Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World (2011) User Reviews

Islamic Art: Review the concepts of word and space

[aigerimzholdas · 6/10 · 1 November 2020]

This documentary, directed by Robert Gardner, depicts art in the Islamic world. It mainly focuses on different techniques used in Islamic Art throughout history. This documentary includes the commentary of different scholars on famous mosques. They divided the documentary into five themes such as word, space, color, ornament, and water. The documentary successfully captures the diverse Islamic world and the effect of religion on the local civilization. They explained this idea through perfectly made shots and narrative. The most fascinating detail of the documentary is that they managed to explain the diverse Islamic world and inform about core Islamic concepts that have been preserved in every region. I will focus on the concepts - words and space - to explain their role in Islamic Art and argue that the concepts successfully preserved the Islamic culture in this complex world. According to the documentary, "words" are used widely in Islamic Art. They are on the surface of walls, jars, and plates. They look very elegant, making writing a central feature of this religion. There are two reasons why these words play a significant role in art. Firstly, because those words are the direct speech of God, they are the gift to mankind. Therefore, people tried to make the last from generation to generation by reciting them. Their attempt to capture the divine pushed them to depict the words on all the things in the surroundings, from day to day things to mosques. Secondly, writing those words everywhere gives believers the feeling as if God is everywhere. These Arabic scriptures made the religion stood out from other religions because it was a unique concept. For example, it is believed that the Quran, the words in the Quran reflect the magnificent beauty of this world, and its uniqueness cannot be matched (Lecture). As the result, Arabic scripture can appeal to a lot of people. The idea that you do not need to know Arabic, to appreciate the beautiful and very detailed work that was put into those words was mentioned in the documentary. So, it is safe to assume that those inscriptions depicted the strong faith of the people who are ready to pay huge respect to their religion by writing verses from the Quran on the buildings and making their environment profane, hence they can feel connected to God. In this way, these "words" preserved the tradition that turned into calligraphy and recitation competition that helped to memorialize the extent the Islam penetrated cultures. Another concept that helped Islam to be preserved in this diverse world is the correct usage of space. Space is important in Islam because it allows capturing a holy place, Mosque. The way civilizations built Mosques reflects the region's materials, economic prosperity, and traditions. For example, one of the most famous mosques is Suleiman's imperial mosque completed in 1558. This mosque is a great example of effective usage of architecture. The building contains several domes that enlarge the space in the mosque. One of the scholars in the documentary says that "Ornaments in the mosque used to emphasize the structure but not overwhelm it" (29.46 min). This is a good comment that depicts both the talent of the architecture, Mimar Sinan and the way space reflects the religion through ornaments and scriptures. The Mosque in Djenna, Mali serves the same purpose as Allah's sacred home. Yet the building is drastically different from Suleiman's Imperial Mosque. The mosque in Djenna is a simple Islamic architecture that also effectively used the space and the shortage of materials. Even though the mosques preserved core Islamic details, they are still different due to the adaptation of the building to the local community. As a result, it is clear that the beauty of mosques and its meaning is worth to renew it every now and then. So, According to the documentary, Islam can successfully survive in a diverse world due to giving flexibility in the usage of space and leaving some room for cultural uniqueness. Overall, I believe that the documentary captures Islamic art quite well. I have visited the mosques in Istanbul last year, and thus, I am sure that the documentary did a good job depicting the beauty of the art in mosques. This documentary made me look at these buildings in a new perspective - paying attention to every detail, every ornament, and cubes in the building. The main idea of the documentary is to show people how religion, Islam managed to use art as a way to appeal to people and survive hundreds of years. Moreover, these arts are the window to history and to who we were and who we are. This art made it easier for the religion to penetrate every aspect of society making the religion a very personal experience with the divine. I recommend this movie to everyone who is interested in how religions shape societies and societies express their beliefs.

Art is about culture, culture is about religion

[kanatissabek · 7/10 · 12 April 2020]

The movie by Robert H. Gardner called "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" impressed me with its deep, sophisticated and context-based understanding of art. This kind of approach allows to not only get visual pleasure from fascinating mosques and other architectural designs but to see the cross points in culture as well as the differences that can be viewed through the lens of art. "Islamic art - a reflection of the people and the in which it was produced". By these words, authors show that art is important firstly because of the fact that it reflects us, our values and culture. Since religion is a major part of most cultures, culture is hugely affected by religions as well as religions are affected by culture. So this relationship cannot be called one-way. Throughout the documentary, the roles of words, space, ornament, colors and water in Islamic art are emphasised. At the beginning of the movie, the parallel between Islam and Christianity is drawn. The authors highlight that both religions were firstly based on oral revelation. In "The Formation of Islam" Berkey also discusses that there are many cross points between Islam and Christianity. Also, both the movie and the reading discuss the differences these religions have. In the movie, we can see that inscriptions in mosques and other Islamic buildings arguing that God is one, not three, appealing to trinity in Christianity. Interesting thing is that these inscriptions mostly made in gold cubes, which shows how important for Muslims was the rebuttal to Christianity. Another thing that was discussed in the movie is a non-figural design that is mostly used in mosques. The reason for that is that Muslims wanted to avoid idolship and therefore drawing and sculpturing the prophet Muhammed was strongly forbidden. However, because of that, the calligraphy in Islam developed substantially. Different types of manuscripts can be found in mosques and other Islamic building. The words of God depicted in the Quran could make any building sacred for Muslims. The movie discusses different techniques that Muslims used to integrate the words of God to different buildings. The beauty of such writings, make these inscriptions piece of art, which attracts people from all over the world and from different religions. Furthermore, the writing process can be something special for caligrapher, by making him/her closer to the divine, as it was told by Mohammed Zachariya, an American master of Arabic calligraphy. Another important thing about calligraphy in mosques is that some of them are located in a place, which is far from the human eye and cannot be read. However, seemingly the words' depicted main goal is not to be read, mostly they are there for their beauty and for the sense of divinity. Furthermore, the illumination of inscriptions also takes an important role in Islamic art. Mostly it is applied to names of surahs and used to navigate the reader. Another thing that I found interesting in the movie is how it connects the usage of flora and fauna with the concept of heaven for Muslims. The role of water in this is also enormous. It is connected to the scarcity of water in most of the part of the Islamic world, especially when it started spreading. The heaven where it was said a lot of garden, flora and fauna, or "paradise" otherwise called was a good motivation for Muslims. Also, the water was given a huge role in the Quran. Every mosque has space where people can wash up since before every prayer Muslims are required to wash up. Furthermore, not favourable conditions with water in Muslim countries motivated them to invent different ways to lighten their life. Another important in the movie was about space. It showed how the interaction of different cultures and religions can create amazing beauty. The mosque of Cordoba in Spain, constructed by the interaction of Byzantine and Roman techniques mixed with Islamic mosque style. Another mosque discussed in the movie is Djenne. This mosque with its West African structure, at first sight, does not resemble us a mosque we used to see. However, say the authors, it is important to keep in mind about diversity, when we talk about Islamic architecture. The reason for that is the fact that because of the mixture with a different culture, as with Byzantine and Roman in the first case and West African in the second. It shows the tolerance of Islam to other cultures and its openness to interact with them. Overall, the movie shows the beauties of transcendental to different culture the Islamic art. It helps us understand the underlying logic of Islamic art by contextualizing it to a different time and places. The sentence with which the movie ends leaves the best impression since it concludes what authors wanted to say in a perfect manner. I hope it will end my review in that way too. "A translucent glass is beautiful regardless of your religious background, mosaic sparkles regardless of what time in history you are in, monuments are awesome whoever you are, whether you walk in there to pray or walk in there with a camera as a tourist".

Review on Islamic Art: I rate 6/10

[daniyarfaizullayev · 6/10 · 11 April 2021]

Islamic Art Mirror is a documentary film with a huge amount of information about Islamic Art. It was interesting to know more about Islamic Art and different parts of it. Nevertheless, at the end of the movie, people usually forget important information said at the beginning. Therefore, it is necessary to take notes on film or rewatch it one or two times more, which forces me to rate it 6 out of 10. It is known that the category of this film is documentary,while documentary film is not required to be in such form. It is stuffed with a lot of information and all parts of Islamic Art, which were born during explanation of one topic. Usually, in the process of reading the history of one country, historians divide the history of this country depending on chronologically to few parts. It makes it more informative and easy to understand or remember.

It contains important details about Islamic Art, which makes it interesting. However, this topic is not a small topic, which might be explained in one short documentary film. In this movie, actors tried to explain this topic as much as possible. In the process of explaining parts of Islamic art, discussions about other aspects of Islamic Art were opened and actors started to explain new topics. In my point of view, It will be more useful to discuss each part of the Islamic Art separately. For example, explaining calligraphy, textile, buildings, gardens separately will be more informative and interesting for people. It will be informative because people will know more about one category, which is interesting for them. If someone wants to research Textile Art of Islamic Art, they will watch documentary movies with deep knowledge on textile.

In this documentary film, it was mentioned about sightseeings of the World connected with Islam religion. For example, Dome of the Rock with earliest Quran words, Alhambra with its poetry written at eye level, Great mosque of Djenne with poor exterior compared with Asian mosques and Hagia Sophia the bridge connecting christians and muslims. All these places were mentioned in the film, but I want to know more about them: about constructions of them, people constructed them and other important information. It is interesting to know more about calligraphy in different parts of the Islam Caliphate. I think that calligraphy is not the same in India, Africa and Central Asia. Additionally, it was mentioned about interference of local culture into Islam, which might be seen from different mosques in different parts of the world. Abd-Al Rahman founded his dynasty in Cordoba and used some local techniques in construction of mosque in Cordoba. It is known that different aspects of local culture like this were included into Islamic Art and it was different due to the regions.

This movie is not a failure and contains a lot of information that will be useful for people. The team working on this documentary film tried to include all important information of Islamic Art, which might spoil its structure. Additionally, the aim of this documentary film was not to provide ordinary people with structured and clarified information, and was including all information collected about all parts of Islamic Art. In this film, even the process of making colors were mentioned. According to this information, the idea of blue and white ceramic creation in Iran was proven. Therefore, it will be disrespectful to not mention the importance of the information said in the film. According to content choosing part of the film, the producing team succeeded in their aim. All the information in this film was interesting and informative. It also includes some important information about the importance of Quran around of which Islam religion is based. It is the gift from God, which is the direct speech of God to us.

According to the cinematography part of the film, it meets the requirements of the documentary film. There were no effects like sounds and pictures not connected with the topic, which helped to concentrate during the watching process. I want to mention about successful choosing of background music in all episodes, which makes it better. It was a descriptive documentary film, which might be improved simply by changing the title. It will be better, if the title of the film will get the audience interested immediately. There is a possibility to start with a general intriguing question and give information during the film to analyse and find the answer for the question.

To conclude, Islamic Art Mirror is a descriptive documentary film with a huge amount of information that might be very useful for researchers, but is very difficult to remember and understand all information in the film. It would be better to present such a huge amount of information in several documentary films. This is practising in explaining the history of the countries with smaller chronological range. It makes it more informative and easy to understand. All of these arguments were born through my analysis of this documentary film and contains only my opinion about this film. It is not the best documentary film, but might be very helpful for many people. Therefore, I will rate this fill 6/10.

Great movie

[ilyas_s · 10/10 · 17 April 2021]

The movie Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World , which is directed by Robert Gardner, is an documentary film of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The film was originally released in 2012, on July 7. The movie Islamic Art is not very long movie that has running time only 90 minutes and have been produced in DVD. The film has various awards, and at the International Family Film Festival was voted as the best film. It is known that the Islamic art is very diverse, and this film demonstrates it in all its glory. Throughout the movie the viewer can watch the whole beauty of the Islamic art, and the culture of the Islam, that had significant role in the world civilization's growth. And there is some historical events about the Islam religion's spread around the world. The film is very interesting and can be looked in one breath, it is easy to follow narrator's speaking and different scenes of the movie. The film will awaken in you a desire to visit these places that were shown in the film, namely the beautiful architectures of Islamic world.

