Introduction
The title of this article may seem ambitious though we propose only to highlight a few phases from an immensely rich and varied Muslim art, seeking out, with the aid of examples, the presence therein of images and figurative works. Muhammad Qutb offers this definition “Islamic art is not necessarily an art that speaks of Islam, it is an art that conjures an image of existence on the basis of the way Islam conceives of it”; to which Titus Burkhart ads an essential element, the concept of beauty: “The substance of art is beauty, and this in Islamic terms, is a divine quality and as such has a double aspect: in the world it is appearance [...]; in God however [...], it is pure inward beatitude.” Muslim art was born within a geographic space whose nomadic peoples' traditions are not very well known. From the outset it included every aspect of everyday life. However its essence partakes of diverse theories and principles according to the geographic space and cultures embedded in the mostly Muslim world from the Hijra to the present days.
