Islamic Art

Islamic Art

Islamic Art
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.67

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		creativity, extension, finest, nomadic, picturesque, qalam, generation, exotic, intricate, prayers, personality, rectangular, geometric, based, knots, writing
	content words:		Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, Their Arabic, Persian Gulf, Taj Mahal, All Muslims

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Islamic Art
By Colleen Messina

¹     A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in the Islamic world, beautiful words dazzle the eye. Islamic art includes writing called calligraphy, as well as decorative patterns and exotic rugs. Creativity can be expressed in many ways!

²     Arabic calligraphy is considered the noblest form of art. The Muslim holy book, the Koran, was written in Arabic. Words and patterns form the basis of Islamic art because Muslims can't show the human figure in any form. This is opposite of western art. In the West, artists often showed figures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in many fine paintings. Some of the finest western art depicted Jesus Christ and other holy people.

³     Islamic art emphasized different elements of their faith. The early Arabs were a nomadic people. They roamed around a lot. They loved poetry and writing. They appreciated both the written and the spoken word. Their Arabic script had 28 letters and used only long vowels. Muslims trained their calligraphers from a young age.

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