Hassan al-Turabi’s Discourse on the Arts Conservative Prohibition and Cautious Permission
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Keywords
Arabia - tribalism - Arabic poetry - idols - beauty - painting - pictorial and figurative arts - calligraphy - sculpture - architecture - music - singing - dance
Abstract
In Islam, God’s wondrous creativity is reflected in the unity of design
in the widest diversity and beauty of the cosmos. For some
Muslims, Islamic art expresses this natural beauty as well as the
miracles of God’s creation related in the Qur’an and the prophetic
traditions (aḥādīth). This article focuses on Hassan al-Turabi’s
perceptions of the arts and the aura of conservative prohibition
and cautious permission that surrounds them. For him, the Islamic
attitude toward the arts and aesthetics is determined by monotheism
(tawḥīd), which entails one’s absolute belief in God’s oneness
and the abjuration of anything that might compete with it or with
His omnipotence. God has created in beauty a dualistic nature:
guidance (belief and faith) and temptation (seduction and aberration)
for humanity.
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