he Philosophy of Aesthetics and the Higher Objectives of Sharīʿah: : The Art of Calligraphy as an Application

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the philosophy of aesthetics (or art philosophy) and the higher objectives of Sharīʿah (namely, pertaining to the areas of necessities, needs, and complementary things) as a rule of the epistemic rooting of the structure of Islamic art. This relationship may be established on a shared subject of aesthetics, termed “art elements” in philosophy and the “aesthetic objectives of vision” in Islamic tradition. If we apply this relationship to Islamic calligraphy as a visual art, we may use the Sharīʿah higher objectives as rooting elements for this writing art. One may assume that calligraphy has the following aesthetic objectives: the necessary objectives of calligraphy based on plain transcription with no writing or linguistic additions; objectives relating to the needs of calligraphy based on the addition of diacritics such as dots and inflectional marks to the transcription; and complementary objectives based on the idea that a work of calligraphy is an integrated piece of art.