a kind of carpet-like pattern; the Arabic and Persian poem is, in general, judged not as a closed unity but according to the perfection of its individual verses.’

#

*{U~}

**[sic]

***[not in architecture, presumably (& ?see ref in next fn=****]

****{cf [[Redbook9:141-147][19910420:0953z]{Late Period of Islamic Art [continued (2)]}[20th April 1991],] 142}

# – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica) 22:] 45 (which, see)

[continued]

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{Islamic Art – The Word (1) [continued (3)]}[14th April 1991]

[Redbook9:97-98][19910414:1104c]{Islamic Art – The Word (1) [continued (3)]}[14th April 1991]

19910414:1104

[continued]

‘The ambiguity of Persian poetry, which oscillates between the worldly, the divine, and often the political level, is typical of Islamic writings. Especially in Iran and the countries under its cultural influence, this kind of poetry formed the most important part of literature. Epic poetry of all kinds developed exclusively outside the Arabic-speaking countries; Western readers look in vain for an epical structure in such long poems (as in the case of the prose romances of the Arabs) and find, instead, a rather aimless representation* of facts and fictions. A similar characteristic even conditions numerous historical works in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, which, especially in classical times, contain much valuable information put together without being shaped into a real work of art; only rarely does the historian or philosopher reach a comprehensive view. The first attempt at a philosophy of history, Ibn Khaldun’s** Muqaddimah, in the 14^th century [ce], was rarely studied by his Arab compatriots.

***

*{U~}

**{ref [[Redbook9:92][19910413:1056l]{Ibn Khaldun’s cycles of history}[13th April 1991],] 92}

***– ibid (Encyclopaedia Britannica) 22:45 (which, see)

[continued]

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{Islamic Art – The Word (1) [continued]}[14th April 1991]

[Redbook9:96-97][19910414:1104b]{Islamic Art – The Word (1) [continued]}[14th April 1991]

19910414:1104

[continued]

‘The poetry of the Arabs consisted in the beginning of praise and satirical poems thought to be full of magic qualities. The strict rules of the outward form of the poems (monorhyme, complicated metre) even in pre-Islamic times led to a certain formalism and encouraged imitation.

‘Goethe’s statement that the stories of The Thousand and One Nights have no goal in themselves shows his understanding of the character of Arabic belles lettres, contrasting them with the Islamic religion, which aims at “collecting and uniting people in order to achieve one high goal”. Poets, on the other hand, rove around without any ethical purpose,* according to the Qur’ān. For many pious Muslims, poetry was something suspect, opposed to the divine law, especially since it sang mostly of forbidden wine and of free love. The combination of music and poetry, as practised in court circles and among the mystics, has always aroused the wrath of the lawyer divines who wielded so much authority in Islamic communities. This opposition may partly explain why Islamic poetry and fine arts took refuge in a kind of unreal world, using fixed images that could be correctly interpreted only by those who were knowledgeable in the art.

**

*cf Plato’s Republic

**– ibid (Encyclopaedia Britannica) 22:45 (which, see)

[continued]

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{Islamic Art – The Word (1)}[14th April 1991]

[Redbook9:96-100][19910414:1104]{Islamic Art – The Word (1)}[14th April 1991]

19910414:1104

‘The relationship between the art of the Islāmic peoples and its religious basis is anything but direct.

‘Like most prophetic religions,* Islam is not conducive to fine arts. Representation of living beings is prohibited – not in the Qur’ān but in the prophetic tradition. Thus, the centre of the Islamic artistic tradition lies in calligraphy, a distinguishing feature of this culture, in which the word as the medium of divine revelation plays such an important role.’

**

*[?]

**– E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 22:44

[continued]

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{The Expected Mahdi}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:95][19910413:1056o]{The Expected Mahdi}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘The “Expected Mahdi”... is a figure who appears in the Hadith, or recorded sayings of Muhammad, rather than in the Koran. He is not strictly a messiah, but he was prophesied as a divinely inspired human who would cleanse Islam.

‘The appearance of a claimant is a regular feature at the beginning of each Muslim century. The Mad* Mahdi, whose men killed General Gordon in the Sudan, appeared at the beginning of the last century.

‘The belief is common to all Islam. There is a tradition that the Mahdi will appear in the fifteenth century and be proclaimed after dawn prayers in the Kaaba. The people of Mecca will try to kill him, but he will triumph and go on to liberate Jerusalem.

‘There he will be united with the prophet Issa, or Jesus, and defeat the false Mahdi from Persia.’

