Visual Art From the Perspectives of Islamic Shariah: A Need Assessment Analyses

Abstract

Based on the previous studies on issues concerning visual artwork, many suggested an improvement has to be made on the Guidelines about Visual Art from the Islamic Perspectives (1987). Referring to the guideline, the process of producing visual artwork deals with the visual subject and the style of presenting the visual form. As a reference in producing Shariah compliant visual artwork, the guideline should be improved based on the evolving of the contemporary art. This paper aims to explore the needs of study on visual art from the perspectives of Islamic Shariah base on the contemporary development in the art scene. Given this gap, this study attempts to discuss the literature review for compiling the preliminary view point on the guideline status quo. The result shows that there are deficiencies in the guideline in terms of visual subject, visual form and visual content discussion. It is hoped that this study will pave the way to new frontier in the Contemporary Visual Art based on Islamic Shariah which has a huge contribution to the sustainability of national art. Result of this study can become a literature for those researchers who are intent to discover on this topic. Recommendation was given for further investigation into a refinement the guideline base on the contemporary art development through the qualitative research.

An Intrinsic Case Study of Two-Dimensional Visual Art Appearance in Malaysia: A Checklist for Islamic Shariah View-Point

“…They were sent to pursue their studies abroad (especially in Europe and America) to obtain a degree and postgraduate studies; and these students were offered places to be lecturers in local colleges and universities. They had learned modern visual art and applied them in the creation of their visual artwork and emerged as visual art artists (Ramli, Masrek, Ab Gani, Md Zain, Osman, et al, 2017).…”

“…Since the visual art scene in Malaysia is monopolized by the Malays (who are Muslims); and Islam is acknowledged as the official religion of the federation as stated in Malaysian Federal Constitution (Federal Constitution, 2010) and as an important element in National Cultural Policy (Dasar Kebudayaan Kebangsaan [National Cultural Policy], 1971), it is crucial to study visual art from the perspective of Islam. Visual art and its Islamic connection is dominated by two main movements known as “Islamic art” and “Muslim art” genres (Ali, 1993, 2006; Feldman, 1967; Hamidon, 2012; Ramli, Masrek, Ab Gani, Md Zain, Osman, et al, 2017; Soganci, 2005; Wan Mohd Daud, 2017). Nevertheless, the development of contemporary visual art in this country has relied heavily on visual art approaches from the West instead of “Islamic art” and “Muslim art.”…”

“…In that guideline, a general discussion on visual appearance revolves around two types of visual arts namely: (1) painting; and (2) carving. From the researchers’ observation, these two types of visual arts involve two kinds of dimensions on visual appearance that could be explained as these: (1) paintings involving two-dimensional visual art—2D; and (2) carvings which are made of three-dimensional visual art—3D (Ramli, Masrek, Ab Gani, Md Zain, Osman, et al, 2017). Discussions on these issues are too general and they refer to only several types of visual subjects such human, animal, plants, and man-made objects.…”

“…The absence of a thorough discussion on such issues creates a gap in guidelines (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia, 1987) for Islamic compliant visual artwork production that could be checked and re-examined. There are many types of visual appearance produced by contemporary visual art artists which are not listed in the guideline ; such as visual appearance which combines the image of human and animal, and a combination of animal and other animal (printing art by Samsudin Wahab, refer to Figure 1; Ramli, Masrek, Ab Gani, Md Zain, Osman, et al, 2017). Figure 1 shows visual appearance that has a combination of human and another human, and human and animals which were not discussed in the 1987 guideline.…”

“…In the discussion on visual art components, “the subject” refers to a person, thing and an idea (Ocvirk et al, 2006; Ramli, Masrek, Ab Gani, Md Zain, Mokhtar, et al, 2017; Ramli, Masrek, Ab Gani, Md Zain, Osman, et al, 2017). As for “form,” it consists of few things such as: (1) material and technique; (2) elements and principles of art; (3) style; (4) composition; and (5) dimension of the artworks (Ocvirk et al, 2006; Ramli, Masrek, Ab Gani, Md Zain, Mokhtar, et al, 2017).…”