Aisha's Cushion : Religious Art, Perception, and Practice in Islam / Jamal J. Elias.
Elias, Jamal J., author.
2012
BP190.5.A7 E45 2012eb
Available Online

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Title Aisha's Cushion : Religious Art, Perception, and Practice in Islam / Jamal J. Elias.
Author Elias, Jamal J., author.
ISBN 9780674067394
DOI https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674067394
Published Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2012]
Copyright ©2012
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource : 8 halftones
Other Standard Identifiers 10.4159/harvard.9780674067394 doi
Call Number BP190.5.A7 E45 2012eb
Summary Media coverage of the Danish cartoon crisis and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan left Westerners with a strong impression that Islam does not countenance depiction of religious imagery. Jamal J. Elias corrects this view by revealing the complexity of Islamic attitudes toward representational religious art. Aisha's Cushion emphasizes Islam's perceptual and intellectual modes and in so doing offers the reader both insight into Islamic visual culture and a unique way of seeing the world. Aisha's Cushion evaluates the controversies surrounding blasphemy and iconoclasm by exploring Islamic societies at the time of Muhammad and the birth of Islam; during early contact between Arab Muslims and Byzantine Christians; in medieval Anatolia and India; and in modern times. Elias's inquiry then goes further, to situate Islamic religious art in a global context. His comparisons with Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu attitudes toward religious art show them to be as contradictory as those of Islam. Contemporary theories about art's place in society inform Elias's investigation of how religious objects have been understood across time and in different cultures. Elias contends that Islamic perspectives on representation and perception should be sought not only in theological writings or aesthetic treatises but in a range of Islamic works in areas as diverse as optics, alchemy, dreaming, calligraphy, literature, vehicle and home decoration, and Sufi metaphysics. Unearthing shades of meaning in Islamic thought throughout history, Elias offers fresh insight into the relations among religion, art, and perception across a broad range of cultures.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)
In E-BOOK GESAMTPAKET / COMPLETE PACKAGE 2012
E-BOOK PACKAGE THEOLOGY, JUDAISM, RELIGION 2012
E-BOOK PAKET THEOLOGIE,RELIGIONSWISS., JUDAISTIK 2012
HUP Complete eBook Package 2011-2014
HUP eBook Package 2012
HUP eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
HUP eBook Package Backlist 2000-2014
HUP eBook Package Backlist 2000-2015
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Frontmatter
Contents
Preface on Abbreviations and Conventions
Prologue: The Promise of a Meaningful Image
1 Representation, Resemblance, and Religion
2 The Icon and the Idol
3 Iconoclasm, Iconophobia, and Islam
4 Idols, Icons, and Images in Islam
5 Beauty, Goodness, and Wonder
6 Alchemy, Appearance, and Essence
7 Dreams, Visions, and the Imagination
8 Sufism and the Metaphysics of Resemblance
9 Words, Pictures, and Signs
10 Legibility, Iconicity, and Monumental Writing
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index

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