The word, color, water, ornament and space are the five sections of film ton which the film was divided. Throughout the film, different architectures were demonstrated. And I think that the point of this is that Muslims by building those beautiful architectures expressed their faith. So the faith was expressed by the Muslim people with the help of art. In the film Islamic art importance of design, colors, arches, geometry, paintings and carpets of and in Islamic architectures such as the Shaykh Lutfallah mosque, Alhambra palace, the mosque of Damascus, the mosque of Cordoba and other great Islamic architectures were demonstrated in details. As it was stated in the class lecture on the Spread of Islam, Islam religion was spreading fast around the world, and different regions converted to the Islam differently. And in the movie Islamic Art, show us the diversity of Islamic art in different regions around the world, and its considerable contribution to the world art and culture. In addition, everyone who saw the mosques in real life noticed that they are built in strange direction, and the film explains the importance of geometry in the Islam why mosques are in build in those direction. And this is due to the fact that the mosques are constructed in such way and direction so that the mosque is oriented towards Mecca, so that Muslims who come to pray are oriented and are praying towards Mecca. Also, Muslims used geometry to know the time when they need to pray. Furthermore, most of the things in mosque and mosque itself are symmetric. And this is considered as the Islamic art. Inside mosques as was shown in the film, the beautiful ornaments in mosques and Arabic inscriptions can be seen everywhere and they are considered as one of the elements of the Islamic art and in addition those Arabic inscriptions are the God words because they were taken directly from the Qur'an. So, calligraphy was transformed into masterpiece by the Islamic art. Moreover, in of the sections of the film "water", it can be seen that the water supply and pools used by Muslims was a one of the forms of art. Beautiful pools such as in the in the Islamic world were form of art, and in some places they were used by Muslim people to wash up before the pray.

The film Islamic Art was narrated by the narrator, Susan Sarandon. And one of the things I like most in that film is the beautiful and clear voice of the narrator, which accompanies the viewer throughout the film in a combination of nice and very suitable background music. Moreover, I like the quality of the film, namely that the quality of the picture is of high quality, and the smooth transitions between scenes. The Islamic architectures, mosques, calligraphies and palaces were demonstrated and accompanied with the interviews with the scholars throughout the film.

To conclude with, this is one of the most beautiful documentary films that I have ever watched. It was so interesting and breathtaking to watch the whole beauty of the Islamic art and its diversity, so that I didn't even understand how 90 minutes of the film passed so quickly. After watching this film I really want to visit all astonishing places that were shown in the film such as the great Mosque of Cordoba and see all the beauty of Islamic art by my own eyes. I highly recommend this film to all, regardless which religion person has or how many years he old, everyone will like this movie and none of those who watched the Islamic art movie will definitely regret the time spent. Therefore, I give 10/10 to this great movie!

Islamic Art: Mirror of the invisible world

[zhanerkeshaktybek · 9/10 · 3 April 2020]

The seventh century was a changing point of history. At that time once great empires of Byzantium and Persia were weakened by continuous wars and new power and culture were born in the Arabian Peninsula united by Islam religion. It was the beginning of the Islamic culture. In this movie, we can see the epic journey across several cities which are the main centers of Islamic development. This documentary film explores the breathtakingly beautiful art of the Islamic world and its history over 1400 years. It gives a chance to see Islamic culture which has an important influence on world history from a different perspective. Art does not belong to one particular culture, art is common to all. Art is a window to the past times. To see and appreciate the masterpiece done by another civilization, it is not necessary to understand it. However, by looking at their meaning we can understand their life, believes, hopes and feelings. The film explores the richness of Islamic art which was created in that civilization. The creation of masterpieces starting from small objects like box for a pen to changes of colors in monumental mosques depending on light is the great work of masters in that civilization. In the film, we can also see admirable beauty of ceramics, painting, textile, metallic tools and an extraordinary array of architecture. The unique thing in Islamic art is that Arabic words are everywhere. They are not just words; they are sign from God, belief and the sacred world from Koran which would always make a reminder about religion. They are written beautifully and it calls calligraphy. According to Sheila Blair, these inscriptions always say about the fact that God is one, not three as in Christianity. That is one of the key differences of Islam. Calligraphy is an art of writing. Muslims always tried to write Koran as beautiful as possible. According to Mohamed Zachariya who is the well-respected calligraphers in the world, it is a magical art. He says that every detail of art such as a quality of paper and angle of reed pen's cutting is important. Calligraphic writings are very accurate, spiritual and breathtaking. That is the voice of God everywhere around. So we cannot even imagine how they did it, and it is a great piece of art. The next is the architecture of buildings. In the video we can see the Alhambra which was built in the 14th century by the last Muslim rulers of Granada in Spain, mosques are in Damascus, Syria, the mosque in Africa and Sultan Suleiman's creative endeavors including the Topkapi Palace. Let's begin with their similarities. All of them are a great example of architectural art. All mosques have designed the mihrab wall which is placed to direct prayers to Mecca. Buildings are adapted to have many people at one moment like on Friday namaz. Also, they have a specific side for the person who invites and reminds about time to pray, azan riders. Also, some of the mosques have tribune for speakers during meetings. The building could show the power and wealthiness of its creator. The designed several hallways before the main hall, geometric ornaments, and calligraphic writings show the elite life. The luxury was in that courtyards open to the sky, but still inside. According to the Ruba Kanaan the light and its play with color, even smell was important and creates a spiritual effect. Interesting fact, figurative art does not exist in Islamic culture. Even if we can see some paintings and sculptures, they are not idols. All over the Islamic world, the textile plays an important role in purpose making comfort. Textile is very useful and comfortable, we can use it to separate us from dirty, to warm up, to decorate, to sit on it, sleep on it and they are easy to roll up and keep it. The carpet weaving was initially developed in Persia and come to India in 16 century. Weaving is a geometric technique that is easier to make horizontally in one direction and circled weaves were even more complex to do. So, the prints on carpets can be ornaments and figures, also a beautiful view of fauna and flora. In Islam God says "To know me, know my creations". So, they do not paint God, we cannot see it. But we can see it through the beauty of creations. That makes the belief even more spiritual and magical. While talking about Islamic art, it is impossible to not mention colors. Colors of metalware work, buildings or in the textile are amazing. All pigments were derived from nature. It is not hard to colorize silk and cotton. Metallic tools were colorized by inlaying, for example, gold or silver to bronze. One way they used to make colors in grinding. For example, grinding of copper gives blue color and cobalt gives white color. Another part of Islamic Art is related to water supply techniques. Most of the Islamic world is placed in deserts and in dry landscape where rainfall is very low. So, they have developed complex engineering techniques to supply the city with water, for example, qanats and wheels. So coming from this reason, gardens mostly placed in enclosed places. It makes easier to take care of the garden. Garden in Islam with a variety of fruit trees and beautiful flowers is associated with paradise. Islamic culture is rich in fascinating creations. We need to know not only about the history of wars and catastrophes; we need to know about treasure coming thought centuries. The same attitude should be modulated with Islamic culture's greatest gifts to our world which are an outpouring of creativity and intelligence. Islamic art is a combination of engineering skills and knowledge with deepest emotions that believes and loves to the beauty of their creators.

Islamic Art

[daniyar961 · 7/10 · 12 April 2020]

The documentary film demonstrates how art complements and identifies the ideas of Islam. The narrative is divided into parts, each of which covers an important aspect of Islamic art: Word, Space, Ornaments, Color and Water. The narrative of the movie is both descriptive because it shows some fascinating facts about Islam, and argumentative simultaneously because it has some implicit claims about both religion and art. I will try to elaborate on the claims and construct the arguments. On the one hand, the film conveys the idea that art has a communicational function because it is a universally understood language. Thus, Islamic art may spread its ideas to people from outside and help to unite all Muslims using universal symbols. On the other hand, the film destroys orientalist myths by explaining that Eastern culture is not inferior to the Western one and was not developed in its shadow. The movie develops a contrary message that although the culture of the Near East has its uniqueness, different cultures and religions develop together by influencing each other. If Jesus is the center of the Christian tradition, the center of Islam is oral revelations and art can be considered as the media to appreciate and spread Qur'an and its oral revelations. I think that the most important idea of the movie is that art is the best form of communication for religion, as historian D. Fairchild Ruggles says in the film, 'art is universal and you do not need to learn to appreciate it to get it'. The language of art is beauty, which is an understandable language even for people who do not speak Arabic and read Qur'an. This beauty takes different universal forms like calligraphy, architecture, sculpture, textile, etc. to create symbolic meaning and spread ideas of Islam so people can relate to this art. One of the movie narrators, American calligrapher, who found the beauty of Arabic scriptures and then became one of the most influential Islamic calligraphers. That supports the argument that religious ideas can spread through art as a medium. Secondly, because the end purpose of Islam is the recitation of the holy scriptures, Islamic art also adapts to this goal. Through some pieces of art, Muslims may express and perceive the state of prayer. For instance, the calligrapher can meditate and recite Qur'an through the process of writing, a wanderer may appreciate Islam by reciting surahs on a mosque's walls. Thus, art unites these experiences of people and creates a network between people of the same faith. Moreover, art expresses spirituality and helps to repeat the experience of different generations of people and unite them using universal symbols. Even though Islam is younger than Christianity and Judaism, it has left no less heritage and influence on the global culture. The film carries the message that Islamic art cannot be regarded as something exotic and isolated from world culture because art, as a reflection of the culture of that time, is a bridge between different worlds: Western and Eastern, religious and secular, rich and poor. Art allows us to understand that Islam was both subject to influence from outside, and often itself influenced and even was a pioneer in some respects. For instance, the construction of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba was inspired by the Great Mosque of Damascus but was built based on the local Spanish church, therefore it is an impressive merger of Roman architectural influence and Islamic symbolic narratives from Syria. Another great example is the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, which architectural style was influenced by both Byzantine and Islamic elements. And there are a ton of similar examples in architecture, paintings, sculptures, etc. when Islamic culture influenced European ones and vice versa. Moreover, some artistic inventions were created in the Islamic world and influenced the West. It is a fact that the first irrigation system was invented on the territory of modern Iran, and it is called a qanat. Then this system reached the other parts of the world. The film tells us interesting though that this invention was partly born at the expense of Islam, so we can say that the aesthetics and art of Islam have significantly influenced the modern Western world in different aspects. An interesting for me was that once religious art can become part of something mundane and secular. It is fascinating how people generated intertextual language as art and how certain universal symbols were developed. I think that art as a tool of intertextuality for religion, society, and politics, helped to make stronger connections between people because they have a common sense of unity and one faith. Of course, we cannot reduce art to this function alone, however, it was interesting to look in this context while watching the movie. Moreover, we cannot make assumptions researching only one religion or one form of art independently because this intertextuality permeates through and connects all religions and cultures, thus we need to see the bigger picture, a phenomenon. Although the film could not fully understand this phenomenon, it made a good small step in this big direction

what a load of shi#

[marklondon-17294 · 1/10 · 25 April 2021]

Boring none interesting rubbish. Muslims art is garbage.

Movie Review

[ademimuratova · 10/10 · 1 April 2020]

