{"id":128781,"date":"2019-04-15T01:01:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T01:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=128781"},"modified":"2019-04-15T01:01:52","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T01:01:52","slug":"rationalising-islams-prohibition-of-drawing-images-and-erecting-statues-of-humans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=128781","title":{"rendered":"Rationalising Islams Prohibition of Drawing Images and Erecting Statues of Humans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Spahic Omer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islam categorically prohibits drawing images and erecting statues of\nhumans. The matter pertains as much to fiqh<\/em> (Islamic jurisprudence) as \u02dcaqidah<\/em>\n(Islamic belief system). There are many authentic hadiths<\/em> (traditions)\nof the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that testify to this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to those hadiths<\/em>, the image makers are cursed; they are\ncalled some of the most evil creation; they will be most severely punished on\nthe Day of Judgment; they will be punished until they breathe life into their\n\u0153creations\u009d, but they will never be able to do that; and the angels do not\nenter houses in which there are statues (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the reasons for this unequivocal prohibition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By and large, human images and statues are produced in the name of art,\nin its two main classical branches: painting and sculpture. They are meant to\nbe appreciated for their beauty, meaning and emotional power, predicated on an\nartists imagination, resourcefulness, conceptual ideas and skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authentic art is a process of discovering in life and nature their essence,\nwhich is meta-physical. It is furthermore ontological, dealing with the\nfundamental nature of being. That essence is then given a physical form most\nappropriate for it. The nearer the\nvisible object is to the essence, the more beautiful it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art, therefore, is the trickiest and most challenging\nthing, bordering on the impossible. It is an attempt to rationalize, in\nessence, the irrationalizable and represent the unrepresentable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say that authentic art is not the\nimitation of created nature. \u0153A photographic representation, which reproduces\nthe object as it is, may be valuable for illustration or documentation, for the\nestablishment of identity. As a work of art, it is worthless\u009d (Ismail\nal-Faruqi).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Man as a masterpiece of heavenly artistry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almighty Allah created man in the best of moulds, a\ncombination of the body (matter) and soul. The latter, which is a heavenly\nsubstance called by Allah in the Quran as \u0153My Spirit\u009d (Sad, 72), has been\nbreathed into the former so as to give life to and sustain it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Man is neither the body (jism<\/em>) nor the soul (ruh<\/em>)\nalone. The subtle mixture of\nthe two constitutes a person, which is called nafs<\/em>. However, in this\ndual configuration the body is to always be subservient to the soul. It is to\nbe its instrument and carrier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The welfare and interests of the soul are to prevail, for the ultimate\ntruth and life realities are sublime and transcendent, rather than lowly and\nonly physical. Without harnessing the capacities of the soul, the body and nafs<\/em>\n(self or personality) will never get access to the profundity of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life signifies but the striking of a delicate balance between the bodys\nand the souls longings for their respective origins and goals. Allah says: \u0153He\nhas succeeded who purifies it (the soul or the self, nafs<\/em>); and he has\nfailed who corrupts it\u009d (al-Shams, 9-10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the creation of man denotes the pinnacle of Almighty Allahs\nincomparable act of creation. Allah also created man (Adam) in His own image\n(Sahih Muslim). That means that man is bestowed with a great many attributes\nand qualities that Allah also has, such as life, knowledge, power of hearing,\nseeing, understanding, etc. But the two are completely different. Similarities\nare only in names. One belongs to the Creator and Master, and the other to the\ncreation and servant. There can be no comparison of any kind between the two.\nAllah says: \u0153There is nothing like unto Him (Allah)\u009d (al-Shura, 11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Man is also created as khalifah<\/em> (Allahs vicegerent, viceroy or deputy) on earth, to whom everything in the heavens and on the earth has been subjected. Allah greatly honoured man and conferred on him special favours, over a great part of creation (al-Isra, 70). Man is given all those godlike qualities and attributes solely in order to be able to actualise and live the concept and phenomenon of life according to the will and design of its Creator, and not according to his own fluctuating will, desires and interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, so meaningful, consequential and complex is the universe of man \u201c a convergence of his spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical proportions – that no artistic idea and expression, nor any artists imagination, creativity, talent and skill, will do him justice. Every depiction of man will be insufficient and flawed, one way or another. It will be an unfair act of downgrading mans importance and his honourable substance, mission and purpose. All failed endeavours will have no choice but to oscillate between one misguided artistic extremity and another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such an art will then become a form of distortion and falsehood. It will\nbe misleading and dangerous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, man and his remarkable essence are undepictable and unrepresentable. They reside above the