The complete opposite of freedom based, human based Western ideas are found in Spain where the Moors, i.e., the Muslims from Africa who conquered and ruled Spain erected their religious buildings.
In 711 C.E. the Moors invaded Visigoth, Christian Hispania, Spain…. The Moor’s invasion of Spain, was an act of aggression, part of the outward expansion of the Islamic world that was informed by the conviction that the whole world should be subject to Islamic rule and to the divine law of Islam. Their rule in Spain came to an end in 1492.
Spain is now emerging, ahead of virtually any other European nation, as the focus for an intensified jihadist onslaught as the terrorists, having lost Mosul and facing defeat in Raqqa, seek to show they are an undiminished threat. “We will recover al-Andalus, Allah willing,” a recent Islamic State video in Spanish (one of many recently produced in the language) boasts.
The non-figurative character of religious decoration has remained a fundamental principle throughout the history of Islam. At no point have images found their way into the interiors of mosques; as far as we know, no Muslim artist has endeavored to depict God; the Koran has never been illustrated; and depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are rare. With the reform of coinage carried out by the caliph Abd al-Malik in 696, even the portraits of rulers were removed from Islamic coins and replaced by calligraphic decoration.
The result of restraint in the use of figurative depictions in time led Muslim artists, more than those in other cultures, to concentrate on abstract forms of expression. In traditional Islamic art, vegetal ornamentation, geometric patterns, and a fascination with script – calligraphy – reached unprecedented heights. Right….No people. Told ya.
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