The documentary movie "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" was directed by Rob Gardner in 2011. Opinions of historians all over the world, and a beautiful narration supported by demonstrative professionally shoot video help us visualize and feel the beauty of the Islamic Art. The movie is divided into five sections: word, space, ornament, color and water. These are the most essential parts for the creation of Islamic art. The movie provides examples of the most prominent art works for each section, including decoration in mosques, palaces, ceramics, carpet making, paintings and beautiful gardens. In all of the abovementioned pieces of art, we can see and feel their magnificence and beauty, as well as a deep message containing in them. Precisely, the Islamic art reflects the different stages of history, people's perception of Islam, and architecture style. Throughout the history of Islamic art, a very close attention is paid towards the application of inscriptions on walls, outer surface, and domes. Usually, excerpts from Koran, a sacred book, are illustrated on the surface of mosques, palaces, and metallic objects. For instance, the Dome of the Rock, is a representation of how cultures merged after Muslim conquests and of how important are the words of Allah to Muslims. The architecture of the Dome resembles Byzantine martyrium, but the words written on it show that it is an Islamic architecture. The inscription on this building is mainly about saying that God is one, not three, and can be perceived as a rebuttal to Christians' belief in Trinity. Only the inscriptions are made in gold cubes, emphasizing the sacredness of those words. In addition, the dome covers a giant rock, believed to be the one from which Prophet Mohammad ascended to the Night journey, Mi'raj. Another type of art of words is a calligraphy. In the movie, it is well explained that an Islamic calligraphy is different from other types of calligraphy in a way that there should be no sign of human interaction in these words, because they are the words of God himself. Through an example of Mohamed Zachariya, we can understand that Islamic calligraphy needs an enormous amount of dedication, not to mention the meticulous preparation, such as carving a pen, soaping a paper, for the calligraphy. The Islamic calligraphy is a prayer in itself, and it makes the words of God look breathtaking and beautiful, so that even if a person does not understand the meaning, he can at least feel the magnificence and the presence of God. According to Mohammad al-Asad, a Jordanic self-historian, In Islamic art, the architecture also plays a vital role in reflecting people's economic, social and cultural values. We can see wide variety of buildings, including mosques, palaces, and military architecture. One of the oldest existing mosques built in 715 is in Damascus, Syria. The mosque is built in hypostyle form, that is, it is built with a series of columns, extending to a big area, which was built in accordance with the growing Muslim population. The mosque has a place for ablution, minbar, a place for Islamic preach, mahrib, a place showing the direction of Ka'aba, towards which Muslims should pray. A magnificent palace in Cordoba, Spain resembles the building structure of this mosque, because it was built under the control of Syrian prince, Abd al Rahman. A fairly unusual example of mosque may be the Great Mosque of Djenne, a city in west Africa, which is a large adobe building and is different from the common representation of mosque. The reason is that it does not have carvings, ornaments at all due to the material of the construction. However, there are 99 columns, illustrating the 99 names of Allah, and a small hole on the roof allow natural light to pass in the building. The usage of light and space is peculiar, and that makes it unique. The architecture style represents how people perceive religion and their cultural values. One of the ubiquitous feature of Islamic art is ornament. Textile, building, ceramics, paintings, metallic objects, all of them have ornaments on them. Usually, ornaments are the illustration of flowers, plants and geometrical shapes. An aesthetic depiction of flowers and other plants may represent Muslim perception of paradise, containing beautiful fruit plants, flowers, bushes, and trees. These representation give the viewers the sense of beauty of paradise. The geometric patterns on the surface of buildings, objects show Muslims' great interest in geometry, which may be due to their large reliance on geometry in everyday life, such as identifying the direction of prayer by looking at the stars and making calculations. Even on the Great Mosque of Djenne, which seems to lack any ornaments, we can notice patterns created by the shadows of beans, and they are constantly changing reflecting the movement of sunlight. In order to diversify ornaments and inscriptions, artists used a spectrum of colors. Unlike present day readily available coloring, paint was extracted from natural resources, such as cobalt and grinding up pigments. An eye-catching example of ornament coloring is Isfahan's Sheikh Lotfollah mosque, which is colored in different types of blue color, resulting in the most colorful and complex ornaments. The intense usage of blue color is due to large sources of cobalt in Iran. Along with the ornaments, coloring techniques were used to make paintings. For instance, in private palace Chehel Sotoun of Iranian rulers, there are paintings representing historical battles, narratives, and epical poems, such as Ferdousi's Shahnameh or Nizami's poem "Seven Beauties", the paintings of which are colored in seven different styles corresponding to each princess. These art pieces do not contain prayers, Koranic verses, but rather it depicts the history and culture of a country. The last feature of Islamic art conveyed in this documentary is water. Water symbolizes life, as well as purity. As it is written in Koran that God gave life through water, we can understand the importance of water to the Islamic art. Often in palaces, there is a fountain located whether in gardens or the yard of palace. As a historian D. Fairchild Ruggles says, water connects us to the past figures, as the water in a tomb or in palace is the same water that was used centuries ago, helping us to be a part of that same environment. Moreover, water plays a vital role in religious practice, as Muslims should take ablution before prayer in order to purify themselves before standing in front of Allah. And there are many water reservoirs, basins, fountains in mosques and palaces. Therefore, water not only is a main source of life, but it also has an artistic, cultural role in the religion Islam. Islamic art may serve as a bridge between this and the other world, and it is people's expression of obedience, love to God and their faith. Anyone can feel the magnificence of the big domes and colorful ornaments, the power of beautiful inscriptions and I think it is what makes Islamic art so special.

"Islamic Art Mirror" is a beautiful documentary

[sholpannurzhan · 7/10 · 5 April 2020]

"Islamic Art Mirror" is a beautiful documentary film produced by Robert Gardner in 2011. Documentary targets a general audience who are unaware of Islamic art in our world and who perhaps feel skeptical about Islam. The main purpose of the film is to show the embellished exquisite art that Muslims brought to world architecture, literature, and humanity in general and to invoke respect and worship to Islam as religion and philosophy. The authors try to deliver a message that early Islamic art was something cutting-edge, with writing styles and geometrical figures, and delicate, created by use of new tools to make unusual colors, which was made by Muslims and that all writings were based on Qur'an manuscripts. Therefore, directors want the audience to appreciate this art and fall in love with it. Before watching this documentary, I had a knowledge about the structure of Islam as a religion only. Islam originated from Arabian Peninsula and spread to all parts of the world since then. From the documentary, before watching I expected a history of origination of art and wanted to reach an answer to questions like what the meaning of the beautiful designs of mosques is. Overall the documentary starts with origination of Islam and its artistry of architecture that shows the wealthiness of Muslim rulers in different parts of world such as Damascus, Turkey, Africa. The main events in the documentary are the different types of artistries that construct Islamic Art. One of the first forms of art is calligraphy. In Islam the words are everything, God is not painted, God is written, therefore, to show their most respect they developed special tools for this writing style. One of the speakers in the film, Zaccharia says that learning this craft is hard and every little detail is important as writing becomes a readable ornament with meaning. For example, Alhambra is a 14th century building that has a poetry inscription written or beautifully crafted on its walls. Another thing that added exquisiteness to Islamic Art is use of geometrical designs in buildings. Great Mosque of Damascus is one of the earliest mosques that maintained its early design. Use of mosaics, dynamic floral ornaments, unusually intense glowing colors and images are also demonstrated in the film as part of Islamic art. Film also demonstrates the importance of water as a separate theme in Islam. The documentary shows different mosques all around the world and emphasizes on their differences and unique styles. Therefore, the documentary was shot in different places. Moreover, the interviews with different authorities take different places too. The speech of authorities add reliability to the documentary, and they were informative to the audience. The sound was narrated by famous actress Susan Sarandon whose voice is very pleasant to hear. The images were very captivating and of good quality. There are also historical video segments and maps that make it easier to imagine what is being narrated. Considering my personal comments, I think the film has achieved its main goal to persuade audience that Islamic Art is beautiful and worth corresponding attention. The part that I liked the most is the images of art pieces, colorful architecture and calligraphy. From the interviews I noted one good phrase from one of the speakers, who said that in Qur'an God says "To know me, look at my creations". The phrase seemed very thought-provoking to me. Personally, from the film I learned that I didn't know much about the Islamic art and that it is very delicate and meaningful. In addition, I saw mosques that I never seen before such as Djenne mosque that surprised me by its complete difference from other mosques. It is simple, it has no colorful ornaments and it needs constant maintenance works. Another surprising thing was how Islamic people developed vivid colors when their surrounding landscape was all dust colored. Their use of vivid neonic colors in design of mosques is very clever strategy to encourage or bring people to the mosque and to make life as pleasant as possible. Moreover, they colored not only mosques, but also metalware like bronze on silver, making it colorful and attractive. Speaking of the drawbacks of the documentary, I would say that it is biased, because all the speakers have a predilection towards Islamic art and there were not much skepticism or criticism towards Islamic art. Moreover, usually documentaries investigate the true history as it is without any comments and use of subjective adjectives. This documentary uses lots of adjectives such as exquisite, embellishing, beautiful, extraordinary, stunning, garish, blossom, and so on making it seem like there is more admiration than analysis of Islamic art. However, despite this criticism I would recommend this film to other people, because it shows artistry of Islam which is very unknown among ordinary people. Film might feel boring to watch, however it bears good amount of information, and the images and pleasant voice of the narrator make it a nice-to-watch documentary.

Good movie to watch at home

[ruslanshaltabayev · 10/10 · 12 April 2020]

Islam, starting from the time of creation of that religion, affected human lives from various parts of the world. Even though this religion is the youngest among all other World religions, this faith influenced many people for great changes. This movie illustrates the art of this religion, but also gives some information about people that lived at different time periods. First, let's look to this movie from the various technical points of view. The visual aspects of this movie were presented great. From the very beginning of the video, colors that were used are warm, like an example of desert or a Spanish mosque in Granada. The background music that was used creates important mood and makes you feel like in a story. Moreover, the documentary consists of various interviews that make a better impression on Islamic art. Next, this movie has some parallels from the Berkey's manuscript about trinity of Gods, while in Islam, God was only one. Also, in movie as well as in Ibn Ishaq's book "Night Journey", Muhammad met other people like Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and started to pray with them. We can feel the power and beauty of all the architectural buildings that were shown. Once you see Taj Mahal or Great Mosque of Djenne, you start to think about how much work was put in those creations. It was interesting to know what the history behind those mosques was. Moreover, as it was stated by Ruba Kana'an, "all mosques serve the same purpose and they reflect how people perceived and understood prayer, and they expressed that from different places". Hence, the buildings cannot be built from white stone, they can also be made from clay. That makes Islamic culture very international because people create buildings based on their own culture. It can be stated that buildings can show economic, social, cultural history of the time that they were built. For instance, the Suleiman mosque illustrates the political as well as cultural dialogue with Christian traditions that dominated in Istanbul before the Ottomans conquered the city. Another important thing to mention is the writings. The documentary pays attention on how and why people wrote words on manuscripts and different sculptures and walls. Producers show that not every person can just start and write words from Quran. Taking as an example Mohamed Zakarya, an American master of Arabic calligraphy, had to restart to learn how to draw and write. This also shows that Islam became cross-cultural phenomena as it attracts non-Muslim people because of the art of beauty. This film also showed the history of some colors. One of the examples is the blue color that can be easily written on cobalt, and the biggest sources of cobalt, traditionally, were in Iran. Some people from the video believe that modern Chinese blue and white ceramic plates, can come from Iran and their ideas. This again shows how Islam influenced culture among non-Muslim cultures. Filmmakers decided to pay attention to the aspect of water, firstly, because the majority of Islamic countries suffer a scarcity of this element. This can be a reason why Muslims developed in different ways. Some architectural and engineering inventions can be a great example for this. Some countries used to have huge water reservoirs that after that were transported to other regions. These innovations once again show the people's intelligence of that time, because it is hard to calculate the right way to manage the water. Water also played a great role in architecture. In, Chehel Sotoun also called as the Palace of 40 columns, which has only 20 columns. The reason is that the water reflection makes it look like it has double number of columns. There was an also an interesting argument mentioned by Fairchild Ruggles: "It is actually the same water that flowed when the palace was built. It's the Islamic water, it's the Roman water." This element ties up past with present and with future. However, the most significant reason why to include this aspect is the fact that it has religious role. Film producers draw an attention that the water have a sacred meaning in Quran, the Holy book. In order to pray people should wash before. Therefore, water prepares people mentally and physically to praying. After watching this movie, I started to imagine how I can personally visit those places. In my opinion, authors did not only show the importance of art in Islamic World, but also made a great effort for providing beautiful views for the audience. Moreover, I also received a lot of new information that I did not know before. The information was given understandably with combination of examples from various buildings. This film can be watched at home not only to gain a new knowledge, but also to have a good time watching aesthetically beautiful movie.

Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World

[aslanakarzhaubay · 7/10 · 1 November 2020]

One of the things that unite history from around the globe is art. No matter whether or not you are familiar with the concept and history behind it, you still can appreciate the beauty and the glory of the art just by looking at how elegantly one object is made. This movie, directed by multiple Emmy winner Robert H. Gardner, tells us a story of Islamic art and how Islamic art is closely intertwined with other religions and cultures. I think that this is one of the rare, not theological, movies which so accurately depicted Islam and its history by narrating it using its art. I also strongly believe that each person who wants to truly understand and appreciate Islam should watch this film to get a grasp of how seemingly new and distant to the West religion incorporated fines qualities of the different cultures where this religion is situated. First of all, let me give you a short summary of what this movie is about. As I mentioned earlier, this movie is about the beauty of Islamic art. In order to explain how this art emerged, the movie narrates not only about the art itself but the story behind it. This film also takes its audience on a journey to nine different countries to show how the word, space, ornaments, and water are combined all together to produce glorious art and architecture. In order to make it easier to comprehend, the movie was divided into several parts that make the Islamic culture and art so unique, and those are word, space, ornaments, color, and water. In addition to that, the richness of Islamic art was shown on the examples of different objects starting from the little and ordinary pieces like plates or pen cases and ending with monumental mosques and palaces. This movie opens us a window through which we can observe how diverse and varied Islamic art is and how Islam culture gave a rise to many beautiful things that pushed our civilization forward. Lastly, I think that the way the movie was filmed to show objects from 360 degrees and the way that its context is supported and analyzed by the art historians makes this movie insightful and trustworthy. So, now as you have the background of this movie is about, let me tell you what aspects of Islamic religious tradition the film highlights and explains. The first thing to focus on is Arabic inscriptions all over the perimeter of the mosque. Those inscriptions are words from the Quran, which is a central holy book for Muslims as it is considered to be the direct speech of God and the eternal source for them to regulate their lives (Islam lecture 2). As it is said in the 1st revelation "read, for your Lord is the Most Generous, the One who taught the use of the pen, taught man what he did not know". As opposed to Christianity where God gave his son as a gift to humankind, God in Islam gave Qoran as a gift, that is why writing becomes a central feature of this religion. You can see it all over the objects in Islamic culture, starting from jugs, ending with gold inscriptions in mosques. This movie highlights the Quran as making Islam different from all the other religions. The importance of writing was so high, it led to the emergence of calligraphy, which is the art of beautiful writing. Calligraphy is even considered to be a spiritual experience, because when a person transfers words of God to the paper, God speaks through the pen, making the person connected to him even more. In addition to that, Arabic inscriptions showed in the film, respond to Christian presence by opposing the main doctrine of Christianity that God is three persons, but one God, as it is described in Nicene Creed, by writing inscriptions saying that God is one, not three, and referring to monotheistic nature of Islam (lecture Orthodoxy and Empire). The movie tries to highlight those differences between religions and explains their effect on Islamic art. Continuing the theme of inscriptions, we can now talk about the pictures and images used in Ismalic art. Calligraphy was used as the visualization of the Quran, and we can say that as opposed to Christianity, the Islamic religion was against icons and idols. Both Christians and Muslims used mosaic to decorate churches and mosques respectively, but due to fear of idolatry in Islam, no pictures of people are allowed to draw in Islam. Instead, Muslims used nonfigural designs (as ornaments, patterns) and the holy words of the Quran. For example, in Islamic art, there was an abundance of images depicting flora and fauna. Since God cannot be portrayed, Muslims felt connected to him via those images of nature, because as God once said that in order to know him, you need to know and consider his creatures. The opposition of idolatry, then, can be considered as something that gives a person freedom to interpret God in different ways by not limiting himself to one and only image of God (as in Christianity), because different Muslims felt differently at different times of the history. The last thing that I consider to be phenomenal is geometry all over Islamic art. Geometry, indeed, played a central role in Islam. For example, how geometry is used in religious practice. For example, you need to orient mosques by looking at the stars to make calculations based on geometry to know the proper direction and time of prayer, or you need geometry to navigate as you move through the deserts. Let's say, at the early ages when there was no such thing as a compass, people relied solely on the geometry of stars to know if they were on the direction to Mecca when they were performing pilgrimage (Islam lecture 1). Concluding everything mentioned before, I can truly say that this movie opened Islam from a completely new perspective by explaining these details that compromise Islamic art and their emergence. I would strongly recommend everyone to watch because it sheds light on the shared history between western and Islamic culture.