aptitudes of art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allah as the only Creator<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only Creator who creates ex nihilo<\/em> (from absolute\nnothingness), and the only Life-Giver, is Allah. Man can be dubbed as such only\nmetaphorically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to emphasise the importance and primacy of the matter, Allah describes Himself as the Almighty and Original Creator using different attributes and names. Chief among them are: al-Khaliq<\/em> (the Creator of everything out of nothingness), al-Fatir<\/em> (the Bringer into existence, giving every living thing its particular nature, objective and meaning), al-Badi<\/em> (the Originator of everything without model or material and after no pre-existing similitude), al-Bari<\/em> (the Maker, referring to the creative act of bringing about what Allah wills to create) and al-Musawwir<\/em> (the Fashioner who gives each created thing its unique form).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a person (artist) really wanted to depict or \u0153create\u009d the essence of\na human being by means of either painting or sculpture, he will then have\nencroached upon the rights and authority that belong to Allah only. That is a\nblasphemous act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islam teaches that regardless of mans relative abilities and flairs, and his restricted civilisational achievements and coups, there will never be an exchange of titles between him and Allah. Allah as the Creator, Master and Sustainer will forever remain so, and man as the mere creation, servant and indigent being will also forever remain so. Trying, or pretending, to upset this hierarchical balance denotes one of the most loathsome acts that man may perpetrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is therefore held that one of the main reasons for prohibiting\ndrawing images and erecting statues of humans is that such acts imply trying to\nmatch the creation of Allah. As a result, while being punished on the Day of\nJudgment, the persons guilty of such a wrongdoing will be asked, as a form of\nhumiliation, to give life to that which they have created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life as a canvas <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that Allah is\nbeautiful and loves beauty (Sahih Muslim). He also said that Allah does not\nlook at peoples figures, appearances or wealth, but rather He looks at their\nhearts and deeds (Sahih Muslim).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that Islam promotes the prospects of artistic creativity and the enjoyment of\nbeauty. It likewise exalts beauty and the beautiful, just as it abhors and suppresses ugliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Islam sees absolute beauty only in Allah: His Holy Self, Names,\nAttributes and Actions, the result of which are the universe and life. When the\nProphet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that Allah \u0153loves beauty\u009d, he\nmeant that Allah also wants man, His vicegerent, to create a legacy of beauty\non earth. But terrestrial things, events and experiences are beautiful only\nwhen they are consistent with the highest standards and criteria of heavenly\nbeauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, man in his artistic undertakings \u201c as part of his continuous cultural and civilisational drives on earth \u201c is not to celebrate, nor glorify, himself, but Allah his Creator and Master. He is not to celebrate the types and upshots of relative beauty, but the power, source and signs of the Absolute Beauty. The latter course of action is more profound and rewarding. Above all, it is more authentic and sensible. It is about being real and true to ones self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life in its totality will then be transformed into an infinite canvas. On it, Allahs viceroy or deputy on earth will relentlessly paint his at once beautiful and praiseworthy personal and collective deeds, accomplishments, programs, manners, thoughts, ideas and experiences. Man will become both the generator of art and its integral part. His powerful and upright sense of beauty and excellence might as well become the source and raison detre<\/em> of each and every other civilisational goodness of his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monotheistic canvas of life will exude an aura of actuality, realism\nand truth, rather than an aura of ambiguity, delusion and tension. Allah and\nhis revealed signs (ayat<\/em>) in the form of revelation, as well as creation,\nwill be the Criterion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, beauty is total and unconditional. It is incorrect to say that\nit lies in the eye of the beholder. Rather, it lies in the heart and mind of\nevery righteous and so, beautiful, individual. The eyes are just windows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing images and erecting statues as a form of veneration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing images and erecting statues of humans can be so dangerous that\nsuch an approach under certain circumstances can morph, partly or completely,\ninto an act of veneration, or even worship. It can be a portal leading to a\ndegree of shirk<\/em> (polytheism).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The earliest example of shirk<\/em> on earth is said to have come to\npass exactly owing to the veneration of certain individuals depicted in images.\nIt all started with innocently drawing those individuals as part of a legacy\npreservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trend of inseparability between images and statues, and forms of shirk<\/em>,\ncontinued and grew in strength throughout the ages. For instance, struggles\nbetween aniconism and iconography in the orb of Christianity are well-known and\nwell-documented, with the latter eventually becoming victorious. So much so\nthat until approximately the 17th<\/sup> century the history of Western art\nwas principally identical with the history of western ecclesiastical (Christian\nChurch and its clergy) and religious art. