Choose three features of Islamic art and explain how they might be interpreted.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2024). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [10] (a) Calligraphy is the beautification of the word of God using styled forms of written Arabic. Flowing lines help give meaning to the words as well as taking the whole into the heart, written from right to left, and with integrated style, bringing the message of unity. The ninety-nine names of God might be a focus, as well as surahs from the Qur'an.
2. [10] (a) Illumination of the Qur'an developed as an art. Highly decorated front pages were a gateway to the text like a gate to heaven; gold and coloured script gave indications of where to prostrate, so had a function too. Gold, colour of the sun, symbolised the transcendent truth of God; blue the sky and sea, symbolising the endless infinity of God.
3. [10] (a) Arabesque features include natural vines, leaves, petals and swirling tendrils. These represent God's perfectly created order, with a slight blemish to show that the artist cannot completely replicate God's perfection. Arabesque takes a flowing, rhythmic pattern to complement the recitation, fast or slow, they accompany. All is joined together in unity, representing the oneness of God (tawhid).
4. [10] (a) The Mihrab is a heart-shaped niche directing Muslims to pray in the direction of Mecca, also representing the inner heart, symbolising prayer as bringing the heart close to God. Niches were decorated with pearl or in pearl shapes, as Muhammad (pbuh) went to the seven heavens (miraj) and passed into paradise, under a dome of pearls.
5. [10] (a) Domes symbolise God in heaven over creation, the universe. Domes cover prayer halls, such as the golden Dome on the Rock, Jerusalem. The dome is a circular, covering all like transcendent God, and endless in circumference, like God's eternal nature.
6. [10] (a) Geometric patterns include the interlinking of squares representing the earth, as in the Ka'ba; and circles the heaven, into octagons and polygons which repeat across the walls of mosques on mosaic tiles and other decorative patterns. These link worldly matters, such as prayer, to the belief in the afterlife in the mind of the worshipper.
7. [10] (a) Textiles, especially carpets, were a feature of travelling missionaries for their prayer. These contained patterns but no images, as Muslims cannot pray to any idol. Geometrical patterns are represented, and sometimes the tree of life or tree of immortality, representing the Garden of Paradise, the goal of every Muslim.
8. [15] (b) Definitions: Pre-Islamic Arabia was known as a period of idol worship, statues, pictures and offerings as detailed in art; a world into which Muhammad (pbuh) was born. Islamic art reflects the iconoclasm Muhammad (pbuh) brought in, clearing the Ka'ba of idols and bringing forward the flourishing of new forms of art suitable for a faith based on monotheism and an unseen God.
9. [15] (b) To what extent: Islamic art completely removed all images. Gone were idols such as Hubal which decorated the Ka'ba. Also gone were any features of animal or human life from columns used in the newly dedicated mosque in Damascus.
10. [15] (b) To what extent: Textiles changed. Muhammad (pbuh) asked his wife Aisha to remove a cloth which had a picture on it, because it might distract from prayers to God alone. This prohibition affected all areas of private and public art.
11. [15] (b) To what extent: Calligraphy represented the word of God, now the focus with unity and the unseen power, rather than a multitude of different idols which split up the focus of people and drew the mind into material concerns.
12. [15] (b) To what extent: The Ka'ba and religious centres in Damascus and Jerusalem remained important and were modified to remove figurines.
13. [15] (b) To what extent: Nevertheless, some aspects of art arguably remained the same, such as the use of integrated circle and square shapes representing heaven and earth, and the Kiswah cloth, albeit with new embroidery.
14. [15] (b) To what extent: Some Umayyads kept figures and decorations, removing them from mosques but not palaces. It seemed that they separated their private life from religious worship, so that not everything changed.
15. [15] (b) To what extent: Not all pre-Islamic art was polytheistic. Some aspects of Christian and Jewish architecture were reused as Islamic art was seen as the inheritor of these monotheistic traditions.
16. [15] (b) Conclusions: An overall judgement, in conclusion, might refer to the extent of the differences in various areas and draw together the response.