Islamic Art

[manattugelbay · 10/10 · 12 April 2020]

Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible world is a documentary film, throughout which you will be able to explore the diversity and richness of Islamic art across various continents and over different periods of history. The film was produced by Alex Kronomer and Michael Wolfe in 2011. It is directed by Robert Gardner and includes explanations, stories and thoughts of great historians and experts in Islamic art such as Oleg Graber and Arabic calligrapher Mohamad Zakariya. Islamic art is itself mesmerizing and marvelous, pictures of them are captivating, but when their stories are narrated by an amazing actress Susan Sarandon, watching the film becomes even more enjoyable and makes you watch it in one breath. Art is a reflection of who we are and what we are, with the help of it we can express our emotions, feelings, therefore it is indeed like a mirror that shows our reflection. Moreover, art can represent the culture, environment, civilization and explain the history without words. Another feature of art is that it can be appreciated by anyone, even who does not understand its true meaning. I think most importantly producers of the documentary wanted to deliver this message to the audience. This documentary does not include whole lifetime and history of Islam or does not explain all the Islamic art and architecture, however it managed to show the variety and diversity of them via 5 themes: word, space, ornament, color and water.From the lecture we know that the story of Islam begins with Prophet Muhammad receiving the words of the God in 610 AD. The Holy book of Koran, which is the collection of God's words is the God's gift for Muslims. So, Koran is a big part of Islam and the writing is the central feature of Islamic art. When paper was delivered from China to Arabic land, the copying the words of the Koran became an art. Despite the fact that the Koran is in Arabic and the process seems hard, for Muslims the act of writing itself is like a meditation. They say during the process it feels like God is talking to you through pen, and hard things look easy. These words are not only on papers, many Islamic architectures have them engraved on the walls and it feels like they speak from the walls with God's voice. One of them is Alhambra, that was built in the 14th century in Spain and has poetry written on their walls. Moreover, sometimes you are not even expected to read them until you can relate to them in some way. The next segment about space portraits clearly the diversity of Islamic buildings, starting from plain mosques ending with some astonishing palaces. Historic Islamic architecture demonstrates noteworthy feature of Islamic society, which is openness to other religions and societies. There are lots of buildings, which are product of mixed cultures, different building techniques and styles, that are taken from local traditions. For example, the great mosque of Cordoba is a result of mixed Byzantine and Roman techniques with Islamic style. Moreover, its hypostyle, arches and techniques of mosaics were the same as in the great mosque of Demascus in Syria. Another example is the mosque of Djenna, that is located in Africa. It was built by using natural resource of that region, from plain mud bricks. There is no ornament or anything extraordinary, mosque from outside represents local traditions and culture, but inside you can find all the elements of Islam, like in other mosques, and most importantly it provides Muslims with space for praying. On the other hand, there are also fascinating and incredibly designed palaces such as Topkapi palace in Istanbul or Grenada's Alhambra palace. Topkapi palace was built to display Ottoman empire's preeminence and power at that time. Its space shows the hierarchical feature of the Ottoman empire. Muslims believe in the idea of heaven, which is described as beautiful garden with all kinds of flora and fauna. This promise of afterlife is represented through ornaments in Islamic world. Moreover, God says to Muslims: "To know me, know my creatures." Therefore, there are many patterns of animals and flowers on most of the pieces of Islamic art. One example is textile. The land where Muslims was dry, so they just needed something to sit that protects them from the dust. Therefore, carpets are used like furniture in Islamic culture and they are also portable, which makes them an essential object in traveling. Islamic textiles show the exchange between cultures, even today Persian rugs are popular among all countries, and their knotting skills are also used and valued in India. The next part of film argues that color played an important role in Islamic art. Color makes things more pleasant, so that even the hardest objects seem soft after they have been dyed. Although in the past color was very rare and did not spread well across the world, Muslims bothered to color different objects. Muslims used colors in different ways from coloring ornaments to painting epic tales. Water is essential to everything in this world and the last segment describes the importance of water in the life of Muslims. They say, "God made everything alive through water", and many Islamic art portrays it. There are many buildings which have a pool of water, which reflects the building itself. One example is a palace of 40 columns in Iran, which in fact has only 20 columns, but other 20 can be seen in its reflection from the water. Furthermore, Muslims have a proper ritual of ablution before approaching the God. Therefore, all mosques have special place where you can cleanse yourself with water. Many gardens of the palaces also have the system that runs the water over the garden. Overall, the film tells us about the large variety of heritage of Islamic culture across the world, and the connection of societies and how Islamic culture influenced others and vice versa like Berkey says in his book. Moreover, Islamic art and architecture explain lots of uncertainties, that western societies have about them and the documentary proves that art is like a bridge between one world and another. In the end they make a good point that art can be appreciated by anyone, regardless of who you are. During the film I was mesmerized by all the pieces of art and architecture that were demonstrated, most of them were new for me and I acquired a great amount of knowledge about them, so I definitely recommend it to everyone.

Symbolsim of God

[temirlanumirbekov · 10/10 · 12 April 2020]

There is one universal understanding across all variations and interpretations of Islam - the notion of omnipresent and almighty God. This documentary, although not always explicitly, was able to explain and show this central concept across different types of Islamic art. As was mentioned while discussing the meaning of the calligraphy in the Islamic world, while looking at these words "you are not looking to see any human interaction, you are looking to see the divine". This urge to show everything in the light of Godly creation, absent of human weaknesses is very distinct in Islamic Art and was greatly covered in the documentary. Starting with the word as a central piece of Islamic culture, the movie makes sure to introduce Islam and context in which it emerged. Interior inscriptions in the Dome on the Rock, important shrine of the Islamic world, that are constantly talking about One God but not three, are clearly referring to Christian presence in the city. This is an important aspect of the emergence of Islam, as we have to remember that Islam has to fight for its legitimacy and influence with other monotheistic religions. Moreover, the fact that different religions used the most expensive material, golden cubes, for different purposes (for writing in Islam and for historic figures in Christianity) speaks volumes about the things that they put the most emphasis on, as Koranic verses are believed to come directly from God. In addition, that is not only the meaning or material of the writing where we can see the presence of God but also in the way how it was written. One unending pen, which does not emphasize the labour of Godly creation behind it, but imbues any space by repeating the voice of God is what makes writing so important in Islamic art. These concepts of unending and repetition, the symbolism of God and his creations are not unique to writing. Usage of space is what embodies them all too and the way that filmmakers knowingly provide different examples from all around the world to support their point cannot go unnoticed. For example, Mosque of Djenne, that documentary frequently refers to, provides a great example for this: 99 columns that support the roof of the mosque as an allegory to 99 names of the God, without whom this world will simply collapse. This parallel illustrated by the movie pushes you to think even further: maybe domes of the mosques represent heaven, so close yet so far at the same time, promising something out of our world, that we can not reach but what we can always feel. Ornaments, colours and pictures are all of the same kind. They are able to show concepts of constant echoing, unending and symbolism in Islam in even more paints and variations than the words and space can. Not the least because these types of art allowed Muslim craftsmen to mix and borrow from other religions and indigenous cultures and use materials unique to them. Umbrella-like cupulas from Hindu origins, halos from Christian art and local understanding of colours as a route to progressions are what characterizes Islam and its art. As the documentary introduces the Koranic verse saying "To know me, know my creations" to the unaware viewer, we can see this process of willingness to understand and borrow from other cultures, creations of God, instead of just imposing one standard way of understanding and doing art. Usage of water in Islamic art is the epitome of repetition, unending and symbolism. Water is in itself unending phenomena, which replenishes itself through the constant process of the water cycle. It is a symbol of infinity and fertility, just like God. It is present everywhere, just like God. It can make even the most barren lands fruitful again, just like God. This symbolism is even more evident in the fountain of the Alhambra Palace. It has a poem carved on its basin, saying: "the fountain is the sultan who showers all his subjects in land with grace, just as water wets the gardens." One might think of this as if talking about the ruler of the Palace, but for me, this is a clear glorification of God, so evident in all forms of Islamic Art. Despite being divided into different sections accompanied by one specific type of art, Robert Gardner, director of the movie, was able to constantly link these seemingly unrelated pieces under one common theme - a creation of God - without beginning or end, versatile, constantly repeating itself and reminding of its creator and his grace. This movie makes this concept seem so obvious and easy to grasp, that I, who grew up in a Muslim environment: often visiting mosques, seeing Arabic calligraphy, reading their stories and frequently seeing this repeating ornament patterns wondered why I did not understand their underlying meaning earlier. But isn't this what documentary is made for - to make people, no matter if they are familiar with Islam and its values, effortlessly understand the meaning and significance of Islamic art and what it represents for almost quarter of the world population.

Review: "Islamic Art Mirror of the Invisible World"

[serikzhankudarova · 10/10 · 11 April 2021]

The documentary "Islamic Art Mirror" reflects on some Islamic art in form of mosques, palaces and smaller items to make the audience acquainted with the Islamic religion and culture. It is divided into several sections such as word, space, ornament, color and water each of which represent an important element in art for the Muslim people.

One of the main elements of Islamic art and architecture is the words written down on either monuments, mosques or a paper. In Islam, it is believed that God sent the Prophet Muhammad the religious revelation in form of words that were soon collected and written down. The documentary states that the gift that God has sent to the Muslims is his Word as it is believed in Islam. This is true as in the times of Prophet Muhammad, people memorized these words and recited Quran. Some people also used to write down it on the pieces of animal skin or palm leaves. Soon, as Muslims discovered paper, the art of calligraphy rose to the next level and more texts from Quran were written down. However, Quran was not accessible to the wide rage people till the Western colonization which had a tremendous impact on Muslim community. Western colonization brought print technology which made the Quran text accessible to wide range of people and it led to the overall standardization of Quran. So, it can be seen that words were always the tremendous part of the Islam community for all times and periods. The Word is so important that almost every mosque or architecture from the times of glory of Islamic empires have Words of God written and scribed in it. Sometimes the words merge into the architecture of the building becoming a unity with its design. Appreciation of the Word is a fundamental part of the Islamic culture which is the reason why inscribed words can be seen in all the mosques from around the world.

Another important element of the Islamic art is the space. As Muslims conquered a vast amount of territories during their conquests, there are mosques build in the various parts of the world which will certainly differ in form. However, even different in form, these mosques are same on the inside with their "minarets" which is places from where Imams call for prayers, and high colognes with wide spaces. There are different mosques build in Spain, West Africa, India and Turkey which differ in their form, but as the movie states this are not important, because any person that came from the different place will be able to recognize those spaces as mosques. The difference on the outside and the same appearance on the inner side is what may characterize the whole Muslim community and Islam as a religion in general. As Fred Donner states in his lecture on "How Islam Began," Islam was not intended to be for only one group of individuals as for instance Arab tribes. Islam was intended to be taught to the whole world, which means that Islam is for everyone, not depending on their race, ethnicity or language. As he continues further, Muslims in fact were called "Muqmins" in the beginning which simply meant "believers." They did not call themselves "Muslims" but simply referred to themselves as those who believe in one God. This trait of Islam as of the religions which accepts everyone is explicitly expressed in its spatial art. These mosques are very different from each other as one is built out of precious stones, another built from marble and one even built from clay as the one in the city of Djenna, which makes them unconnected between each other in terms of appearance. But this is not important as the documentary states that every Muslim from any part of the world will be able to recognize it from the inside as a mosque. This trait of Islamic art reflects the basic principle of the religion itself as of a religion that welcomes everyone.

