Aesthetics in Arabic Thought

J.M. Puerta Vílchez is Professor of Islamic Art and Aesthetics at the University of Granada. His publications include La aventura del cálamo. Historia, formas y artistas de la caligrafía árabe (2007), Leer la Alhambra (2010), The Poetics of Water in Islam (2011), and The Artistic Sense of Qurtuba (2015), as well as “Art and Aesthetics in the Work of Ibn Ḥazm of Cordoba” in Ibn Ḥazm of Cordoba, ed. C. Adang, M. Fierro and S. Schmidtke (Leiden: Brill, 2012). He co-directed the Biblioteca de al-Andalus (9 vols., 2003-2013) and curated the exhibit “Arts and cultures in al-Andalus. The power of Alhambra (2013-2014).”

• Preface to the English TranslationAcknowledgmentsList of FiguresIntroduction1) Contemporary Historiography of Arab-Islamic Aesthetic Thoughta) Western Criticismb) Arabic Criticism2) Aesthetic Theory and Arab Andalusi Aesthetics1. Beauty and the Arts in the Rise of Written Arabic Culture1.1. Pre-Islamic Sensibility and the Vocabulary of Aesthetics1.1.1. The Supernatural Origin of Artistic Creation1.1.2. The Physical and Luminous Character of Beauty in Pre-Islamic Poetry. Woman as an Aesthetic Object and Agent1.1.3. The Arts and Architecture in Pre-Islamic Poetry1.2. The Great Message of Revelation and Its Aesthetic Dimension1.2.1. Beauty and Absolute Perfection in the Word and the Divine Ordera) The Inimitability of the Quranb) The Creatorc) Creation1.2.2. Artistic Creation in the Sacred Textsa) The Problem of Figurative Representationb) Architecture and Sculpture in the Quranc) Prophethood and Poetryd) Music in the Hadīth1.2.3. The Development of the Arts under the New Politico-Religious Order of Islam2. The Arts on the Margins of Knowledge: Ideas and Concepts of Arts in Classical Arab Culture2.1. The Arts in the Arab-Islamic Encyclopedia2.1.1. The Arts in the Classification of Knowledge in the East2.1.2. The Arts in the Classification of Knowledge in al-Andalus and the Maghriba) The Arts in the Ẓahiri System of Knowledgeb) Ibn Bājja: the Practical Arts and Classifications of Intellectual Knowledge in the Founding of Andalusi Falsafac) Ibn Ṭufayl’s Self-Taught Philosopher: Man in a state of Nature Neither Produces nor Conceives of the Artsd) The Arts and Knowledge in Ibn Rushd’s Rationalist Schemee) The Arts in Ibn Khaldūn’s Study of Society2.2. The Brethren of Purity’s Neopythagorean and Neoplatonic Concepts of Art, and al-Tawḥīdī’s School in Baghdad2.2.1. The Brethren of Purity’s Pythagorean Theory of Arta) The Geometric Order of the Universeb) The Harmonious Concord of the Cosmosc) Ideal Proportion, the Key to Artistic Perfectiond) The Manual Arts and Artistic Creativity2.2.2. The Aesthetic Neoplatonism of al-Tawḥīdī’s School in Baghdada) Thought, Art, and inspirationb) Artistic Form and the Unicity of Godc) Artistic Creation as the Emanation of the Soul and the Perfection of Natured) The Nature of Beautiful Forme) The Language Arts: Prose, Verse, and Rhetoricf) Musical Harmony and Its Affinity with the Soulg) Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī’s Treatise on Calligraphy and the Foundations of the Genre in Arabic 2.3. Calligraphy among the Sciences of Language in Ibn al-Sīd of Badajoz2.4. Revelation, Morality, and Art in the Work of Ibn Ḥazm2.4.1. The Divine Origin of the Arts and their Human Transmission2.4.2. The Perfection and Immutable Order of Divine Creation2.4.3. Man’s Works and Revelation: Architecture, Images, and Music in Ibn Ḥazm’s jurisprudencea) Mosques in a Juridical Treatise from Tenth-Century Cordoba. A Moral Warning about Architectureb) Religious and Lay images in Ibn Ḥazmc) The Ẓahiri Faqīh on Music2.4.4. Ibn Ḥazm’s Theory and Criticism of Poetrya) The Moral Character of Poetryb) Poetic Concepts and Classes: Technique, Naturalness, and Skill c) Ibn Ḥazm’s Rhetoricd) The Quran is Radically Inimitable2.5. Mimesis as the Definition of Art in Eastern Falsafa2.5.1. The Origin and