ART

...amplifications that were made of them (tripling Arabic: tethlîth; adding three lines to a couplet, quadrupling Arabic: terbî', quintupling Arabic: tekhmîs, etc.) have remained the models for this genre, which is as monotonous as it is abundant.

The fine arts in Islam are likewise dependent on religion; as images are proscribed meaning forbidden by religious law, specifically to avoid idolatry, painting and sculpture do not exist, or exist only as negligible exceptions; geometric design alone was able to develop and has, moreover, enjoyed a brilliant career: from the Great Mosque of Cordoba to the Alhambra of Granada, and from the Koutoubia the famous 12th-century mosque in Marrakech to Sidi Boumediene a sacred complex in Tlemcen, Algeria, geometric interlacing has been the sole resource for decoration. Even when it borrows models from nature from antiquity, it does so to turn them into purely ornamental and geometric motifs. For the same reason, the artist rejects deep modeling and prefers ornamentation consisting entirely of cut-out patterns, devoid of relief⁽¹⁾.

Finally, the organization of society itself is entirely religious; the sovereign is merely the vicar (Caliph Arabic: khalîfa, meaning "successor" or "deputy") of Muhammad; he is the Imam The primary leader of prayer and the community par excellence. Renan Ernest Renan, a 19th-century French scholar known for his controversial views on religion and Semitic cultures stated that Islam can only exist as an official religion, which is perhaps a bit daring. However, if one considers, as we have, that the character of the religion is to be imperative and that, furthermore, it pervades the entire life of a Muslim, it will be clearly seen that it follows that in such a society, there can only be a State religion⁽²⁾. On the other hand, the prescriptions...

(1) W. and G. Marçais. Monuments of Tlemcen, pp. 74, 96.
(2) Renan, On the Contribution of Semitic Peoples to the History of Civilization, p. 88. — Renan always showed himself to be severe in his assessments of Islam; he believed in the coming end of this religion.