artexpresses spiritual messages, but also serves as a potential source of
inspiration for new sources of religious experience. Because religious art
embodies both disclosure and hiddenness, it is open to endless reinterpre-
tation and revalorization.
Within the Islamic world, art and faith are, for instance, traditionally
linked, with the former considered another sign (āyāt) of God and a
reflection of divine unity amidst earthly multiplicity. With its bases in
wisdom (hikmah), Muslim art can be used to praise and serve God, and
supports the remembrance of the one true God, which comes from a
supra-individual inspiration and wisdom that comes from God. Islamic
art avoids naturalism. It prefers abstract and geometric design because
this is believed to free the human spirit. This attitude results in only minor
importance being accorded to paintings and portraitures, with the excep-
tion being illustrated manuscripts. Anthropomorphic artistic representa-
tion is rejected as idolatry (shirk), a possible veneration or invocation of
anything except God, who alone is the proper focus of worship and
prayer.
There are three basic elements to Islamic art: line and angle are used
in buildings and in fixed geometric designs resembling crystals associ-
ated with ice and coolness, with the intention of relieving the senses from
the heat and aridity of the Middle East; this is also enhanced by the use
of all shades of blue and green colors. A third element is the motif of
flowers and other vegetation usually combined with geometric patterns,
intending to suggest refreshment, order, and growth. This style of art is
called Arabesque.
The noblest form of art in the Muslim world is calligraphy because it
renders visible the word of God and emulates a divine revelatory act. In
addition to enhancing recollection of God, calligraphy serves as a sign
for the cultured human, a disciplined mind, and the soul. The Arabic term
for pen (nūn) resembles an ink-pot with which the archetypes of all
beings are written. Each letter possesses its own personality, and serves
as a visual symbol of a particular divine quality. Arabic script is written
from right to left, signifying moving from the field of action toward the
human heart. The script contains two dimensions: vertical that confers
hieratic dignity, which corresponds to the essence of things and the unal-
terable character of each letter, and horizontal that links letters together
into a continuous flow and expresses the process of becoming or matter
that links one thing to another.
The Native American Navaho are famous for the geometric designs
of their pottery and sand paintings, an impermanent form of art that is
used to cure the ill. Depicting Navaho deities or mythological events,
the artist uses pinches of colored sand to create his work. A patient sits