Development of the Concept of Mimesis in Classical Eastern Islam: Mattā, al-Fārābī, and Ibn Sīnāa) Mattā and the Arabic Version of Mimesisb) Mimesis in al-Fārābī’s Theory of Art: Ethics, Politics, and Imaginationc) Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) and his translation of Aristotle’s Poetics 2.5.2. Mimesis as a Unifying Concept of the Arts in Eastern Falsafa2.5.3. Artistic Fulfillment: Elements for an Aesthetics of Falsafa2.6 The Theory of Artistic Mimesis in Andalusi Thought and Criticism2.6.1 Rhetoric and Poetics in Ibn Rushd’s Ethical and Rationalist Thought2.6.2 Ibn Rushd’s Poetics between Rhetoric and Ethicsa) Ibn Rushd’s Talkhīṣ Kitāb al-Shiʿr and Its Greek originalb) The Nature and Types of Arabic Poetry. The Averroist Concept of Mimesisc) The Ethical Purpose of Poetryd) The Components of Eulogye) Harmonious and Unified Compositionf) The Relationship of Poetry to Truthg) Representation of Misfortunes and Defectsh) The Characters that Eulogy Should Representi) Modes of Imitation in Poetryj) Rhetorical Elements: Extrinsic Aspects, Wordplay, and Taghyīr or Alterationk) Criticizing Poets’ Falsehoods2.6.3 The Pleasures of Imitation as a Path to Ethical Education in Ibn Rushd’s Versions of the Rhetoric and the Poeticsa) The Various Mimetic Arts: Natural Disposition, Technique, and Faithfulnessb) The Enjoyment That Every Artistic Imitation Bringsc) The Pleasure of Poetry Should Serve its Ethical Goals2.6.4 Ḥāzim al-Qarṭājannī: From the Theory of Mimesis to a Total Arabic Aestheticsa) Theory and Definition of Poetic Ideasb) Poetry’s Perceptual and Intellectual Dimensionc) Truth is not an Issue in Poetry. Definition of Poetryd) Muḥākāt and Takhyīl: A Profound Conception of the Imitative Artse) Toward a General Arabic Aesthetics: Imitation, Imagination, Astonishment, Pleasure. An Aesthetics of Light and Reflectionf) Harmonious Composition of the Qaṣīda. Critical Judgment2.7 The History, Sociology, and Definition of the Arts in Ibn Khaldūn’s Muqaddima2.7.1 The Arts in the Development of Human Civilization and as a Manifestation of Powera) The Geographic Factor, and Moderation as the Physical, Moral, and Aesthetic Idealb) The Arts in the Nomadic-vs.-Sedentary Debate. Necessity and Opulencec) The Arts in Ibn Khaldūn’s Semiotics of Power2.7.2 Ibn Khaldūn’s Urbanisma) Urban Life Follows the Rise of State Powerb) The City’s Site and Basic Servicesc) The Ancient Arabs and Architecture2.7.3 Ibn Khaldūn’s Definition of the Artsa) The Arts Consist of Both Theory and Practiceb) The Art of Constructionc) The Art of Carpentryd) The Art of Calligraphye) Ibn Khaldūn’s Concept of Poetry3 Aesthetic Perception and the Definition of Beauty in Classical Arabic Thought3.1 Theory of Knowledge and Definition of Beauty in the Thought of Ibn Ḥazm of Cordoba3.1.1 Reason versus Imagination. Ibn Ḥazm’s Theory of Knowledgea) The Nature of the Human Soulb) The Perceptive Structure of the Soul. Rational, Sensory, and Linguistic Knowledgec) The Importance and Specificity of Visual Perceptiond) Ibn Ḥazm’s Theory of Colors and Classical Arab Physics3.1.2 Physical Beauty in Ibn Ḥazm’s Writings on Lovea) The Ethical Framework of Loveb) Conceptualization of Love and Beautyc) Spiritual Affinity and Physical Formsd) Love against Reason. Transformations in Aesthetic Judgmente) Ibn Ḥazm’s Participation in the Aesthetics of Light f) The Fleeting Nature of Beauty 3.1.3 The Metaphysical Meaning of Ibn Ḥazm’s Aestheticsa) Beauty as a Spiritual Accidentb) The Divinity and Supernatural Beings Cannot be Defined in Aesthetic Terms3.1.4 Ethical and Moral Beauty3.2 Aesthetic Syntheses in Arabic Erotic Literature after Ibn Ḥazm3.3 The Metaphysics and Perception of Beauty in Classical Arabic Falsafa3.3.1 Aesthetic Principles and Concepts in the Arabic Version of Plotinus’s Enneads3.3.2 Al-Fārābī’s Metaphysical Aestheticsa) The Beauty and Perfection of the First Cause b) The Perfection and