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Makkan society, where Prophet Muhammads prophet-hood mission\ncommenced, was no exception. Yet, in it, so widespread was shirk<\/em> that no\naspect of life was conceivable without its traces. It was simply a culture and\na way of life. The Kabah alone with its immediate vicinity is said to have\ncontained in various forms up to 360 idols of many gods and goddesses belonging\nto various Arab tribes, towns and families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was due to that, surely, that Islams prohibition of idolatry and\neverything closely or remotely associated with it, was definite and unyielding.\nAniconism was strictly upheld and enforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From all this, one can easily extract why Islam, in equal measure,\nprohibits drawing pictures and making statues of all other animate beings, such\nas animals and birds. Whereas there is nothing wrong with drawing and making\ninanimate or lifeless objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many wonder if this prohibition is still valid today in the 21st<\/sup>\ncentury when the basic and primitive forms of shirk<\/em> are long extinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is an emphatic \u0153yes\u009d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is so because today, perhaps more than before, many people enjoy\ndiverse and subtle polytheistic (shirk<\/em>) tendencies. A sage has said that\nin the modern world there are more gods than people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be explained along the lines of the verity that since lots of\npeople today are sceptics, agnostics and hedonists, they all fashion individual\ngods for themselves. Man cannot be godless and nonreligious, in the sense that\nhe worships nothing. Man is created as a worshipping being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allah the Creator reveals that He has created man with an irresistible\nurge to submit to a power and authority, and to worship it. That power and\nauthority should be the Creator and Master of the universe, but if man turns\naway, he then ends up concocting myriads of alternatives just to satisfy his\ninborn impulse to worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of those alternatives that man may worship instead of Allah are:\npower, greed, selfishness, wealth, fame, recognition, success, happiness,\ncareer, knowledge, science, technology, ego, lusts, ambitions, vision, ideas, illusions,\nhuman beings, prized objects, nation, race, state, family, offspring, this\nworld, nature, natural phenomena, humankind, etc. Whatever is a persons biggest\nobsession and he lives for it — that is his deity (god).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allah says to this effect: \u0153Have\nyou seen he who has taken as his god his own vain desires (lusts or caprices),\nand Allah has sent him astray due to knowledge and has set a seal upon his\nhearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil? So who will guide him\nafter Allah? Then will you not be reminded?\u009d (al-Jathiyah, 23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern West-dominated global civilisation is rooted in excessively materialistic and nonspiritual worldview. It has an endless collection of its own gods and idols all of which revolve around man as a concept and most compelling reality, and his material interests, ambitions and overall hedonistic wellbeing. Science and technology connote the criterion of legitimacy, and their fraternity the mainstream orthodoxy. Temples and sanctuaries are shopping malls, business corporations, sports centres, cultural centres, art centres, entertainment centres, fashion centres, media establishments, museums, universities, colleges and other learning institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, extreme humanism, according to which man has extinguished any possibility of a supernatural or heavenly god, and in turn, went all out to deify himself and his potentials, became the backbone of modern civilisation. This became reflected in all spheres, but especially in the sphere of art on account of its ontological character and its persuasive, narrative, expressionist and ritualistic dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of Renaissance humanism <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all started with the Renaissance (a period from the 14th<\/sup> century to the 17th<\/sup> century) as a precursor to modern-day civilisation and a bridge between the Middle Ages and modern times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main characteristics of the Renaissance was its humanism, which resulted from the leading philosophical currents of the age. According to it, man is perceived as an independent earthly being no longer in need of the Heaven and God. Man does not need any objective metaphysical criteria as regards the prospect of sorting out the truth, epistemology and morality. His own reason, in total isolation from the revelation and the Heaven, will suffice. Human reason and other faculties of man are seen as superior and sovereign. As such, man was ready to conquer the earth and its physical laws, and so, realise his ultimate destiny. If God created the universe and man, He was no longer needed afterwards. Man was capable of running the show on earth and his life affairs on his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Renaissance philosophy of humanism dealt a fatal blow to the\nnotions of God and spirituality in the Christian Europe. They never recovered ever\nsince. The matter reached the nadir when German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche\ndeclared in 1882 that God was dead (Gott ist tot<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No wonder that it was during the Renaissance that a culture of\neliminating God and emancipating and venerating, yet worshipping, man through\nart gradually took off and never looked back. The greatest prophets, or saints,\nof this Renaissance art were Leonardo da Vinci (d. 1519), Michelangelo (d.