Ornament and color are examples of other prominent parts of Islamic art. The mosques and palaces of Islamic period are known for their vivid colors and beautiful geometrical ornaments. The pictures used are mainly botanical elements as well as geometrical figures. There were no depictions of God, Prophet or other Saints used in the mosques as Muslims were avoiding "shirk". "Shirk" is a heavy sin in Islam, which is the one if a person, associates other with God. So in Islam idolatry and worshipping anything other than God was strictly prohibited. So Muslims did not use any faces in their mosques to avoid committing "shirk". Even without this kind of art, mosques still have graceful ornaments of flowers and other botanical elements which is an important part of Islamic art as it represents the beauty of the God's creation in Islamic religion.

Water is the last listed element of the Islamic art in the documentary. It was the important part of the Islamic culture as Islam requires people to wash before their prayers. So before each prayer, all Muslims gather at the water reservoir near the mosque, wash themselves and only then proceed to their prayers. This is the reason why water has turned into the vital part of the Islamic architecture and art, as it is presented in the form of fountains, pools and "qanats" which is a system of accessing water from the earth in the places where water is hardly reachable. Muslims learned new ways of accessing water in the places where it was scarce and turned this into form of an art. This fact of water being accessible at every place not depending on the climate hardships and differences, reflect how Islamic culture and religion is flexible and adaptive to any environment. In the period of colonialism, European colonizers stated that Islam as a religion was unsystematic and outdated for modern reality to justify their reforms and actions. However, it was not the issue of Islam as a religion itself, but of its interpretation as there are many interpretations of Quran. Islamic scholars argued that the religion is correct; people only need to change their understanding of it. The Islamic art from the different parts of the world proves this point as Islam was able to adapt to different parts of the world from Spain in Europe to Djenne in West Africa. The diversity of Islamic art proposes that Islam is a flexible religion which is made for all people around the world, which supports the argument of Islamic scholars about the correct understanding of Islam.

The documentary states that "Islamic art is a reflection of the people and the context in which it was produced." The "Islamic Art Mirror" gives information about the Islamic art and at the same time introduces the audience to the key concepts of religion and the history of the religion as art and the religion are closely intervened, which makes it impossible to not to talk about one in the context of another. This documentary provides a thoughtful examination to the art and culture of Islamic period along with introducing the audience to the concepts of the religion itself.

Film Review for Extra Points

[nurlybektoktarov · 10/10 · 1 November 2020]

Directed by Robert H. Gardner Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World might be the first documentary movie where the true heritage of Islamic culture is opened up in the nuance and subtlety of its art and architecture. This documentary movie is mostly an informative piece which tells us the fascinating stories behind many well-known works of Islamic Art and Architecture such as The Taj Mahal, Dome of the Rock, Alhabrama palace and so on. After all, this intriguing movie not only explores the beauty and depth of Islamic Architectural style but also explains it by focusing on the usage of five different decorations of Islamic Art such as the words or calligraphy, space, ornaments, color and water.

Through the use of interview techniques with many specialists in Islamic art and architectural historians including Mohammad Al-Asad, Sheila S. Blair, Jonathan M.Bloom, Afshan Bokhari, Oleg Grabar and Ruba Kana'an, Gardner shows how Islamic art developed over the years and how the culture of the once great empires of Byzantium and Persia influenced its elegance. This film highlights the religious tradition of Islam where the depiction of the human is forbidden in the Koran because it is an idolatry and a sin against God. Thus it explains the difference of Islamic art from Christian religious art and how calligraphy became the central feature of Islamic culture by telling that words of Koran was more than poetry, more than a holy book, it was the very word of God. I think that this film effectively highlights the role of calligraphy in the Islamic Art and Architecture by combining opinions of different architects and architectural historians one of whom Jonathan M. Bloom who said justly that the Arabic inscription that rounds mosques and mausoleum is from a new culture. He said also that this isn't just somebody putting up words, this is somebody who cares, these inscriptions are carefully composed, they are beautiful writing, calligraphy.

This documentary film further focuses on the next element of Islamic Art which is the hierarchical usage of space within a mosque. Interviewee D. Fairchild Ruggles, Professor of Landscape Architecture, says that more and more specialization develops within mosque spaces, there are special places for prints, special places for ablution and special places for the call to prayer. In my opinion this movie succeeded in the explaining of use of space in Islamic Architecture by giving examples of different historical buildings such as the mosque built by the Abd al-Rahman I, Sultan Suleiman's Topkapi Palace and the Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia remodelled by Sultan's architect Sinan into Islamic traditions.

As we said before Gardner breaks the documentary into five parts focusing on five different decorative elements of Islamic Architecture, the third of this parts was ornaments. This part highlights the importance of geomtery to Islam as there are so many religious and social practices that are dependent upon it and also it explains how skilled craftsmen of Islamic Art used geometry in their work. The next part is about the color and it explains how colorful inscriptions such as Mohammad, sometimes Ali or Ya Allah can be the way of encouraging people or the way of enveloping them into the community. Furthermore it highlights the significance of color by giving an example of metalware that's made in the Islamic lands by inlaying of one metal into another to make it colorful.

The last part of this documentary movie dedicated to water and how people in Islamic world vlaued it because a number of parts of the Islamic world do suffer from scaricity of water and it also tells about the how different inventions were used to eliminate this scarcity. For example, 30 water wheels in Hama, Syria which bring water from the source to the people whether for agriculutre or for residential use. Also, the development of subterranean aqueduct in Iran and the managment of that water then spread all the way to West Africa and then to the new world. In this part of the documentary film, narrator mentions correctly that water played not only an important social role but also a religious role, as all Muslims are required to wash before prayer and it is a way of putting yourself in the right mental framework for approaching the divine. I believe that this kind of narratations explains effectively the role of water in Islamic Art and Architecture.

So, this documentary film explains us how the heritage of Islamic art and architecture is intertwined with differnet world civilizations. It also shows how different cultural and religious buildings, wares, incriptions and decorations could be a mirror reflecting the invisible world of the human spirit. This movie is valuable with its shedding light on some shared histories between Western and Islamic culture and it shows tight relationship between this cultures.

Art as a Space for Cultural Exchange

[amina_akhmetbekova · 10/10 · 11 April 2021]

The documentary Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World (2011) by Robert H. Garner in light of the contemporary rising political tensions with the Islamic world, was able to show the other side of the deep and rich culture of the Islamic world that is not limited to the Arabian Peninsula alone. Stretching from the Africa to Indonesia, the Islamic legacy can be found in different forms around the world. In the essence, this movie represents the major idea, that Islam should not be understood through a limited lens of perception, since the culture and religion itself is open and adaptive to different cultures. Even though Islam has been associated with violence, conquests till present days, people usually forget to look at the bigger picture of inter-cultural exchange that Islam brought to the world, and remains of physical culture, such as architecture and art are the ones to tell the story of Islam from another perspective.

The spread of Islam after the Abbasid Caliphate took almost an exponential growth, as the old order of Umayyad period was replaced. According to Richard Bulliet's (from lecture on spread of Islam) conversion curve, since the new caliphate was more open to accepting multiple cultures under the Islam. In the documentary we see that it was actually the case, if we take a look at the variety of the mosques alone that were built in different part of former Arabic lands. As we also see from this week's reading extracts, that different part of the world like China, India, Turkey, Spain had mentions of the Islamic traditions, similar pattern can be clearly seen in the spread of the art and architectural forms. The example that definitely is unique and will grab viewers' attention is from the West African mosque of Djenne (00:31:21). This mosque does not look as any other traditional type; however, it still carries out the same functions and incorporated the use of mudbrick architecture that is used in that region. Such variety shows that despite the place, the local traditions and culture, all of the buildings serve the same purpose and it will not affect the 'rightfulness' of the religious practice.

Another important idea that this film shows is that for Islam, the words were an important part of their art culture, but despite the fact that everything was written in the Arabic, the art of calligraphy was able to fascinate and speak to people of other cultures through the aesthetics. As it was put in the documentary, if for the Christians the gift from the God was his son Jesus, for Muslims the gift was his words. The importance of the revelations for example is emphasized in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, and it highlight the account of the Muhammad's night journey to pray with other prophets, as we read in "The Life of Muhmmad" book. Even though the overall design of the architecture is not what is expected from Arabic building, according to the experts (0:06:55), the main part that shows their culture is the wall calligraphy. The art of calligraphy is versatile and adaptive enough, that it allows to be incorporated into different styles and cultures, however at the same time bringing the essence of the Islamic culture within itself.

The spread of technology and techniques that were used in Islamic art, was also a two-way process of integration of cultures. In that sense art shows that despite the differences and opposition that Islam faced in other lands, there was still the process of exchange and communication. For example, in the Indian account, it is often described that Indian, mostly Hindu tradition, were in conflict with the Islamic during the conquest (Abu'l- Fadl, trans. Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, 85). At the same time, Indian people were borrowing the technology of making a mosaic glass pieces to create magnificent geometrical patterns on the wall of their monuments. Their architectural ideas were also incorporating Persian, Islamic and Hindu styles of architecture. Some of which are still associated mostly with the Indian heritage, such as the famous Taj Mahal, while it was primarily Persian and Islamic based piece of art. Other technologies that were developed under the Islam, are the new forms of metal work, carving, ceramics, preparation of paper and wood for calligraphy. Through their art, Muslims also conveyed an important role of water and new irrigation/ water energy systems, such as water mills, within the life of their society. They usually incorporated those technologies and flow of water in palaces and other pieces of architecture.

From technical perspective on the film, it was successful in showing the beauty and complexity of the Islamic art around the world, through the division of the documentary into segments devoted to specific art details and themes. It is also important that we see both Western and Eastern scholars, experts talking about the Islam, as it breaks the wall between two points of view that are often perceived as different or incompatible by the general public/viewers. One of the great examples that they talked about to show the bridging of the gap between Westerners and Islam, is the story of calligraphy master Mohamed Zakariya.

Overall, the documentary is successful in bringing the other side of the openness and beauty of the Islamic culture, that is not usually considered by general viewers. It shows that Islam is not limited to the Middle East, but throughout the history was spread to different part of the world, and was able to integrate with other cultures. Islam is not limiting in its practice, as long as people believe, which could be considered as a part of the reasons behind the successful spread of this religion. It also highlighted the idea that religion does not only come with the believes, but with the new technologies, that stimulate inter-cultural exchanges. The film created a dialogue about Islam through art, as a language that can be understood by different people, which is a brilliant common ground to talk about religion without evoking strong prejudice and biases.

Beauty of Islamic Art

[shahizadamashrapova · 10/10 · 11 April 2021]

The documentary film "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" through Islamic art demonstrates the development of religion Islam. Due to vast Arab possessions in the 7th and 8th centuries becoming the largest empire, Islamic art is a combination of multiple traditions. As one of the guests in the film says: "Islamic art is a reflection of the people and the context in which it was produced". Thus, the history, development, and true faith reflected in Islamic art. In order to illustrate the uniqueness of Islam, the film represents through five themes, namely the word, space, ornament, color, and water, that as well as in the Quran are the table of contents of chapters.

Islam that was originated in the early 7th century when Muhammad got a revelation from God. From that time, the Quran assumed to be a gift from God to people and serves as a source of Islamic law. Words from the Quran, the name of the Prophet and Allah are presented in every subject, including mosques and day-to-day objects. This is a distinguishing feature of Islam from other religions, namely the unity of man with God. Moreover, presenting Arabic phrases, words from Quran also serve as not just the beauty that adorns buildings and objects but also serve as a reminder to people of the sacred records. In the lecture on Quran and Tafsir, was mentioned that the words of the Quran were engaged in the monumental mosques and place to show the magnificence of the Quran. In addition, writings on the walls of buildings and household items can be considered done taking into account the fact that the Quran is not forgotten, so that people always remember and know about the only God. Thus, the words of the Quran represent a connection with God in all aspects of people's lives.

In addition, it was interesting to know that people pay great attention to calligraphy, both for writing on a piece of paper and on buildings and household items. People have special boxes for accessories, a special knife to sharpen a pen for writing, a special angle of a pen, a special technique to prepare the paper for writings. It demonstrates that people especially refer to the scriptures of the Quran since they believe that God speaks through the scriptures, that through writing the Quran, the writer prays. Thus, accepting the writing of the Quran as a pray, the writer should concentrate on words, would be in connection with God. Therefore, if we can argue that writing is some kind of pray, thus, reading the words, phrases from the Quran on mosque walls, from plates and decanters, it also could be accepted as a pray.

