Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide range of lands, periods, and genres, Islamic art is a concept used first by Western art historians in the late 19th century. Public Islamic art is traditionally non-representational, except for the widespread use of plant forms, usually in varieties of the spiralling arabesque. These are often combined with Islamic calligraphy, geometric patterns in styles that are typically found in a wide variety of media, from small objects in ceramic or metalwork to large decorative schemes in tiling on the outside and inside of large buildings, including mosques. Other forms of Islamic art include Islamic miniature painting, artefacts like Islamic glass or pottery, and textile arts, such as carpets and embroidery.
Detail of arabesque decoration at the Alhambra in Spain
The Ardabil Carpet, probably the finest surviving Persian carpet, Tabriz, mid-16th century
Hunters at a Stream - Riza `Abbasi, c. 1625 Brooklyn Museum
Tiles with some calligraphy in the courtyard of the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul (Turkey)
Islamic culture or Muslim culture refers to the historic cultural practices that developed among the various peoples living in the Muslim world. These practices, while not always religious in nature, are generally influenced by aspects of Islam, particularly due to the religion serving as an effective conduit for the inter-mingling of people from different ethnic/national backgrounds in a way that enabled their cultures to come together on the basis of a common Muslim identity. The earliest forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the Umayyad Caliphate and the early Abbasid Caliphate, was predominantly based on the existing cultural practices of the Arabs, the Byzantines, and the Persians. However, as the Islamic empires expanded rapidly, Muslim culture was further influenced and assimilated much from the Iranic, Caucasian, Turkic, Indian, Malay, Somali, Berber, and Indonesian cultures.
Hyderabad during Ramadan
Karbala during Laylat al-Qadr
Shahid Minar commemorates 21 February's anniversary of the day when the Bengali Muslims of Bengal fought for recognition of their Bengali language. Central Shahid Minar's front beautified with alpana, Islamic University, Bangladesh.
Patachitra of Gazi Pir, Sunderbans, Bangladesh