The importance given to the letters of the alphabet" class="md-crosslink">Arabic alphabet is peculiar to Muslim pious thought. Letters of the alphabet were assigned numerical values: the straight alif (numerical value one), the first letter of the alphabet, becomes a symbol of the uniqueness and unity of Allah; the b (numerical value two), the first letter of the Qurʾān, represents to many mystics the creative power by which everything came into existence; the h (numerical value five) is the symbol of huwa, He, the formula for God’s absolute transcendence. The sect of the Ḥurūfīs developed these cabalistic interpretations of letters, but they are quite common in the whole Islamic world and form almost a substitute for mythology. Illustration of myth and legend
Since the art of representation is opposed in Islam, illustrations of mythological and legendary subjects are rarely found. Miniature painting developed only in the Persian and, later on, in the Turkish and Indo-Muslim areas. Books such as Zakarīyāʾ ebn Moḥammad al-Qazvīnī’s Cosmography contain in some manuscripts a few pictures of angels, like Isrāfīl with the trumpet, and histories of the world or histories of the prophets, written in Iran or Turkey, also contain in rare manuscripts representations of angels or of scenes as told in the Qurʾān, especially the story of Yūsuf and Zalīkhā, which inspired many poems. The Shāh-nāmeh has been fairly frequently illustrated. When the Prophet of Islam is shown at all, his face is usually covered, and in several cases his companions or his family members are also shown with veiled faces.
The only subject from the legends surrounding Muhammad that has been treated by miniaturists several times is his ascension to heaven. There are a number of splendid Persian miniatures depicting this. In poetical manuscripts that contain allusions to legends of the saints, these topics were also sometimes illustrated (e.g., Jonah and the great fish or scenes from the wanderings of Khiḍr). Several miniatures deal with the execution of the mystic al-Ḥallāj. Mythological themes proper are found almost exclusively in the paintings of Mughal India—especially in the period of Jahāngīr, in which the eschatological peace of lion and lamb lying together is illustrated as well as the myth of the earth resting on the bull, on the fish, and so on. But by that time European influence was also already visible in Mughal art. Significance and modern interpretations
Mythology proper has only a very small place in official Islam and is mostly an expression of popular traditions through which pre-Islamic influences seeped into Islam. Reformers tried to purge Islam of all non-Qurʾānic ideas and picturesque elaborations of the texts, whereas the mystics tried to spiritualize them as far as possible. Modern Muslim exegesis attempts to interpret many of the mythological strands of the Qurʾān in the light of modern science, as psychological factors, like Muhammad’s ascension to heaven, and especially deprives the eschatological parts of the Qurʾān of their religious significance. Cosmic events are interpreted as predictions of modern scientific research. To some interpreters, jinn and angels are spiritual forces; to others, jinn are microbes or the like. Thus, the religious text is confused with a textbook of science. Popular legends surrounding the Prophet and the saints are still found among the masses but are tending to disappear under the influence of historical research, though many of them have formed models for the behaviour and spiritual life of the Muslim believer. Annemarie Schimmel The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Citation Information
Article Title: Islam
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 15 August 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam
Access Date: August 27, 2019
Additional Reading General works
Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 2, part 8 (1970, reissued 1977, vol. 2B), provides an excellent survey. Marshall G.S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, 3 vol. (1974), is a major and influential study of the religion and civilization. R.M. Savory (ed.), Introduction to Islamic Civilization (1976), collects scholarly articles on Islamic history, religion, literature, language, and other topics. Bernard Lewis (ed.), The World of Islam: Faith, People, Culture (1976; also published as Islam and the Arab World), collects articles on various aspects of Islamic culture, and his Islam: From the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, 2 vol. (1974), is a history composed of translations of original sources. W. Montgomery Watt, The Majesty That Was Islam: The Islamic World, 661–1100 (1974), presents a concise introductory history of the rise and decline of the Islamic empire. Hamilton A.R. Gibb, Mohammedanism, 2nd ed. (1953, reissued with revisions 1969), is a penetrating and concise account of the development of Islam. Louis Gardet, Mohammedanism, trans. by William Burridge (1961), is a systematic presentation of Islam, with religious insight. Fazlur Rahman, Islam, 2nd ed. (1979), provides a historical and systematic interpretation of Islam, and his Islamic Methodology in History (1965) presents a critical appraisal of the development of Sunnah, ijmāʿ, and ijtihād. Reubin Levy, An Introduction to the Sociology of Islam (1930– ), is a useful account of the development of Islamic society and institutions. John W. Bagnole, Cultures of the Islamic Middle East (1978), is an annotated guide to 402 English-language readings for the nonspecialist. Education
Arthur S. Tritton, Materials on Muslim Education in the Middle Ages (1957), is an informative, useful compilation. Bayard Dodge. Muslim Education in Medieval Times (1962), provides a useful sketch. Political theory and institutions
Erwin I.J. Rosenthal, Political Thought in Medieval Islam (1958), is a good general survey of the subject. Islamic arts
In view of the wealth of descriptive treatments, rather than theory, it is difficult to point to a single source. K.A.C. Creswell, A Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts and Crafts of Islam to 1st Jan. 1960 (1961), and Supplement, Jan. 1960 to Jan. 1972 (1973), contain all the necessary references, and his Early Muslim Architecture, 2nd ed. (1969), is also useful; as is American University at Cairo, Center for Arabic Studies, Studies in Islamic Art and Architecture in Honor of Professor K.A.C. Creswell (1965).
Hamilton A.R. Gibb, Arabic Literature: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (1974), is a probing survey of 1,500 years of literature. Salih J. Altoma, Modern Arabic Literature (1975), provides a bibliography of 850 general and scholarly works covering 1800–1970. Theology and philosophy