Yesterday at the Creativity and the spiritual path conference I had the opportunity to meet and know many Muslim artists in diverse fields. It is interesting to know that there are so many young artists blooming on Islamic Horizon.
Islamic art has wealth of Islamic art legacy. It is layered under ignorance ( of the common people)and arrogance(of some artists who are trying to form a brand or identity symbol). The easily sold and cheaply available “reproduction of so called Islamic art frames†are flowing in the market because of this ignorance and arrogance. New young artists can remove the layers by producing authentic art but we will go nowhere if we refer our own rich art legacy as bad art. Industrialization of the countries, made Muslim artisans poor, support of the court was lost, the original object to enrich lives with true Islam was lost in the whirlwind of material demands and need to fulfill those material demands. And the newer generations rising to difficult economic situations has learnt to live by easily sold and cheaply available art.
The 21st century is the opportunity to rise and grab that respectful position for Islam and Islamic art. As we all feel the restlessness within since the turn of this century due to circumstances created by us, as human-beings- the importance of the awareness to understand Islam first ourselves and make our neighbors understand the beauty of our faith has become the most important responsibility for all of us as creative human beings. Allah has blessed us with the power to create not without any reason.
So let us make our colleagues, friends and neighbors aware of true Islam by living and creating Islamically. It is our responsibility to make our authentic art make easily and cheaply available to common people. The new generation is becoming conscious about Islamic art globally and as stated yesterday “creativity†is the way to reach people’s hearts as it is generated from the depths of heart. So let us all artists, live to true Islam and create( that is the definition of Islamic art to me) and come together and spread, support each other and make it available to all- not only Muslims but Non Muslims and beyond.
