Aisha's cushion : religious art, perception, and practice in Islam / Jamal J. Elias.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Elias, Jamal J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islam and art.

Arts--Islamic countries.

Arts.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (432 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Media coverage of the Danish cartoon crisis and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan left Westerners with a strong impression that Islam does not countenance depiction of religious imagery. Jamal J. Elias corrects this view by revealing the complexity of Islamic attitudes toward representational religious art. Aisha's Cushion emphasizes Islam's perceptual and intellectual modes and in so doing offers the reader both insight into Islamic visual culture and a unique way of seeing the world. Aisha's Cushion evaluates the controversies surrounding blasphemy and iconoclasm by exploring Islamic societies at the time of Muhammad and the birth of Islam; during early contact between Arab Muslims and Byzantine Christians; in medieval Anatolia and India; and in modern times. Elias's inquiry then goes further, to situate Islamic religious art in a global context. His comparisons with Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu attitudes toward religious art show them to be as contradictory as those of Islam. Contemporary theories about art's place in society inform Elias's investigation of how religious objects have been understood across time and in different cultures. Elias contends that Islamic perspectives on representation and perception should be sought not only in theological writings or aesthetic treatises but in a range of Islamic works in areas as diverse as optics, alchemy, dreaming, calligraphy, literature, vehicle and home decoration, and Sufi metaphysics. Unearthing shades of meaning in Islamic thought throughout history, Elias offers fresh insight into the relations among religion, art, and perception across a broad range of cultures.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface on Abbreviations and Conventions

Prologue: The Promise of a Meaningful Image

1 Representation, Resemblance, and Religion

2 The Icon and the Idol

3 Iconoclasm, Iconophobia, and Islam

4 Idols, Icons, and Images in Islam

5 Beauty, Goodness, and Wonder

6 Alchemy, Appearance, and Essence

7 Dreams, Visions, and the Imagination

8 Sufism and the Metaphysics of Resemblance

9 Words, Pictures, and Signs

10 Legibility, Iconicity, and Monumental Writing

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674070660

0674070666

9780674067394

0674067398

OCLC:

818143118