Sources of Visual Imagery

It is widely held that Islam fosters a culture without images, but this is incorrect. Muslims traditionally eschew figural imagery as part of their religious practice. There are therefore few, if any, figural images in mosques or madrasas (theological schools) or on the objects associated with these religious buildings such as the minbar (pulpit), the mihrab (the niche in the wall that indicates the direction of prayer towards Mecca), and manuscripts of the Qur'an, accepted by Muslims as the series of revelations that God delivered to the Prophet Muhammad at the beginning of the seventh century in Arabia.^[1074] But in more private settings, whether in houses and palaces or on objects associated with everyday life, many works of art made in the Islamic lands often include figural imagery, some of it related to violence.

Given the wide geographic spread of this faith and the culture associated with it from southern Spain to northern India over the millennium from 500 to 1500, it is not surprising that the usage, quantity and quality of figural imagery, some of it with scenes of violence, varied considerably. Iran and Central Asia had a strong tradition of figural imagery; Arabia and North Africa much less so. Therefore to survey this vast and sometimes disparate material, the chapter adopts a chronological approach, dividing the millen­nium into three periods: early (c. 500-1000), middle (c. 1000-1250) and late (c. 1250-1500).^[1075] While certain themes run through all the periods, the division into three periods allows for the concentration on different visual sources for violence that predominate in each of the three periods: architectural decora­tion, portable objects and illustrated manuscripts, respectively. As the range and number of these buildings and objects are broad, the chapter focuses on a few well-known examples for each period and material, but many of the points can be applied to other works of art as well. A summary at the end encapsulates themes that run through these myriad scenes of violence produced in the Islamic lands.