The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar

Analysis and Critique of Unity in Divinity in the Traditionalist Attitude to Islamic Art

https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2025.515786.5791
Volume 22, Issue 148
October 2025
Pages 29-36
The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar

Document Type : Original Research Article

Author

Hossein Ghanbariahmadabad

Music Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Problem statement: The traditionalist movement in the critique of modernity makes interpretations in the field of pre-Renaissance and Eastern arts. Traditionalists in each civilization interpret artworks according to the assumptions and that civilization› concept; they also consider Islamic artworks to have a standard feature, manifesting unity in divinity and divinity in unity.
Research objective: In the first step, this research demonstrates how Islamic art embodies the concept of unity in divinity from a traditionalist perspective. In the next step, it outlines the consequences that interpreting works according to the concept of unity in divinity will have.
Research method: The research is descriptive-analytical, drawing on traditional writings to interpret the concept of unity in divinity through elements such as Islamic motifs, domes, mirror work, and geometry, utilizing numerical patterns. This article extracts the basic assumptions of four traditionalists regarding Islamic art and examines and critiques their consequences.
Conclusion: The manifestation of unity in divinity›s view in Islamic art requires four assumptions, which are: a) the inherent connection between Islamic Sufism and Islamic art, b) the artists and audiences› familiarity with Sufism, c) the transhistoricity of the concepts d) the acceptance of the originality of the author›s intention. All four assumptions are subject to criticism, and there is no historical evidence for them. For example, the concept of unity in divinity became prevalent from the 14th century onwards; therefore, the conscious manifestation of this concept in works by artists and audiences prior to this period is not very reliable. Unless we consider unity in divinity to be transhistorical, the claim of transhistoricality presents a contradiction because if a concept is transhistorical, its manifestation is beyond the Islamic arts› monopoly.  Every culture and period can manifest the concept. The fundamental characteristic and unity sense in Islamic art create cognitive conflict and eliminate the separation factor between Islamic art and non-Islamic art.

Keywords

Traditionalists
Unity in Divinity
Islamic Art
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