Beauty of Non-Corporeal Substances and Heavenly Bodiesc) Perfection and Beauty of the Human Being Compared to Those of the First Caused) Modes of the Perception and Fulfillment of Beauty3.3.3 Divine, Intellectual, and Physical Beauty in Avicenna’s Metaphysicsa) Definition of Divine Beauty and Goodness b) Perception of Beauty in Ibn Sīnā’s Theory of Knowledgec) Metaphysical Perception vs. Sensory Perception: Pleasure and Appropriateness, the Ascent to Supreme Felicity3.4 Theory of Perception and Aesthetic Contemplation in the Andalusi Falsafa of Ibn Bājja and Ibn Ṭufayl3.4.1 Ibn Bājja’s Theory of Perception a) Faculties of the Soul and the Theory of Formsb) Sense Perception. Vision and Color Theory. Acoustic Perceptionc) Intermediate Faculties: Common Sense and the Imaginatived) The Rational Faculty: Universals, Spiritual Forms, and Higher Knowledge 3.4.2 Parameters of Ibn Bājja’s Transcendental Aestheticsa) Ibn Bājja’s Theory of Pleasure. Contemplative Aesthetic Delight3.4.3 Ibn Ṭufayl and Gustatory Union with Divine Beauty 3.5 Sensibility and Intellection: Ibn Rushd’s Shaping of Aesthetics as a Conceptual Field3.5.1 Ibn Rushd’s Theory of Sensibility. Visual Perception as the Nucleus and Paradigm of Sensory Knowledgea) The Judicious Function of the Sensesb) Visual Perception and Color Theory c) Sensibles in the Soul3.5.2 Common Sense, Imagination, and Cogitatio: The Judgment of the Senses and Artistic Composition3.5.3 Reason, Imagination, and Intellection3.5.4 Nature, Art, and Knowledge. Ibn Rushd’s Aesthetic Order3.6 Ibn al-Haytham’s Optics and the Creation of an Arabic and Universal Theory of Aesthetic Visual Perception3.6.1 Visual Knowledge and Aesthetic Knowledgea) The Distinctive Faculty and Its Syllogistic Visual Functionsb) The Innate and Experiential Nature of Aesthetic Knowledge3.6.2 Ibn al-Haytham’s Theory of Aesthetic Perceptiona) The Beauty of Individual Visible Propertiesb) Beauty as a Combination of Visible Properties. Proportion and Formal Harmonyc) Ugliness as the Absence of Beauty d) Circumstances and Alterations of Aesthetic Perception. General Moderation of Visual Factors3.6.3 On Ibn al-Haytham’s Artistic Terminology3.7 Al-Ghazālī’s Aesthetics between Theology (Kalām) and Sufi Mysticism (Taṣawwuf)3.7.1 Love for Both Sensible and Divine Beauty3.7.2 Definition of Sensible and Artistic Beauty 3.7.3 The Superiority of Internal Beauty3.7.4 Spiritual Faculties for Mystical Knowledge and Aesthetic Taste3.8 Harmony and Appropriateness: Aesthetics in the Historical Evolutionism of Ibn Khaldūn3.9 The Other Side of Reason. The Aesthetic Core of Ibn ʿArabī’s Sufism3.9.1 Mystical and Universal Lovea) “God Is Beautiful and Loves Beauty”b) “Beauty Reached in Thee Her Utmost Limit: Another Like Thee Is Impossible”c) “God Created Adam in His Own Image” 3.9.2 Imagination versus Reasona) Theory of Gnostic Understandingb) The Science of Imagination3.9.3 Divine Beauty and Majesty. Ibn ʿArabī’s Aesthetics in the Dialectic of Tanzīh and Tashbīha) Tanzīh and Tashbīh: The Form of Godb) The Aesthetics of the One and the Manyc) Beyond Iconoclasmd) Seeing Gode) Divine Majesty and Beauty in the Soul3.10 The Aesthetic Vocabulary of the Poems of the Alhambra3.10.1 The Divine Origin of Beauty3.10.2 The Sovereign as Aesthetic Agent3.10.3 The Aesthetic Narcissism of ArchitectureConclusion1 Aesthetics at the Center of Arab Anthropology and Humanism2 Arabic Aesthetic Concepts and Islamic Art 3 Arabic Aesthetic Thought in al-Andalus Bibliography of Primary SourcesBibliography of Secondary SourcesIndex

"This is an English translation of the major work on the topic in modern times, and is well worth having. It is an excellent translation, clear and fluent. [...] The book is an impressive size, over 900 pages and represents an impressive scholarly contribution to the area." - Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky, in: Journal of Semitic Studies 64/1 (2019)