Besides the uniqueness of words from the Quran, mosques, buildings, and household items are beautiful in design. This beauty spread to different continents, thereby spreading the religion of Islam. As an example, the film illustrates mosques in Alhambra, Damascus, West Africa, Africa. All of them represent the majesty of Islam. It seems that Islam spread not only due to social factors that were presented in the lecture on the Spread of Islam like when parents accept Islam, then children would also be Muslim and the chain would continue. In addition, the lecturer argues that people accept Islam to become part of "umma" (community) to reach some privileges like lower taxes or occupying governmental positions. However, the film also represents another side of the spread of Islam. The beauty of buildings, their huge structures, colorful designs, an abundance of gardens, food, the presence of water as a source of energy shows people what heaven looks like. It seems to me that with these beauties Islam aroused people's interest. As one of the guests in the film says, people, in order to pray to their ancestors, would accept Islam imagining the rich life after the death looking at those extraordinary beautiful mosques. As a result, this attraction by paradise contributed to the spread of Islam on three continents.

To conclude, the film "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" represents not only the beauty of Islamic art, its unique techniques but also illustrates the features of Islam, history of occurrence and change, spread over a vast territory. Through art, people are interested in Islam, its teachings. Thus, the existence of Islamic art on religious buildings and everyday objects prolongs the existence of Islam. Islamic art is a type of connection with God.

Film Review on Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World

[nuriyakuttymuratova · 10/10 · 1 November 2020]

The art, as a social phenomenon, is a window on a culture of population that reveals the social context in which it was produced. Developing this idea, the film "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" by Robert H. Gardner effectively explores the religious and cultural ideas embodied in the Islamic objects of art, namely in the Word, Space, Ornament, Colors and Water in cooperation with Mohammad Al-Asad, Sheila S. Blair, Jonathan M. Bloom and others.

The word is, ultimately, one of the most crucial fragments of Islamic art, which was given a veneration and special place not only in the Islamic artwork, but in the day-to-day objects. This is because Quran, the central religious text of Islam, is perceived as a gift from the God, the embodiment of the sacred constituting the divine presence, the very words of God. That is why people carried tiny Quran verses as amulets and most of the religious buildings, serving as places for the worship, had the verses of Quran engraved on the walls of the building, as if the God was speaking through the walls, directly to the worshipper (Lecture). The film explores the Alhambra, as well as the Dome of Rock in Jerusalem, a place, where the earliest dated words of Quran was found. Despite the architectural similarity with Christian martyrium, the Arabic inscription that arounds the circumference of the building is depicted as a feature that makes it uniquely Islamic in nature. Namely, the transcriptions emphasize the God's oneness, as opposed to the Holy Trinity of Christianity, marking the unique feature of Islam as a response to the Christian presence in the local community. The material used in the inscriptions are glass cubes covered in gold, the most expensive material, emphasizing the importance of the object that it was used for, which are also used in the Christian art: the gold cubes are used for halos or behind the figure of Christ, whilst Islamic artwork uses such cubes for the engraving Quran verses. This shows the difference in the religious thoughts, depicted in the works of art. This gave an insight to the conceptions of the Holy in different religions and its reflection in the religious art: there is an aesthetical and material importance given to these beliefs. Thus, the film is successful in explaining the features of Islamic arts, as well as drawing parallels with other religions such as Christianity. The importance of word is even more emphasized in the art of calligraphy. There was a great attention paid to the art of calligraphy, because the documentation of the Holy text played an important role in passing the words of God to people. For this reason, the art of calligraphy demanded a great devotion from the master, special tools and techniques of craft. Mohamed Zakariya, the master calligrapher, explains the delicacy of this artwork, which involves skills for the proper cut of a pen, paper treatment and the process. By so, the film explains the importance of the word, as a divine presence embodied in the body of art that is present in the Islamic artwork.

The organization of space also reveals the reflection of social and religious values in the Islamic art, as the film presents. The film shows the architectural uniqueness of the Islamic religious buildings: to house the Muslim population gathered for the prayer, the earlier mosques had to provide large enough space. For this reason, the mosques were built in the hypostyle form: supported by a series of columns, the building gave a feeling of an infinite space. This echoes the idea of Islam as the religion of Believers: Islam welcomed everyone, who believed that the God is one and followed the words of God. So to fulfil the religious needs of the large population, it demanded a spiritual place of large scales, which led to the adaptation of special architectural techniques. The columns also reflected the main Islamic ideas: for example, the mosque in Djenne, West Africa, has 99 columns, depicting the 99 names of the God. The film also shows how the Islamic architecture was influenced by different cultures, providing an example of the mosque of Cordoba, which mixed Byzantine and Roman techniques in Islamic style; the Dome of Rock, inspired by the local Byzantine martyrdom and the Suleymaniye mosque, inspired by the Dome of the Byzantine Church of Hagia Sophia. This reflects the adaptive and tolerant nature of the Islamic art, intertwined with the culture of its believers. The space also served as a symbol of power and luxury in the Islamic culture, as did the religious scriptures, as explained in the Lecture. The architectural advancement was the key in the art competition of Princes in the 16th century, who constructed expansive courts and palaces such as Alhambra and Topkapi palaces to show political power and wealth. The division of power was also present in the palaces itself, revealing the highly hierarchical structure of the princely community: the procession of the palace space from public to more private and restrictive highlighted the importance of individuals whom the private places belong to. The film explored the Topkapi palace in explaining these ideas, effectively highlighting the importance of space in the Islamic art.

The ornaments, colors, and water also reflected many of the Islamic religious ideas, one of which is the abundant use of flora, fauna and geometry in the works of art. The figurative art is not widely present in the Islamic art, mostly because of the fear of idolatry, which is forbidden in religious culture. It's believed that God said: "To know me, know my creations". For this reason, the artwork included the variety of animals, plants, geometrical patterns, stars, and so on. The film also showed the organization of pleasure palaces, showing the gardens as the model of the promised heaven, characterized by the abundance of flora, water banks, fruits and walled construction.

To sum up, the film provides exploratory insights about the Islamic art not only inspecting the aesthetical components of the artwork, but also linking it with the main religious ideas, political, cultural background and other religious traditions, thus giving opportunity not only to admire the beauty of the Islamic art, but also to look into the meaning behind it.

Uniqueness of Islamic Art

[aminakurmantayeva · 10/10 · 5 April 2020]

The "Islamic Art Mirror" is a documentary film that was directed by Robert Gardner. The documentary explores Islamic art and architecture made at different historical periods in different regions of the world, which made the film very entertaining. The movie was not only entertaining but also informative, because it included commentaries of specialists of Islamic art. The film is arranged by 5 themes that are commonly used in Islamic art: word, space, ornamentation, color, and water. This kind of organization made it more understandable and appealing to me. The main idea of the movie was to show the uniqueness of Islamic art. At the start of the movie, Ruba Kana'n-the specialist in Islamic art says: "It is not only about beautiful things, it is also not only about looking to specific techniques or how a beautiful object looks in the museum, but it is also more like a window on a culture". Robert Gardner did a great job in showing that Islamic art is not only beautiful, but it is also a reflection of the unique Muslim view of life and their spiritual things. The movie also shows that throughout the history Islamic culture was also influenced by foreign cultures. This review will show how Islamic art comprises Muslim beliefs and foreign cultures by focusing on word, space, ornamentation, color, and water. To start with, one of the commonly used components of Islamic art is the word. They are used in the walls of the mosques, Islamic decorations, and objects. Muslims put such emphasis on using words in art because Koran is the central religious texts of Muslims, which is gifted them by God, thus everything written there is of a high value for them. Thr usage of words in art is one more way to glorify God for Muslims. Because the usage of words is connected with God it was very important for Muslims to transmit the words in a formal aesthetic manner. Thus there is a prevalence of calligraphy in Islamic art, which requires a serious amount of dedication. The example of Mohamed Zachariya- a world-renowned master calligrapher, showed that Muslim calligraphy differs from other calligraphy in the sense that it should be carefully learned and mastered because calligrapher transmits God's sacred words. From the second important component of Islamic art- space we can see how different cultures, environments affected the art. The thing is that in the Islamic world space is usually associated with mosques, palaces, mausoleums- sacred places. However, in different regions, these places are constructed in different ways due to different factors. For example, some of them can be complex and large such as The Alhambra- a palace and fortress complex located in Spain and some of them can be as The Grand Mosque of Djenne in Mali, which is a humble building made by mud to erode easier during rainy seasons. As Jonathan M. Bloom- Co-Chair Of Islamic and Asian Art in Boston College says: "The differences between the very simple mosques and the very complex, highly engineered mosques are due to different local, cultural traditions." The third important component of Islamic art is ornaments. Almost all objects made in the Islamic world such as tools, paintings, textile contains ornaments, such as flowers, plants, which is associated with the idea of the sweet life in a paradise, the afterlife in which Muslims believe. Furthermore, geometry played an important role in ornamentation. This is because geometry was important for religion since Muslims used it very often in their religious practices, for instance, to calculate the proper direction of the prayer. Thus it was aestheticized in the art and a lot of objects are made in a geometrical design. This shows how ornamentation were associated with Muslim beliefs The other component of the Islamic shows the influence of Western culture in Islamic art is the color. In some cases, Islamic art and the use of vivid colors were influenced by Western art. For example, Islamic art in India under Jahangir shared a lot of features of Western art. Jahangir was interested in Western paintings and accepted gifts from European countries. Thus, Islamic paintings inherited some features of Western art. The last component used in Islamic art is water. Water is essential for Muslims because it is used to purify them before they pray. Thus, it was important to integrate water into mosques and palaces. This shows how religious practice- use of water- become a part of Islamic art. To conclude, the movie proved that Islamic art is more than just beautiful things, it is an integration of Muslim beliefs and the influence of nearby cultures, which makes the Islamic art so special. Islamic art transcends history, muslim culture and unites people from different historical periods. After watching the film, I will differently perceive Islamic objects, buildings. If by entering the mosque I saw beautiful and sacred place, from now on I will also pay attention to the art inside the mosque and its meaning.

Islamic Art Mirror of the Invisible World

[abilovaaya · 8/10 · 11 April 2021]

The documentary by Rob Gardner "Islamic Art Mirror of the Invisible World" explores the art and architecture of the Islamic world. It shows the profound and versatile nature of Islamic art through the ideas like space, word, color, ornament, and water. This documentary presents that religions do not exist as separate entities in the vacuum but adapt to the local culture, undergo changes due to political, social influence. Prof. Fred Donner claimed that Islam did not emerge "in the full light of history" because there are sparse references and written sources that are attributed to the early events and expansion of the new religion. After watching the documentary, it could be argued that the influence of other religions, political circumstances, and cultural changes are captured in Islamic art. Pieces of art witness transformations in people's values and understanding of rituals and reveal the history of the religion and how it changes through time.

Islam was intertwined with earlier religions like Christianity and Judaism in many aspects. A clear example of this could be the story of the Prophet Muhammad's "Night Journey" as told in the text of Ibn Ishaq. "There he found Abraham the friend of God, Moses, and Jesus assembled with a company of the prophets, and he prayed with them." (Ishaq, p 182). The documentary also draws parallels between Christianity and Islam showing the stone building in Jerusalem Dome of the Rock which bears great significance in the Abrahamic religions. The building's architecture in terms of shape, arches, and techniques was familiar to Christian architecture. However, the documentary highlights the importance of Arabic inscriptions. Writing is considered to be the central feature of Islamic culture and the use of the words everywhere from daily objects to manuscripts is what distinguishes Islamic culture. Sheila S. Blair considers the inscription on Dome of the Rock that God is one as a rebuttal to Christian belief that God is tripartite. The later renovation works conducted under Ottoman Empire show that the Dome of the Rock retained its significance over centuries. Another example of the complex interaction with previous religion could be the Suleymaniye mosque which was influenced greatly by the Byzantine church Hagia Sophia later converted to the mosque. Suleymaniye exceeding in many characteristics its successor was an attempt to outdo what was done before, however, it maintained the same tradition. Muslim princes compared themselves to Christian and Buddhist princes competing in the art thus, creating treasures of the Islamic art.

Another important feature of Islamic art could be argued to be its capacity to adapt and borrow. Islamic architecture was exposed to Roman, Byzantine, Sassanid, and other empires. The documentary shows this on the example of the earliest mosques - The great mosque of Damascus located in Syria build a century after the emergence of Islam in 715. The standard element of the mosques was mihrab, however, mosques were built and expressed in different ways historically. The mosque in Damascus reveals how mosques changed to fulfill the needs of the growing religion. D. Fairchild Ruggles argues that the creation of specializations like the call to prayer places for ablution show that religion becomes more hierarchical. Mosques in different parts of the world adopted local practices the illustration of this could be the great mosque of Cordoba which mixed the Byzantian and Roman techniques and incorporated local traditions in the elements like the architecture of arches. Which then developed into a distinct style of architecture of Muslim Spain by the 14th century. Agra's tomb commissioned by Emperor Jahangir in 1622 reveals Mughal, Persian, and local Indian heritage. Djenne mosque made of simple natural resources emphasizes the diversity of Islamic tradition as well as African local tradition. The capacity to adapt is revealed not only in the architecture but also in art forms like calligraphy which meld into the ornament inscriptions on the religious buildings. Islamic calligraphy was altered after the invention of paper which was introduced due to the interaction between China and the Islamic caliphate. Writing Islamic manuscripts is a popular form of religious art even in today's world.