\n1564), Raphael (d. 1520) and Titian (d. 1576). So influential were some of them\nthat their personalities and contributions at times are accorded yet a\nsupernatural disposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At any rate, Renaissance art was most responsible for instituting what could be called a modern, sophisticated and subtle form of idolatry and hero worship in art, in substance deviating very little from its ancient and primitive counterparts. Through it, the Heaven and any significant spiritual worth of life have been repudiated, and man with all his physical qualities and abilities has been placed on a pedestal. Man has thus been declared the only Divinity on the earth, so to speak, and later following the rapid material progress of modern civilisation, of the universe as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, the Renaissance painting and sculpture masterpieces humanised their figures, following in the footsteps of their classical Greek and Roman equals which they tried to emulate. They were concerned with proportion, self-assurance, dignity and the idealised perfection of the human body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were secular and human, celebrating human individuality, poise, independence from the Heaven, passions, liberty, human form, spirit, hopes and fears. They often featured masculine and feminine nudities, honouring and promoting egotism, pride and lusts. That is why it is said that a typical Renaissance man was self-consciously confident, boastful, nonconformist and lusty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every painting and sculpture hailed an aspect or more of this new human\nidentity and uniqueness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Leonardo da Vincis \u0153Virgin of the Rocks\u009d demonstrates with\nexquisite grace and beauty the Virgin Mary as the loveliest of women and the\nChrist child as a chubby and playful baby boy. The characters are human, not\ndivine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, Leonardos famous \u0153Mona Lisa\u009d is the portrait of a real woman with her distinct personality and poise. Her captivating mysterious half smile may well indicate a measured welcoming and sanctioning of this new cultural ethos. Similarly, it could symbolise Mona Lisas acknowledgement and celebration of her own — and everyone elses \u201c humanness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Leonardos \u0153Last Supper\u009d, which depicts the reactions of the twelve\ndisciples to Christs words, \u0153One of you shall betray me\u009d, is essentially a\nstudy in human psychology. As if the focus shifted from Christ to the\ndisciples, and by extension, to all humanity (Sullivan Richard, et al.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, Raphaels paintings contained religious subjects, but his\nMadonnas were feminine, gracious women and his Christ child pudgy and\nmischievous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true as far as Michelangelos sculptures are concerned. They\nglorified the human form, spirit, emotions and destiny. An example is his\n\u0153Pieta\u009d which represents the mother of Jesus holding the dead body of her son\nas she looks down piteously. \u0153The helplessness and hopelessness of the huge,\nall-engulfing mother display human resignation at the finality of death \u201c not\nthe Christian hope of resurrection and eternal life\u009d (Sullivan Richard, et\nal.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, Michelangelos \u0153Moses\u009d portrays \u0153the fierce and rugged strength of man, not God\u009d, and his \u0153David\u009d epitomises strength, youthful beauty and male nudity, conveying \u0153not only the virile muscular power but also the agile grace of the male animal\u009d (Sullivan Richard, et al.). It is apparent that man is deified thereby, and God defied and challenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes without saying that diverse forms and degrees of idolatry and hero worship are ever present in modern art, which is the face of modern secular and materialistic culture and civilisation. Since Muslims are avid consumers, and even promoters, of this culture and civilisation, they must be wary. By means of especially art, they can easily contaminate their monotheistic (tawhid<\/em> or Allahs Oneness) beliefs and practices. The spirit of Renaissance humanism, wrapped up cleverly in the cloak of modernism and its swelling liberalist and agnostic currents, is aggressively advocated in the name of art as an innocent, enlightening and universalist pursuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, evolving and studying genuine Islamic art: its philosophy, history, ethics, form and content, will be crucial for Muslims. Such should feature prominently in Muslim educational systems, and generally in Muslim intellectual and cultural discourses. The idea of Islamisation of art, whereby the realm of Islamic art would be cleansed of all accrued conceptual and applied shortcomings, should be keenly explored, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Plato was right when he said in his \u0153The Republic\u009d that \u0153the\nobject of education is to teach us to love what is (authentically) beautiful\u009d,\nbecause the good and the true are the beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the Prophets warnings against drawing images and erecting statues of humans are as relevant as ever. The core of the matter is perennially the same, even though its outer and incidental aspects and manifestations may differ due to the unavoidable impact of the factors of time, space, history and cultural tradition. ***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Spahic Omer Islam categorically prohibits drawing images and erecting statues of humans. The matter pertains as much to fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) as \u02dcaqidah (Islamic… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":128888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,11,21],"tags":[],"nelio_content":{"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"followers":[111,12,124,5],"suggestedReferences":[],"efiUrl":"","efiAlt":"","highlights":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/image-20151116-4983-1lg8wqn.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128781"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128887,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128781\/revisions\/128887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/128888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}