**

This is interesting given that the year 2048CE must fall well within the 15^th century of the Muslim calendar, suggesting a convergence of two cycles.

****

*‘mad’? [sic]

** – The Times, 19791123:96 (4^th day of the year 1400 in the Islamic calendar)***

(extracted at II [[Redbook2:158-160][19791123:1850]{Religious Prophecy}[23rd November 1979],] 158C,B) [In the ts this entry comes after the entries for p159; The Times report is not reproduced in the ts but is referred to in fn=* there]

***according to The Times (ref II [(See above)] 158B)

****{cf [[Redbook9:78][19910411:1858]{The Mahdi}[11th April 1991],] 78,

[[Redbook9:88][19910413:1056d]{Mahdis}[13th April 1991],] 88}

----

<199104222>

----

<19910423>

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{Shiism}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:94][19910413:1056n]{Shiism}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘Labels such as Shi’ite, which always carried an oppositional quality, may be formerly nonessential attributes* that have become salient in the wake of the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. When disadvantaged persona who happen to be Shi’ites find an opening for criminal protest, or when those for whom Shi’ite theology means little find its vision of justice and radical revolution appropriate to their specific circumstances, an old label acquires a new violence.’

**

*[sic]

**– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 132

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{Late Absolutism in Islam}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:93-94][19910413:1056m]{Late Absolutism in Islam}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘In this period [1405-1683]*, long after Islam was once thought to have peaked, centralised absolutism reached its height,** aided in part by the exploitation of gunpowder warfare and in part by new ways to fuse spiritual and military authority. Never before had Islamicate ideals and institutions better demonstrated their ability to encourage political centralisation, or to support a Muslim style of life where there was no organised state, be it in areas where Islam had long been established, or in areas where it was newly arrived. The major states of this period impressed contemporary Europeans; in them some of the greatest Islamicate artistic achievements were made. In this period Muslims formed the cultural patterns that they brought into modern times, and adherence to Islam expanded to approximately its current distribution. As adherence to Islam expanded, far-flung cultural regions began to take on a life of their own. The unity of several of these regions was expressed through Empire – the Ottomans in south-eastern Europe, Anatolia, the Eastern Maghrib, Egypt and Syria; the Safavids in Iran and Iraq; the Indo-Timurids (Mughals) in India. In these empires, Sunnite and Shi’ite became identities on a much larger scale than ever before, expressing competition between large populations; simultaneously Shi’ism acquired a permanent base from which to generate international opposition.’

***

The similarities with the European experience are close. This is a period of diffused rather than concentrated power (left rather than right): the importance of the despotism, in Islamdom as in Christendom, is not in its existence (which may be seen as an extreme response to the extreme problem of governing expanding diffusion) but in its essential failure. ****

#

*[ce. Square brackets per ms]

**{cf [[Redbook9:102-104][19910414:1104#]{Islamic Art: The Word (2)}[14th April 1991],] 103}

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:124]

****{Ingenious. See below?↓ Possibly the fact that Islamdom began at c[irca] M~U~ (compared with Christendom at C) has had a right-wing or ‘hardening’ effect throughout, affecting even the G~ side of the circle.}

#(See ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 127 on

(1) Akbar’s religious tolerance and interest, &

(2) the Nasruddin story: “Carrots”)

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{Ibn Khaldun’s cycles of history}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:92][19910413:1056l]{Ibn Khaldun’s cycles of history}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

*

**

***

****

*[The period of migration & renewal:] (1041-1405[ce])

**{[Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406:] 2048J~G~1408[ce]}

***cf [[Redbook9:91][19910413:1056j]{Democracy or Destruction}[13th April 1991],] 91↑

{[[Redbook9:96-100][19910414:1104c]{Islamic Art: The Word (1)}[14th April 1991],] 98}

**** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 124

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{Sufi ecumenicism}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:91][19910413:1056k]{Sufi ecumenicism}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘’In India, Sufism, which inherently undermined communalism, was bringing members of different religious communities together in ways very rare in the more westerly parts of Islam.’

*

* – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:121]

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{Democracy or Destruction}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:91][19910413:1056j]{Democracy or Destruction}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘Just as enthusiastically as [the Mongols]* had destroyed citied life, they now rebuilt it, relying as had all previous invaders on the administrative skills of indigenous Persian-speaking bureaucrats.’

