the making of images. The infinite arabesqUe,
with its floral, geometric, and calligraphic variet-
ies, compensated for this lack while repeating the
formula of the essential oneness of God. The orna-
mented objects, and especially the rugs and carpets
that were much in demand by collectors and muse-
ums, reflected the Arab Muslim’s nomadic desert
heritage, which did not encourage great works of
painting or sculpture, the types of work that popu-
lated European art. An updated version of such
Orientalist views surfaced in London’s World of
Islam Festival in 1976. The films, exhibitions, and
publications that accompanied the festival ensured
the wide dissemination of its views, and some of
these were adopted by some young Arab states in
constructing their national identities.
Islamic art is now conventionally defined as
art made for Muslims by Muslims in primarily
Islamic contexts. The new definition allows for
possibilities of differentiation in place and time
and facilitates the organization of the material into
the chapters of survey books. Nonetheless, it is not
without problems. It locates Islamic art outside
the processes of art production and consumption
studied by art historians. And it endorses chrono-
logical and regional divisions at the expense of
intellectual, philosophical, economic and other
(including religious) developments. Some of these
problems arise from the huge amount of material
in different media studied in the field and from
its temporal and geographic scope: India to Spain
from 650 to 1800 (which still leaves out large
areas with an Islamic presence and interrupts the
temporal range at the point when the field came
into being).
These problems may begin to dissipate once
we realize that Islamic art is a modern Euro-Amer-
ican construct based on otherness and difference.
Once that happens, the material will be opened up
to new theoretical and critical considerations that
will place it more properly within the processes
and histories of human creativity.
See also orientalism.
Nuha N. N. Khoury
Further reading: Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom,
“Art and Architecture: Themes and Variations.” In The
Oxford History of Islam, edited by John L. Esposito,
215–267 (Oxford: Oxford University Press; Robert
Hillenbrand, Islamic Art and Architecture (New York:
Thames & Hudson, 1999); Donald Malcolm Reid,
Whose Pharaohs? Archaeology, Museums, and Egyptian
National Identity from Napoleon to World War I (Cairo:
The American University Press, 2002); Stephen Vernoit,
ed., Discovering Islamic Art: Scholars, Collectors and Col-
lections (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2000).asceticism
Asceticism involves a variety of religious practices
that seek to control or manipulate the body and
bodily desires in order to perfect one’s mental or
spiritual condition. The word comes from Greek
askesis, which means “training” or “exercise.”
Although it has often been used in connection
with the monastic practices of medieval Chris-
tianity (abstinence, fasting, poverty, vigils, and
retreats), historians of religion now use the term
to study asceticism comparatively in a variety
of religions and cultures. It is a defining charac-
teristic of Hinduism, Buddhism, and, to a lesser
extent, islam.
Extreme asceticism and celibacy are officially
refuted in Islam, because the Ulama emphasized
moderation in religious practice. Nevertheless,
a number of practices Muslims engage in have
ascetic features, such as the duties of fasting
during ramadan and doing the haJJ to Mecca. In
fasting, Muslims are required to completely avoid
food, drink, and sexual activity during the day-
time for 30 consecutive days every year. Many also
accompany these practices with prayer and late-
night vigils. Participants in the hajj are required
to maintain ritual purity, wear simple garments,
abstain from sex, avoid harming animal life, and
avoid incurring violence. Shaving, haircuts, nail
clipping, and wearing perfume or make-up are
also banned during the hajj, which lasts about
six days annually. Even almsgiving (zakat) has anasceticism 65 J