The documentary presents other forms of Islamic art that included images, illustrated narratives stories like Shahname, poetry, textile. Breaking the myth that images of people were not drawn, and figurative art was not common. However, I believe an important part of the Islamic art, namely music is not included in the documentary. The coexistence of different ethnic and regional music that vary stylistically in Eastern traditions could be traced. Although there is a debate over the sinfulness of music, it is an integral part of the Islamic traditions: azan or call for prayer, reading and recitation of Quran in oral tradition, zikr in Sufi tradition, Sama in dervish tradition included playing music. Moreover, it would be interesting to see what place modern Islamic art and architecture like Sancaklar Mosque in Istanbul take.

All in all, the documentary explores the art and architecture also dives into the history of the large religion with many adherents from different backgrounds. It also discovers the interactions with other religions, highlighting the willingness to borrow and cultural interchange. However, not including the music could be considered as a weakness of this documentary.

Must watch film!!!

[aktotyashim · 10/10 · 13 April 2020]

The film "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" that was directed by Robert H. Gardner demonstrates the great power of art in Islam. The film describes the formation of Islam through the development of different types of art that was left as a product of creativity and intelligence. The fine architecture, calligraphy, and sculpture are heritages that passes what words can't pass. They inspire us even after thousands of years, unlike written history it helps us to feel the atmosphere of holiness. Although, Islamic art will not be loved by only Muslims, by the ones who even don't understand Arabic, don't believe in God. Because the beauty and greatness of it will impress anyone. Bright colors, illusions of infinity, detailed exterior designs, symmetrical geometry, complex ornaments and so on are all in harmony and relax the eyes of watcher. As historian Ruba Kanaan says, "Islamic Art is a reflection of the people and the context in which it was produced". During the film, I was fascinated by the breath-taking architecture of mosques, they are not merely beautiful, but also practical. Every detail of the building was constructed so that they represent the main values of the religion. For example, the written inscriptions on the walls of mosques reflect the words of God and they are usually located on the level of eyes so that by slowly walking you could read the whole history and extend your knowledge. Much attention was paid to these writings that they on some point became an ornament and basis of calligraphy. The boundary between these two arts became subtle and if used in the right way they can create new designs like cosmos on the ceiling that gives a sense of infinity. The thing I liked about the movie is explanation of different attributes in detail, precisely the section about water is beautifully presented. I was excited about the attention given to the water and rethink about how we take it for granted. I liked the way of how historian Ruggles said about it as the one that doesn't change through time. Water doesn't disappear, it only evaporates and falls back. It is the same water that was in the Roman Empire and in the Islamic Empires. Water is not the only a resource that keeps us alive but has a huge religious role. As Bloom says " Washing involves a symbolic and practical cleansing of one's self before approaching God." Thus, it is interesting how water fountains were practically designed in front of mosques. Another worth mentioning thing in the construction of mosques is that they are the product of cultural exchange. The design reflects the region and the local culture of people. For instance, the mosque situated in Cardoba, Spain was built in mixed techniques of Byzantine, Rome and of Islam. Arabian Prince al-Dakhi by creating such an amazing construction contributed to not only Islamic art but the art of the whole World. The mosque in Istanbul built by Ottoman Emperor is another example of cultural interchange. The great architect Sinan Mimar during its construction was inspired by Byzantine Church and mix of it with Islamic art gave a unique product of admiration. Most of the goal of the architects was to show everyone the wealth and power of the Emperor of that time. However, the mosque in West Africa called Djenne is not designed that way. Even if it is made of mudbrick, it is still successful in accomplishing its mission. As I said before, it shows the local geography and brings diversity to the Islamic art history. These exchanges were not only gained because of the local traditions. From Bekey's "Formation of Islam," we can know that religion was a continuation of earlier civilizations like Byzantine and Sasanian. The author says that " while Muslims leaned heavily on the vocabulary of pre-Islamic art and architecture, they used them to fashion a distinctively Islamic visual language, one which in the religious sphere produced a simple but unambiguously Islamic artifact - the mosque". In other words, Islamic art came from nowhere it was developed through centuries. In its place, Islam too shared ideas and innovations to other civilizations. For example, a water irrigation system called qanat is originated from Iran. This water aggregation system that was important not only in deserts of Iran but in the new world illustrates us also the intelligence of Muslims. Knowing and calculating the right angle was essential in using this system. Actually, the Islamic world is rich not only with art but science and literature too. Most of the people don't know that most of the mathematicians were from Islamic countries. There are other documentaries like "1001 innovations", "Science and Islam" by BBC and so on that clearly show the scientific world of the religion. To my mind, the main point in the making of this film was demonstrating the world true nature of Islam. Since the majority, especially people from West think of Muslims as terrorists and associate them with destructive powers after the 9/11 tragedy. So, raising awareness, in this case, will be helpful and will open the eyes of people who blindly believe in the stereotypes. I think the theme of art was chosen not by a chance because as historian Afshan Bokhari states "art is a reflection of who we are, and will be memorialized in the years to come".

Mirror of the Invisible World

[olifvalya · 10/10 · 12 April 2020]

Movie "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" directed by Robert H. Gardner explores the diversity of Islamic art in objects and opens the window to the side of Islam so often neglected in the world. Despite the fact that art was the only focus throughout the film, the director managed to convey through it not only the cultural development of Islam for thousands of years, but also to trace the influence of other cultures and the adoption of Islam by various nations. Like any art form, Islamic Art embodies the fundamental values and perspectives of the artists who created it, as well as political rulers at a time. This is what makes this documentary so outstanding, is that by following the development of art in the Islamic world we could trace the development of religious ideas, as well as to feel the way of life of people at that time, and, more importantly, the role that religion played for them. Going beyond the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabs during the conquests, faced with the culture of neighboring countries. At the same time, the traditions of ancient Greece, Rome, Byzantium were combined in the Arab caliphate with the Iranian culture of the Sassanid era, the early Christian culture of the Egyptian Copts and the pre-Islamic culture of the Arabs. As a result of this cross-cultural contact, prerequisites arose that contributed to the development of new aesthetic canons. Such a close interweaving of traditions, skills, scientific knowledge had an extremely beneficial effect on the creative thought of the masters of the Islamic world. From the very beginning, the art of Muslim countries was distinguished by its uniqueness, which was associated with ethnic culture. However, Islamization, which spanned the area, developed general principles that became binding on all corners of the Muslim world. An unusual documentary format ,that instead of the regular chronological order, structures the plot around 5 main topics: Word, Space, Ornament, Color and Water - perfectly portrays these unifying principles of Islamic art. The narration of the film begins with the calligraphy, which has a special place in the art of Islam and and strikingly distinguishes it from other cultures. Initially, Arabic calligraphy arose on the basis of copying the Quran, which is considered the word of God, so the written word in itself received a sacred meaning. A mystical attitude to the written word created in the Muslim East from the process of the reciting the Quran an act closely linked to prayer, meditation and thought. Understanding that the film begins with a close connection to the Quran, the center of the entire Islamic religion, shows the director's respect for the subject. The second part of the film about the «Space» I find the most informative from the point of view of Islam in different cultures. Sequential description of the Great Mosque of Damascus, The Alhambra and Great Mosque of Djenné shows the development of Islam in different parts of the world and the adjustment of architecture and art to the culture of the area. Despite the significant external differences in the architecture of these buildings, the very essence of the place of worship of God is common. I think this is the main conclusion of this film that no matter how different the objects of art and culture in which they were created, they are all united by the veneration of the Koran and the praise of God. In addition, the film shows the great intellect and ingenuity of Muslim artists of, as they worked out every detail of art object with regards to the sayings from the Quran. For example, depiction of floral ornament, animals and water reservoirs associated with the description of Heaven by the Prophet Muhammad. Similarly, the construction of various fountains and sculptures using water in mosques, for the arid climate of the Arabian Peninsula, was a metaphor for an oasis in a place of God's worship. Moreover, the film shows that despite its uniqueness, Islamic art was influenced by other religions and cultures throughout its history. An example of this could be the influence of Christians on the traditional art of Mughals, who incorporated christian iconographic perspective and added halo. This again, represents the evolution of Islamic art and how it was perceived in different areas. In general, the film "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" leaves a very inspiring impression and encourages the study of Islamic culture, even those who were not previously interested in it. The aesthetic component of the film, beautiful pictures of great monuments of architecture and the views of reputable scholars create an exalted picture of the Islamic world. In my opinion, the film perfectly coped with the task of showing the beauty of Muslim art and opening a new perspective on the development of this religion throughout history.

Review: Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World

[amirkhanshapiyev · 10/10 · 31 October 2020]

The documentary called "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" directed by Robert H. Gardner is about magnificent contribution of Islamic art to the human history and development. I would like to divide the movie content to two components: emotional and analytical. Emotional component of the movie is mostly conveyed by passionate explanations and body language of experts, who was interviewed. Nevertheless, in this review I primarily want to focus on analytical part.

To begin with, the frames of definition of art in the context of this movie should be bounded. Art reflects fusion of local culture and Islamic philosophy on the daily lives of people at that time. The film starts with history of Islamic expansion during 7-8 centuries CE. During the period, when the Islamic Caliphate was under the rule of Caliphs Omar, Uthman, and Ali, Islamic religion was expanded to Persia, Byzantine Empire, Central Asia and North Africa up until modern Spain. So that Islam started influencing multiple cultures that resulted in the abundance of Islamic art. The documentary divided Islamic art for five elements: word, space, ornament, color, and water. The main nuance to notice is that all elements were integral parts of Muslims' every-day practices of that period.

The art of word implies a beautiful calligraphy of Arabic words taken from Qur'an. Qur'an is a fundament of the religion. The revelations were provided to the prophet Muhammad and recorded by his fellows (sahaba). Since, at that century, there was no printing machines, to create copies of Qur'an manually was quite common and honorable occupation. The mistakes occurred in these copies were not tolerated, because Qur'an is the God's words. Henceforth, the occupation required extreme concentration and was taking a lot of time. Just to notice, to spread religion over the whole world billions of copies are needed, so that rewriting of the Qur'an was very usual and consequently has become the part of Islamic culture.

In the documentary, the art of space is explained on the example of mosque construction. The only common requirement for all mosques is a mihrab directed to the side of Mecca, so that mosques over the Islamic world were quite different. Primarily, Muslims tried to use resources they had. Thus, the difference between the mosques of African communities and mosques in Syria was dramatic. However, the scarcity or abundance of resources did not play a key factor in the art of construction. In both cases, the way how space was used by architects of these mosques fascinates modern engineers. Again, the mosque is a place, which Muslims invite on the daily (or at least weekly) basis and is considered as 'place of ritual prostration'. Hence, Muslims attempts to build mosques very attractive that is also become the part of Islamic culture.

The Islamic art of ornament and color was applied to the things that surrounded Muslims. It was demonstrated on the example of carpets, cookware, design of mosques etc. The development of ornament art is closely connected with Muslims' knowledge of geometry. Geometric patterns express the concept of infinity, one of the God's features, and found the broad usage in carpet weaving. The carpet is one of the daily accessories of every Muslim because it allows them to pray on the clean surface that is one of the condition of worshipping. As a result, the carpet became the main attribute of home furniture in Islamic culture. Progressively, the geometric art transformed to the depiction of animals and plants. This explained by Islamic philosophy, which states that to understand God, human being should understand His creatures. Additionally, the color art was developed the idea to make life everywhere as pleasant and colorful as possible. Even the word paradise is emerged from Persian word 'paradisus', which means vibrant garden. So, the color was considered as something that can ship you to the ultimate reality.

The last element of Islamic art is water. As spiritual tidiness, the physical tidiness also plays a huge role in Islamic practice. Taharat is a ritual made by all Muslims five times a day before worshipping, when prayer wash his hands, face, ankles and hair. Otherwise, your pray (salat) will not be recognized. Thus, there are always the rooms or fountains close to mosques, where Muslims can complete the ritual before entering inside of mosque. Like the art of ornament, the art of water is closely associated with science. To provide mosque yard with water system, Islamic architects and scientists was developing complex mechanisms, computing slopes and volumes of reservoirs.

To conclude, Islamic art can be defined as an interaction of Islamic philosophy, science and various cultures. It can be observed that the Islamic art is very different in different communities, but the beauty of meaning is something that unites all of them. In addition, the art is perfect way to save the religion for next generations and leave the heritage. This is something that Muslims of Middle Ages tried to do.