**

If the natural O[uter] C[ircle] cycle involves this sort of repeated destruction and renewal – the way in which it happens depending on the stage of the cycle to which it is ‘advanced’ or ‘postponed’ – perhaps the submission of democratic government to periodic popular re-election (or dismissal) is the self-sacrifice needed to give the i[nner] c[ircle] contra-rotation required in order to avoid periodic destruction*** and attain a kind of institutional immortality.****

*[Square brackets per ms]

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 121

***{cf [(presumably) [Redbook9:72][19910411:0935j]{The Law (Shariah) [continued (10)] – Legitimacy}[11th April 1991],] 72}

****{& see [[Redbook9:92][19910411:0935l]{Ibn Khaldun’s cycles of history}[11th April 1991],] 92↓ re succession}

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{Tariqahs}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:91][19910413:1056i]{Tariqahs}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘It is possible that by the 18^th century most adult Muslim males had some connection with one or more tarīqahs (= “fellowships organised around and named for the tarīqah (“way” or “path”) of given masters”*).’

**

*{(ie Sufis? (ref [[Redbook9:64-67][19910410:1202]{The Path (Tariqah)}[10th April 1991],] 64)}

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:120]

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{Al-Ghazali}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:90][19910413:1056h]{Al-Ghazali}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘Al=Ghazāli... was born in 1058* at Tas and in 1091 was made head of the Baghdad Nizamiyah.* For four years, to great admiration, he taught both fiqh*** and kalam**** and delivered critiques of falsafah# and Ismaili thought. According to his autobiographical work Al-Munquidh min ad-dadāl (The Dlivererm from Error), the more he thought, the more he doubted, until his will and voice became paralysed. In 1095 he retreated from public life, attempting to arrive at a more satisfying faith. He undertook a radically sceptical re-examination of all the paths available to the pious Muslim, culminating in an incorporation of the active, immediate and inspired experience of the Sūfis into the Sharī‘ah-ordered piety of the public cult. For his accomplishments, al-Ghazāli was viewed as a renewer (mujaddid), a role expected by many Muslims to be filled by at least one figure at the turn of every Muslim century.’#*

#**

*{2048A~1024CE}

**(state-supported school patronised by Nizam al-Mulk [a vizier of the Turkish Seljuq sultans])

***[Islamic jurisprudence]

****(theology)

#(philosophy)

#*{cf [[Redbook9:106][19910414:1104#]{Philosophy and Mysticism}[14th April 1991],] 106}

#**– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 120

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{Individuals and Associations [in Islam]}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:90][19910413:1056g]{Individuals and Associations [in Islam]}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘Premodern Islamicate societies were characterised by a high degree of fluidity, occasionalism, and voluntarism in the structuring of associations, organisations, loyalties and occupations.’

*

‘The Qur’ān and Sharī‘ah discouraged corporate responsibility in favour of individual action; even the legal scope of partnership was limited.’

**

*– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:117] (immediately following previous extract)

**– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 118

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{Young Men [in Islam]}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:89][19910413:1056f]{Young Men [in Islam]}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘Ali had come to be recognised* as the archetypal young male (fatā); a related word, futūwah, signified groups of young men who pursued such virtues as **courage, aiding the weak, generosity, endurance of suffering, love of truth, and hospitality.’

***

*(In the 10th-11th centuries)

**m~

***– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:117]

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{Sufis}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:89][19910413:1056e]{Sufis}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘The most visible and powerful 10th-century* exponent of Sūfism was al-Hallāj. By his day, Sūfism had grown far beyond its early forms, which were represented by al-Hasan al-Basri (died 728),** who practised zuhd, or rejection of the world,*** and by Rabiah al- ‘Adawiyah (died 801),**** who formulated the Sufi ideal of a disinterested # love of God. The mystics Abu Yazid Bistami (died 874)#* and al-Junayd (died 910)#* had begun to pursue the experience of unity #** with God, first by being “drunk” with his love and with love of him, and then by #*** acquiring life transforming self-possession and control. Masters (called shaykhs or pīrs) were beginning to attract disciples (murīds) to their way. Like other Muslims who tried to go “beyond” the Sharī‘ah to inner truth, the Sūfis practised concealment of inner awareness (taqīyah).’#****

##

*{2048U~A~896}

**{2048U~768}

***G~ff

****{2048U~768}

#R~ff

#*{2048U~A~896}

#**Cff

#***r~

#****{cf [[Redbook9:64-67][19910410:1202]{The Path (Tariqah)}[10th April 1991],] 64,

[[Redbook9:105][19910414:1104#]{ – Love and Death}[14th April 1991],] 105}

##– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 117

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