Art as a language for Muslim thinkers: metaphorical vs. literal approach

Abstract

Signifying bilateral relations between art and science, scientart includes three types of subjects: artistically-inclined science, science-minded art, and intertwined scientart activities, i.e., equally involved both artistic and scientific approaches. It is art that allows science to be held up against peoples’ minds. And it is science that allows art to be held up against experimentation. Science includes, in this account, different disciplines such as metaphysics, cosmology, psychology, physics, medicine, and economics. And various branches of art such as painting, sculpture, music, and poetry are regarded as art, including novel and literature. This broader conception of art is derived from Farabian theory of art. Among Muslim thinkers, Suhrawardi and ibn Tufail are two major figures in the field. Having an intellectual grip, Suhrawardi conveys the issues of metaphysics, cosmology, and psychology with allegory and imagery fictions. He allegorizes, for instance, the nine spheres and the sublunary realm by the nine shells, eleven layers of a basin, eleven mountains surrounded by the Mount Qaf, sons, mills, the Tuba tree, the Twelve Workshops, and the Pearl-that-glows-by-night. In his unique novel called Hay ibn Yaqzan, ibn Tufail identifies and elaborates the issues of human anatomy, autopsy, and vivisection in a literal and non-figurative approach. Expressing autopsy in his novel, he constitutes an early supporter of dissection. Importance of scientart approach could be explained for Farabi. He posits that intelligible happiness and truths should be transferred to the imagination of people through allegory, analogy, and parallelism.