The great commentator on the Qurʾān, ʾIbn Kathīr, mentions in regards Lord of the ʿālamīn (worlds):

والعالم مشتق من العلامة ( قلت ) : لأنه علم دال على وجود خالقه وصانعه ووحدانيته

“ʿĀlam is extracted from ʿalāmah (sign), for it is that ʿilm (knowledge) which indicates the existence of its Creator, what He makes, and that He is One.”

This line of thinking, that knowledge is that through which the Creator is recognised, permeated the lives, and more importantly, the thoughts of the early Muslims. Acquiring knowledge to serve humanity, earn a permissible living and the like, were certainly recognised as laudable deeds, but the purpose of knowledge as a vehicle of recognising Allāh can be gleaned in every facet of Muslim achievement, be it art, architecture, engineering, chemistry, etc.    

I had previously touched on this subject. A documentary by Waldemar Januszczak, on what he terms “Islamic” art, spurred me to share some further thoughts and research.

Art as an Expression of Two Loves

Mr Januszczak vividly notes the spiritual impetus implicit in the art and architecture of the Dome of the Rock structure. It is not a mere building, it is an embodiment of the yearning the early Muslims felt for Allāh and a desire to implement the knowledge they knew to come from Him, as an act of glorification, a tasbīḥ in brick if you will. It is sad that contemporary Muslims fail to perceive such subtleties in the achievements of our ancestors. [In the case of the Dome of the Rock, the architect was Rajāʾ bin Ḥaywah ʾal-Kindī, by the way. What can I say, some tribes are just blessed :)]

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The contemporary Muslim is so spiritually colour blind that he cannot perceive the difference behind spiritual art which expresses love for Allāh, such as that of the Dome of the Rock, and the worldly art of the Tāj Maḥall, which expresses carnal love of a worldly man for a woman. The architect in the latter case was not even a Muslim. Thus if we cannot feel the difference between the two concepts, and equally laud both as great “Muslim accomplishments” then there is something dead in our hearts. Certainly, both were accomplished by Muslim instrument, but there is a world of a difference between applying vibrant knowledge infused with recognition of the Creator and applying a carcass of knowledge devoid of His remembrance.

The son of the love-struck couple, the pious Emperor Aurangzeb, was not deceived as modern Muslim tourists are. The Tāj Maḥall did not impress him. Rather, it filled him with righteous indignation. He declared “the lawfulness of a solid construction over a grave is doubtful, and there can be no doubt about the extravagance involved.” [Abdullah Chughtai, Fanun-i-Latif Ba-ahd-i-Aurangzeb (Lahore, 1957), p. 42.]

The Art of the Arabic Language

Mr Januszczak [I so wish Slavs would discover the amazing invention we call, “vowels”] considers that Arab art materialised seemingly “out of nothing” but also notes the conscious mathematical application in it. Perhaps a deeper understanding of Arabic language and history would be of benefit.

A foreign observer might not have seen much material art amongst the ancient Arabs, but that does not mean they had no concept of art and beauty. It is simply that they channelled their artistic energy into their language, specifically poetry. So obsessed were they with language, they called foreigners ʿajam, mute, those who cannot speak. The student of Arab history would note that while there were professional poets amongst the Arabs, volumes of incidents testify to common men and women spontaneously composing poetry, especially during emotional moments, seemingly as easily as daily speech. Our Prophet Muḥammad (Allāh’s salutations and peace be upon him) too recited couplets of his own and quoted others.

The Umayyad government already perceived the danger to Arabic linguistic purity and instituted segregation measures specifically in ʿIrāq, which some today incorrectly interpret as race-based discrimination. To no avail. The deterioration from the ancient poetic age is personified in the poor Arabic of ʾal-Walīd bin ʿAbdil Malik who ruled from 705-715. He is famously recorded as intending to ask, “Who is your son-in-law?” which is, “Man khatanuka” and did not understand his error in asking, “Man khatanaka” “Who circumcised you?”

This change amongst the Arabs, would perhaps be one reason amongst many that led to less focus on Arabic as an art, and to the manifestation of Arab art in more tangible forms, such as calligraphy, architecture etc.  

The Mathematics of the Arabic Language

One of the first things I noticed about Arabic as a student, was its perfect mathematical symmetry and structure. Years later, I was quite thrilled to read those thoughts verified in a chapter of Ṣayd ʾal-Khāṭir. ʾIbnul Jawzī noted how miraculous it is that uneducated Bedouins could even speak Arabic, when such complex mathematical rules are automatically applied when speaking a simple Arabic sentence.

I do not believe that the mathematics I noted in the Arabic language and the mathematics Mr Januszczak noted in Arabic art are coincidental. To this day I assess Arabic students by giving them a simple algebraic problem to solve. It reveals their aptitude for Arabic without fail. I shall use an example to attempt to explain as concisely as possible.  

Consider a simple Algebraic equation 𝑥+𝑦=10; if 𝑥=2. We understand that we simply plug in the value of 𝑥 to achieve 2+𝑦=10, and thus learn that 𝑦=8

Arabic also works on such “equations” called wazn. But instead of variable like 𝑥 and𝑦 we use ف ع ل or F and ʿ and L

The “equation” for one who does an act is fāʿil. The letters to indicate “write” are k-t-b.

1. Replace the f variable with the first letter k and its now kāʿil.
2. Replace the ʿ variable with the second letter t and its now kātil.
3. Replace the l variable with the second letter b and its now kātib.

   Kātib means one who writes or a scribe.

Similarly the letters to indicate “prostrate” are s-j-d. Replace the variables in the “equation” and you obtain sājid, one who prostrates.

This is obviously not a complete lesson in Arabic, but hopefully at least a glimpse of its mathematical nature has been seen.

To be continued ʾinshāʾallāh …

سليمان الكندي

@sulayman_Kindi