Religious aspects of film

[elnorabdrhmnvq · 10/10 · 1 November 2020]

The film shows that after a long history of Islam and its struggle one of the greatest gifts it has given for civilization is its creativity and intelligence embodied in Islamic art. The nuance and elegance of Islamic art is appreciated regardless of one's belief and religion. The art is used to depict the true and deepest emotions and also aspirations of people who follow Islam. Other from reflecting the essence of Islamic world it also shows the development of Islam throughout the complex world with influence of different traditions. The given film effectively shows the role of art in muslim tradition and how it reflects culture and aspirations of people of that community.

First of all, the great emphasis of Islamic art on writings illustrates the importance of it to Islamic culture. As Jesus Christ, the son of God is a gift of God to Christians, Qur'an is a gift for muslims. Our'an teaches the law and the way of life, but most importantly it is very word of God. So, for muslisms the Qur'an is not just a holy book or poetry but it is word of Allah. As Allah revealed himself through words the art of calligraphy, or beautiful writing is the most important art in Islamic tradition. So the Qur'an is a focus of devotion and also the focus of art as people try to make manuscripts as beautiful as possible. And the use of word everywhere is the distinctive feature of Islam different from other religious traditions. Various breathtaking mosques including Taj Mahal and Alhambra while having enormous territory, are full of scriptures on their walls. These are the words from the holy book that are painted painstakingly with great precision and attention. People also used glass cubes with gold foils, the most expensive kind of cubes. In addition, special minerals as cobalt from Iran were used to create unusual and vivid colors. This also reflects the extraordinary wealth of Islamic leaders. The meticulous attention of people to materials needed to calligraphy as reed pen, tools used to sharpen it, usage of expensive animal skins and also special treatment of paper prior writing on it shows the relation of people to writing and its importance. For muslims, copying Qur'an was the experience of divine presence in those words, and it was a kind of prayer and meditation.

By looking at different objects of Islamic art we can figure out what are the important things for muslims. For example, the symmetry and organization of columns and other objects in mosques illustrates the importance of geometry in religious and also everyday life of muslims. The geometry is required to determine the direction of prayer and also the time of prayer and this constitutes the religious importance of geometry. Moreover, the knowledge of geometry also was needed while traveling as a map in a desert landscape where people lived. So, the importance of geometry was reflected in the design and decoration of mosques that is common in different mosques throughout the world. This shows how Islamic art especially the decoration of mosque's walls reflects important aspects of people who follow Islam. In addition, the decoration as use of ornaments, mosaic paintings were also important as they created a play of light and gave special experience or feeling in a sacred place. So due to light playing people experience differently in summer, winter, sunrise or sunset. And this gives unusual feeling that is accesible to everyone. The special thing about the ornaments is that regardless of who you are muslim or of other religion you'd appreciate the beauty of them. This may bring to conclusion that the beauty of islamic art that reflect people's thought cannot call for hostility. The other important point is the water in Islamic tradition. So there can be a lot of reasons why water is important in Islamic tradition. Firstly, this can be due to scarcity of water in early and also present day Islamic societies. Also, it says «God make everything alive through water» in Qur'an and water is needed prior to prayer. So it is a sign of cleansing in a literal and metaphoric way that helps to put muslims in the right mental framework to approach the divine. So, a common feature of mosques are ablution places with water and also gardens that contain water and plants, too. So, the architectural design shows the importance of water in Islamic culture.

It is clear that islamic art reflects culture and also history of Islam, its development throughout the time and its interaction with other traditions. From the lecture we know that at the very beginning of emergence of Islam there was no clear distinction that this is the new religion, and at first there was believer's movement that included Hebrew and Christians, too. So we don't have clear distinction from the early times. Also the interaction of different traditions are illustrated in designs and architecture of mosques. For example, the earliest Quranic words found in stone building in Jerusalem the Dome of the Rock that borrows the form from Byzantine martyrdom. The Dome covers massive rock where prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven on his mystical night journey. So here we see the coexistence of different religions and their connection with each other. However, the new features are apparent in a way that the Arabic inscriptions are depicted throughout the Dome. This careful and beautiful writing is an indication of new culture. The another depiction of influence of other traditions on Islam is shown in the example of Emperor Jahangir. He collected European and also Christian art, and there is a picture of him with halo, that is a christian item. These findings show that Islam coexisted with other religious traditions in a peaceful environment and in tolerance towards them. And indeed, emergence of Islamic religion was not a breakage of preexisting traditions but their continuation.

The art reflects people's aspirations and deepest feelings. In the film Muhammad al-Asad says that Islam contains different people but need in shelter is common for all muslims. So, people put tremendous effort in what they build and therefore they reflect a great deal about them. Buildings reflect economic, social and cultural values. For example, the ornaments represent heaven that is the promise of God for his people. It is clear that the concept of heaven is important for muslims as they believe in resurrection when people will be judged by their deeds. So for proper behavior and righteousness they were promised with heaven and indeed most muslims carry the image of heaven in their hearts. The other reflection of religious aspirations of muslims by islamic art is representation of flora and fauna in other words the creatures of God. God says: "To know me, know my creatures". And as there is no depiction of God in Islam as in Christianity or Hinduism, muslims believe that they will get closer to God by deeply looking on its creatures and understand their essence. This belief is reflected in art in a form of living paintings on walls and rugs.

To sum up, I think that the purpose of the film was to show how islamic art reflects the people who believe in Islam. And that the art is common for whole humanity, one doesn't need to learn Islam to understand its art, everyone regardless of his religious background can appreciate the beauty of it. It shows who are the people that follow Islam, their religious and cultural aspirations. And their treatment of art and Quranic words with great attention, patience cannot beget violence. The beauty of Islamic art and architecture is universal and it teaches peace and unity of people. Knowing the essence and understanding the different religions are important in our world where we have various prejudice towards religions. The Islamic art is a very way to compehend Islam and its teachings.

Islamic Art: Mirror of the World

[ibragimmyrzaly · 10/10 · 5 April 2020]

"Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" was filmed by Robert Gardner in 2011. The film displays the essential aspects of Islamic Art and their importance in Art while it is illustrating charming examples of them. The film is also accompanied by commentaries of several professional historians, which add an instructive feature to the film. Thus, the film was entertaining as well as informative for me. The main idea of the film was that pieces of Islamic art are reflections of the people and the context of the time when they were produced. The film explains the development of specific types of Islamic art and relates them to their historical context. In my opinion, we can also see from the film that Islamic art was influenced by local and foreign cultures in different countries during its development in the history while it has always had its uniqueness thanks to its main source that is Islam. The first aspect of Islamic Art was "word", which depicts one of the central topics in Islam. In Christianity, people mostly used the portrait of Jesus as a central figure of their architecture. Whereas Muslims emphasized on "words" of God in Islamic architecture because portraying God was infeasible. In addition, because the Quran was believed to be the primary words of Allah and a gift to humankind, "words" of the Quran was an essential feature of Islamic Art and architecture. Thus, Muslims tried to represent the divine with its words in Islamic architecture. The first sign of this Islamic architecture can be seen from one of the oldest Islamic building, the Dome of Rock. The design of the building reminded people Christian buildings, which design was widespread at the time of its construction. However, the characteristic of the building that make it Islamic construction is the writings on the wall taken from the Quran. Those words are made from expensive gold, while Christians used golds to make a portrait of Christ in their church. Thus, the architecture of Islamic buildings and attempt to represent the God at the central point of Islamic architecture was similar with pre-existing Christian culture, while the difference between Islamic and Christian tradition was in their attitude toward imagery, which arose as a result of differences in their belief to God. The second part of the "word" section of Islamic art contains calligraphy, which is an art of beautiful writing. Some people accepted it as one sort of prayer. Therefore, a reed and parchment, which were used in the process of calligraphy, were specially treated. When China invented paper, it changed the path of development of this Islamic art. From the 8th century, Muslims also started to use paper instead of parchment, which were less convenient to use, in calligraphy. Consequently, Islamic art and architecture seem to be influenced by pre-existing Christian architecture and foreign cultures throughout their development while the uniqueness of them was in their foundation that is Islamic belief. The second section of the film was spared for "space". When "space" is mentioned in Islam, one can recall mosques. Although the purpose of mosques was everywhere the same, providing a place for praying, they were constructed differently around the world. The first mosques were constructed with hypostyle design as the great mosque of Damascus was. While that design reached Spain, hypostyle form experienced new changes according to local Hispanic traditions as well as Byzantine and Roman techniques in the mosque of Cordoba. Through further development of Islamic architecture, Alhambra palace was built with a new design, which was unique to Hispanic Muslims, in the 14th century. Thus, Islamic architecture of mosques was affected by Hispanic traditions and other world cultures during its development in Spain. Whereas, under Ottoman rulers, magnificent palaces, such as Topkapi Palace, were build, which outreach palaces of other world princes in its luxuriousness. In addition, Sultan Suleyman ordered to build his imperial mosque, Suleymaniye under the instructions of architect Sinan. While they built the Suleymaniye mosque, they tried to outdo the architecture of Hagia Sophia that was built as a Byzantine church in the 6th century. Therefore, it implies that Islamic architecture in the Ottoman Empire developed through competing with other cultures. In addition, West African mosques, such as Djenne, had a traditional form of the interior, hypostyle design, while the outlook of the Djenne mosque is distinctive to local African traditions. Thus, Islamic architecture developed differently by being impacted by local and foreign traditions in different countries, although they all served the same purpose, praying. The third section of the film includes "Ornament". Behind the idea of ornamenting stayed a purpose of representing the possibility of heaven and God with worldly opportunities in Islamic art. Patterns, leaves and geometry were important in the ornament. Firstly, Islamic rulers competed with and imitated their comparatives, such as Christian and Buddhist rulers, in the ornamentation of their court. An important distinction was in their attitude toward figural imagery. Islamic art was vulnerable toward figurative art because of its fear of idolatry worship. For example, on the incense burner in the shape of lion (39:40) plant ornaments were used. Thus, it represented only the idea of a lion, but not an image itself. Moreover, on the box found from the palace of Cordoba's caliph, images of princely animals were depicted. However, usage of those types of figural imagery was limited only for the private life of rulers, as the usage of the box was. This implies that they were cautious not to spread the idea of idolatry with figurative imagery while they imitated Western art. Thus, Islamic elite ornamentation was influenced by foreign traditions during its development, while it also paid attention to its precision, figurative art. Secondly, Pietra dure was another technique of ornamentation, which Indian Muslims borrowed from ancient Romans. Thirdly, both Taj Mahal and Djenne's mosques are beautiful in their way, although ornamentation of them are in contrast. This is because they met different local norms of beauty and conditions. Thus, they show that the Islamic art of ornamentation developed differently under the different expectation of beauty. Consequently, the Islamic art of ornamentation developed in contact with other traditions while preserving its essence and precision. The next section of the film was for "color". Colors, especially vivid colors, was attractive for Muslims who lived traditionally in dust-coloured world. They used natural pigments to take different colors, which Muslims included in every aspect of their life. Firstly, different colors were used to depict epic tales, which included many images of people, on the walls of buildings. However, those buildings were intended traditionally for the private use of princes and courts. Therefore, as Oleg Garbar (1:01:34) stated, those images were not made for externalization, public use as Western art was. Secondly, the Islamic art of India was hugely influenced by Western art and flourished under Janhangir. He admired Western paintings, while Portuguese Jesuits made many gifts to Muslim communities. Therefore, Western concepts started to be involved in Islamic paintings, while colors that were used in paintings were successfully taken from natural ingredients some of which were indigenous to India. From later works, such as the memoir of Jahangir, influence of Western art to Islamic paintings and their sophistication in India can be easily seen. As a result, Islamic paintings were influenced by Western concepts during its development while Islamic communities were successful in producing vivid colors. The last section of the film was for water. Water was important in everyday life as well as rituals. Water, which was mostly used in gardens, played also an important role in Islamic architecture. In Africa water was a gift as well as a curse. Most of the buildings including mosques, such as Djenne's, were made with mud. Therefore, after a long period of rain, buildings require maintenance. To conclude, Islamic art was highly influenced by local and foreign cultures during its development in different countries while it still maintained its uniqueness. The distinctive feature of it from Western art was based on its Islamic belief. Islamic tradition may also have an impact on other cultures throughout history. Thus, Islamic art and architecture are an inseparable part of contemporary world civilization. Historical contact between Islamic and non-Islamic traditions might be also the factor behind how art can be a universal value. Because Islamic culture affected by non-Islamic traditions, it shares common values with other cultures. Therefore, people from non-Muslim communities can feel the beauty of Islamic art when they look at specific pieces of art even though they might not understand what is written on them. Existing works of Islamic art reflect a shared history of Islamic and non-Islamic traditions.